We have planned a total of one week to explore at least the southern foothills of the French Massif Central in stages. Almost too short to surf all these wild canyons, karstic plateaus and huge chestnut forests, says photographer and mountain guide Stefan Neuhauser. And he should know, because he has already travelled some of these trails on foot. He had always wished he had a bike under his bum so that he could get even further into the corners of these lonely mountains. Now the time has finally come and time is indeed running out.
We need three days just to cycle the most beautiful trails around St. Guilhem le Désert. One of them leads via Lavagne and then back to St. Guilhem on the GR 74 European long-distance hiking trail. To do this, we take a 12-kilometre asphalt road uphill and pass the bubbling Bueges spring, whose crystal-clear water is teeming with water snakes and frogs. We take a few photos for our conservationists. Maybe there's something rare and we can have a little chat at dinner. Mountains with cypresses, olive groves and vines appear before our eyes. A castle wall looms in between. The spring air is still cool, but the breeze blowing in from the nearby Mediterranean Sea is already able to elicit the first scent from the herbs on the ground.
Finally, we join the GR 74 and head downhill. First grassy, then rocky, but only a slight gradient, then flat again. The path initially meanders somewhat indecisively through half-height vegetation of stunted pines and yellow-exploding gorse bushes. But then the path tilts down a steep slope, as if to say: "You asked for it."
You can find the entire travel report as a PDF download.
