THE BIGGEST PART OF A BOTANY HIKE INVOLVES … HIKING!
The hike is divided up into 20-kilometre stages, more or less five hours of walking a day, plus pauses. It requires a regular, progressive effort and there are no steep or sudden slopes. However, walking takes up a big part of the day and therefore also of the week. In the morning, the Steward can shorten the stage by taking walkers for the first 5 to 7 km where they join the rest of the group, who set off earlier.
There’s no need to carry luggage on the walk, except for a small backpack for your sun cream or rain cape.
After leaving Saint Guilhem le Désert, the route crosses the garrigue (Mediterranean moorland): limestone boulders, vegetation already yellowed by the Sun, along narrow, whitened tracks that can sometimes be stony. These tracks continue as far as the valley of the Orb, and then the walking is easier as we follow wide firebreaks, to cross the southern part of the Cévennes range of hills. Finally, we come onto the ancient paved paths lined with beech and holly in the Haut Languedoc, all the way to the end of our hike.
You will be surprised to feel the way your body gets used to walking as the days go by! From the 3rd or 4th day onwards, the stages seem shorter and, after a good shower in the hostel on arrival, you’ll have plenty of energy to take advantage of the proposed workshops, to explore the little villages, read the books available – or just enjoy a relaxing snooze!
OUR ROUTE:
La cotation de notre randonnée est de :
Route rated :
The French Hiking Federation rates different routes according to three criteria. You can find more details here
