At last, we descend the GR 74 European long-distance hiking trail. First grassy, then rocky, slightly downhill, then flat again. The path winds its way through southern, semi-high vegetation of stunted pines and various types of broom in rich yellow bloom. The path becomes a rocky path with hairpin bends on white-grey limestone. An impressive view of a huge valley opens up over a saddle. Scrubby vegetation on the slopes is interspersed with white limestone rock faces. The hiking trail winds along as far as the eye can see. At the top, it winds steeply downhill in serpentines with challenging bends, and further down, gently along the slope.
We speed past the chapel, heading ever faster towards the village of St. Guilhem-le-Désert with its imposing fortress walls. The path is now paved with roughly hewn limestone boulders that have been rounded over the centuries. The castle is perched on a rocky pinnacle. To reach the village, we have to pass through the watchtower well before the village, as mighty fortress walls surround the small village. The persecuted Huguenots had fled to the remote Cévennes, as the secluded mountains offered them a place of retreat. And so Louis XIV's attempt to eradicate Protestantism in France failed. On the village square stands an impressive plantain tree, whose trunk had already reached six meters in circumference by 1850, around which small cafés and restaurants crowd.
What a landscape, what magnificent trails - we are thrilled
We enjoyed our first CĂ©vennes downhill so much that we wanted to stay an extra day, as we had been given a special TouringTip. The start is the same, but this time we cycle further west along the GR 653. The trail starts off wild, but then turns into a good hiking trail that leads us down into the valley beneath imposing limestone walls. The old donkey path must have been very important to the inhabitants, otherwise they would not have done the dangerous work of using dry stone arches to carve the narrow path into the almost vertical rock face. We are very impressed and briefly really nervous, because a fall would end in the depths. But luckily the path is wide enough and easy to navigate.
The CĂ©vennes are famous for their canyons
In addition to the famous Tarn Gorge, however, there are many other little Grand Canyons that are rarely visited. Stefan is keen to show us the Vis Gorge. And as he's only ever shown us the best so far, we're happy to let him take the lead. The path initially leads across a karstic plateau. We feel a little out of place on the plateau with our heavy bikes. But suddenly a magnificent view down into the gorge of the Vis opens up and we are once again deeply impressed and completely in our element. The path starts off as a moderate, playful descent between trees along the edge of the gorge. When we reach the actual gorge, the path turns into steep hairpin bends. 300 meters below, the waters of the Vis roar through the gorge.
Riding over the rough limestone scree of the path feels like riding over porcelain or huge quantities of broken crockery. There is a clinking, banging, cracking and clacking under the tires, which creates a strange floating sensation, making the steep slope seem even steeper just a few centimetres from the tires. When we reach the bottom of the valley, we cycle through dense forest, which makes the heat pleasant, and follow a crazy channel along the slope. The path becomes a narrow path again and is sometimes very difficult and exposed until we finally reach our beautiful destination for the day, the gîte d'étape "Mas Guilhou" in the Cirque de Navacellés. Later, we set off again for a short tour on the eastern side of the steep-sided cirque. From the plateau, we follow a very narrow singletrack trail with a gentle incline that runs along the abyss of the canyon for miles at a steady, steep gradient. The view over the dry loop of the Vis river with its witness mountain, on which the Madonna is enthroned, and the village of Navecellés is magnificent. In the last evening light, we drive serpentine after serpentine. We cross an old brick arched bridge to reach the village, where dinner is waiting...
