I will be walking on the south eastern corner of the Massif Central, from Langogne, on the Allier, to Pont St Esprit, on the Rhone - a distance of approximately 123 km. A regional map can be seen here.

• Day 1 - Langogne to Loubaresse - 24.5km.
• Day 2 - Loubaresse to Thines - 16.3km.
• Day 3 - Thines to Les Vans - 17.8km.
• Day 4 - Les Vans to Salavas - 29.5km.
• Day 5 - Salavas to Pont St Esprit - 34.5km.

Why this route?

My inspiration for this trek was Alan Castles book "Walking the French Gorges". (Alan Castle's "Walks in Volcano Country" inspired my 1999 walk). The last section from the Rhone to Langogne seemed to be the right sort of length for my purposes and to go through my sort of country side - rugged but not too extreme.

So where I would walk was settled but then came the difficulty of getting a hotel in the Rhone valley in July. Every one we tried was full or required a three day (minimum) stay. So, not to be denied my chosen walk I decided to do it in the opposite direction. Finding a hotel on the Langogne side was much easier.

Also the walk is in the same direction as my walk in the Auvergne and so it has the right feel. And it is downhill! Langogne is at 920m (Munro height!) and Pont St Esprit at about 50m. There are a few ups and downs in between but this is important psychologically!

And lastly I have an aspiration to do more of the GR4. My 1999 walk ended at Super Lioran and this one starts at Langogne. It would be nice to fill in the gap sometime soon.

The bit of France I will be walking in is on the north eastern margin of the Cevennes. Most of the walk is in the Departement of the Ardeche. Langogne is in Lozere, but only just, the very end of the walk is in Gard. Much of the more spectacular bits of the walk are in the Parc Naturel Regional des Monts d'Ardeche. Part of the final day is in the Gorges de l'Ardeche.

I suspect I will have a great deal more to write about the area when I get back home.