Hiking (Randonnée) Beyond the French Riviera ® [ Ballooning | Bungee | Biking | Camping | Climbing | Diving | Fishing | Golfing | Hang Gliding | Hiking | Horseback | Pétanque | Rafting | Sailing | Sailplanes | Skating | Spelunking | Skiing | Swimming | Windsurfing ] Also: [ Guides and Maps | List of Topo Guides | Grande Randonnées ]         [ GR4 | GR51 | Train des Pignes Hikes ] And: [ Road Maps, Guidebooks ] Below: [ Clubs | Be Prepared | Be Careful | Places Flies and Mosquitoes ] The South of France has got to be one of the finest places in the world for hiking. I make this controversial statement because of the tremendous number of hiking trails, the tremendous variety of trails, and the proximity of the trails to wherever you are in this region. You can start in the city of Nice and hike out on the Grande Randonnée GR5 -- all the way to Amsterdam. Or branch off to other Grande Randonnée trails to Italy, or Switzerland, or other parts of France. If Nice isn't convenient, you can do the same thing by starting on the GR4 from Grasse, or the GR51 from Cannes. The Grande Randonnée GR51 is called the Balcony of the Côte d'Azur, and it's just that. Following along the southern slopes parallel to the coast, you hike along a "balcony", without an excessive amount of climbing (except for the start), with a magnificent view along the way. If the maze of clearly-marked Grande Randonnée trails criss-crossing France and Europe seem a bit too much for you to start with, there are more local trails (usually marked with bright yellow dabs of paint) that can be found in most towns, villages, hamlets and even completely unpopulated sites around the back country, Beyond the French Riviera. Difficulties Most of the hiking trails in the region, Grande Randonnée (GR), Petite Randonnée (PR) and other local trails, can be hiked by normal people without special equipment. The only "difficulty" is usually a matter of how steep the climbs are, and you can get that from the contour lines on the maps or the hiking guidebooks. Trails are usually well marked and, by design, great for hiking, often through the shade of the trees. Trails on steep hillsides zig-zag up or down to reduce the incline. Trails are designed for walking; having to clamber over rocks is very, very rare, and the use of ropes or other special equipment is not necessary. One possible exception is when the trails go over high passes (cols), perhaps over 2000 m altitude, in the "winter". Passes can be blocked by snow for a very long season, from Fall to late Spring. The Gendarmerie or Office de Tourisme for the mountain towns will have that information (phone numbers are listed in Beyond). You always need good footwear, rain gear and normal safety equipment (survival sheets, whistle, compass, maps, flashlight, water, food) so that a minor incident doesn't become major if you have to stay out overnight. Hiking Season July-August is the peak tourist season, but 90% of the tourists are crowded on the beaches. You will have to call ahead to reserve in the Gites or the Refuges for overnight stays, or you can carry your tent and sleeping bag with you. Hunting Season We're talking about the hunting season because it's of concern to many hikers. We personally feel less comfortable hiking during hunting season, but don't want to rule out one of the prettiest times of the year in the woods. Whether you agree or not with hunting, the vast majority of French hunters are sensible, careful and polite. Accidents do happen every year, but they are few, and occur between the hunters themselves. Hunting season begins in mid September in the south of France. This year (1997), the season started on Sunday, 14 September. North of the Loire river, the 1997 season starts 28 September. The boar (sanglier) hunting in the south was from 17 Aug '97 to 18 Jan '98. Where to Hike Pick an Area. With so many places to hike in Beyond, your first step is to pick an area within Beyond. Browse through the Maps section to get familiar with the mountain ranges, valleys, major parks and lakes. Check out the Sites section and read about the Alpilles, Luberon, Mercantour, etc. From a map page or a site page, look at the village pages for that area and read about the hiking for that village. Every village page in the Villages section gives some general information on the hiking for that region, and lists the appropriate maps and nearby Grandes Randonnées and other trails. Get a Map. Get a Michelin roadmap of the general area, and one or two of the Didier Richard (1:50,000 scale) hiking maps to see what the terrain looks like. If you're planning serious hiking in a localized area, you should get the appropriate 1:25,000 scale IGN "blue" map. Although the GR trails are usually very well marked, the marks can sometimes be confusing or disappear althogether, as attributed to by a reader's experience: Contributed by Jan Volkers, 8 Oct 1999: Beware....... the GR leading south from the abbey to Gordes is very confusing. All the marks have disappeared. Took me half a day to find out. Got stuck on some ridges on the wrong side of a valley. Didn't have a propre map. ... Since you decided to make notion of the absence of GR-marks, I also can tell you that the GR from Fontaine to Gordes is a "mess" but, with a bit of feel for direction one finds out. On the tops of the hills they chopped some acres of wood so all the marks went along. The roadmaps are described in the Maps section. The hiking maps are described on the Guides page, and are available via some webs listed on Beyond's Links-Travel page. Get a Guidebook. Get a hiking guidebook, such as one of the FFRP Topo guides. Even if you can't read the French text, these guides show the "loop" hikes and give the times and the elevation change, so you don't have to calculate everything from scratch. For hikes available near train