Gard How to improve hiking?

On the initiative of Pascale Fortunat-Deschamps, president of Gard Tourisme, Bérengère Noguier, vice-president of the Gard Departmental Council and Annick Delbos, president of the FFR – French Hiking Federation pedestrian, a seminar took place on Wednesday November 13 for the first time in the Gard on the theme of great homelessness. In total, nine long-distance hiking routes cross the Gard. It is a major tourist offer which invites visitors to discover the riches of our landscapes, our terroirs and the Gardois heritage. Hiking remains one of the French's favorite sporting activities. It is practiced all year round and during the holidays, it is the first activity cited by vacationers.

A GR© is not the result of chance. These paths are approved by the FFRandonnée. They are subject to constant surveillance and maintenance to ensure the safety of hikers. They mobilize hundreds of volunteers and professionals. A path is a signpost, coherent steps, reception, services, practical documents, development supports, interpretation…. In short, a real service co-constructed on the scale of the territories crossed.

The GR© which arrive or cross the Gard come from the neighboring departments of Hérault, Lozère, Ardèche, Bouches du Rhône, Vaucluse… Our department is therefore not alone in this adventure. Several institutions support the dynamic: Departmental Councils, Tourist Development Agencies, Departmental Hiking Committees, Tourist Offices.

This seminar on Great Homelessness aims to open a space for dialogue between all these actors. Between round tables and reflection workshops, it will allow all the protagonists to come together and share common concerns, or even, and this is the objective, to draft a common roadmap to better share and make known the riches of these offers. Depending on the wishes of the participants, it is possible that this initiative will last over time, but the future will tell us.

GR© do not all have the same reputation or the same level of maturity. They are run by dedicated structures (often in an associative format). In the Gard, we find roaming on foot:

• The Way of Santiago de Compostela, GR 653, the Arles route which arrives from the Bouches du Rhône and crosses the Gard from East to West in the south of the department, over forty kilometers from St Gilles du Gard towards Hérault .
• The Chemin de Stevenson, GR 70, in the footsteps of the writer Robert Louis Stevenson, which links Velay, Gévaudan and arrives in the Cévennes Gardoises.
• The Chemin de St Guilhem which crosses Aubrac and the Aigoual massif whose terminus is located in the village of St Guilhem le Désert in Hérault.
• The Urban Path V which offers a cultural journey in the footsteps of a 14th century French pope, from Lozère to Avignon.
• The Chemin de Régordane, GR 700, rich in intense history between Puy en Velay and Saint Gilles du Gard.
• The Chemin du Pilat à la Méditerranée, GR 42, nearly 500 km of route which flirts with the Rhône.
• In project is the extension of the path “In the footsteps of the Huguenots”, a European cultural route which crosses Germany and Switzerland, whose current terminus is the desert museum in Mialet in the Gard.

But also mountain biking or cycle tourism:

• the GTMC (Grande Traversée du Massif Central), a legendary route from the Morvan to the Mediterranean.
• The ViaRhôna, Euro Vélo 17, which connects Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean
• The Mediterranean by Bike, Euro Vélo 8, from Spain to Greece, its French route goes from Perthus to Menton.