transportation, check out the regions served by the Train de Pignes and the Nice-Cuneo Train (Vallée de la Roya, Parc National du Mercantour). Flies and Mosquitoes We haven't had serious problems with mosquitoes, but always carry repellent anyway, and it sometimes comes in handy. There are certain areas, such as the Camargue, where you'll want a lot of mosquito repellent. We've had some problems with flies, and haven't found a good solution to combat them. We've never run into blackfly, that is apparently a serious problem in other parts of the world. One of our readers and serious backpacker, Jan Volker, contributed the following bad experience: The GR trails are usually very well marked, but you should have a "Topo" map just in case. These comments were contributed by Jan Volkers, 8 Oct 1999: There are little flies called "Arabies". When they sting you don't feel much but.......the day after!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Still got the scars. When it happened it was beginning of April, 1999. Took tons of penicilline to get rid of the inflamations. But....otherwise, exept Gordes (which is a posh little enclave of posh foreigners), it was very nice. I came from Fontaines and ended in Bonnieux, where I had to stop. These flies interfered. [ Top | Clubs | Be Prepared | Be Careful | Places ] Club Alpin Français (C.A.F.) Valuable information, maps, and hiking insurance. Address: 14 ave. Mirabeau, Nice, 06000 Tel: (33) 493 62 59 99 Fax: (33) 493 92 09 55 Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre (FFRP) This French Hiking organization publishes excellent guide books for Grande Randonnée (GR) hikes. The small books are informative and descriptive, and contain maps and photos. 9, rue Geoffroy-Marie 75009 PARIS Tel: (33) 145 45 31 02; Fax: (33) 143 95 68 07 Au Vieux Campeur This sports store, based in Paris, sells guidebooks and maps by mailorder. The main shop, in Paris, is housed in about a dozen building in the Latin Quarter, around the Rue Saint-Jacques, Rue des Ecoles and Bvd Saint-Germain. The location with maps and guidebooks is the "Librairie Specialisée Cartothèque", on the corner of Rue de Latran and Rue Jean-de-Beauvais (metro Place Maubert). Vente Par Correspondance (Mail-order): 48, rue des Ecoles 75005 PARIS Tel: (33) 146 11 43 53; Fax: (33) 146 66 62 63 The shops are located at: Paris, 75005 48, rue des Ecoles Tel: (33) 143 29 12 32; Fax: (33) 146 34 14 16 Lyon, 69003 43, Cours de la Liberté Tel: (33) 178 60 21 07; Fax: (33) 178 62 31 42 Savoie, 74200 48, Avenue de Genève Tel: (33) 450 70 45 78; Fax: (33) 450 70 48 62 [ Top | Clubs | Be Prepared | Be Careful | Places ] Be Prepared. The weather can change extremely rapidly in the mountains, and you can get snow in late Spring or early Autumn. Even if it's warm and sunny and clear, take a few precautions: A space blanket (thin, reflective metal foil) is cheap, light, and takes little space. Why not carry one or two with you, in your rucksack, your car, your suitcase. If something happens to keep you out in the hills all night, the space blanket will keep you warm enough to survive. DANGER - Do Not cover yourself with a metallic space blanket for protection from the rain during a thunder storm. Lightning will be attracted to the metal. A whistle. If you should get just a little lost, a whistle beats shouting, and could keep you from getting even more lost. A couple of candy bars. You've been hiking all day in the hot sun. Now, when you had planned to be back, the sun is setting and you're still two or three hours away and you're starting to fantasize about those two sandwiches you ate at noon. Your energy level is way down, and you're ripe for an accident. An extra canteen of water. You only planned to hike for an hour or two. But who knows what's going to happen to keep you out there much longer than planned (either intentionally or inadvertantly). In the hot sun of the South or the thin air of the mountains you can get dehydrated easily. And the little stream shown on your map might be dried up this month. There's more, of course. But the idea here is to keep it simple enough that even the less-fanatical people take a few precautions. [ Top | Clubs | Be Prepared | Be Careful | Places ] Be Careful Much of the Beyond region is wild and beautiful, and potentially dangerous. No park rangers, state police, barriers or saftey nets are out there guiding your every step. Enjoy yourself but take care of yourself. Do not confuse difficult and dangerous. Difficult passages can be fine, even fun, as long as the results of a mistake are not harmful. You can get into dangerous situations easily if you are not aware of what you are doing. The difference is in the possible results of a mistake. If you take an easy path along a grassy slope, it is dangerous if a slip means that you slide over the edge and fall a hundred metres. Climbing a simple-looking rock is dangerous if a short fall means that your head will bounce off rocks only four or five metres below. [ Top | Clubs | Be Prepared | Be Careful | Places ] Places This is a list of places where you can find guides or excursions for hiking in the Beyond country. Breil-sur-Roya 06540 Rando-Nature Quartier Pinéa Foussa; Place Biancheri Tel: (33) 493 04 47 64 Randonnée, Canyoning Roya-Evasion 1 r Pasteur Tel: (33) 493 04 91 46 Randonnée, Canyoning, VTT, Kayak Hiking equipment, sportswear rental Tende 06430 Bérenger Lucien (guide de haute-montagne) Cagnourina, 06430 Tende Tel: (33) 493 04 77 85 Randonnée, Canyoning, Escalade, Alpinisme Bureau des Guides du Val des Merveilles BP 12, Tende 06430 Tel: (33) 493 04 77 73 Randonnée, Canyoning, VTT, Escalade, Alpinisme, Spéléologie St. Laurent-du-Var; Vence Randonnées Tel: (33) 492 12 91 75 Pédestre; Aquatique; VTT; à Cheval; en Raquettes (Walking; Water; Mountain Biking; Horseback Riding; Snowshoeing)