I travelled in France during 2011 from August 18 until September 14. I went by TGV express from Gare de Lyon, Paris, to Le Puy-en- Velay, Haute Loire. First, I made a nine-day hiking trip (generally southward) along the Robert Louis Stevenson trail (GR70) from Le Monastier in Haute-Loire through the areas of Lozere, Gevaudan and the Cevennes to St Jean-du-Gard. This tour was organized for me by The Enlightened Traveller, who arranged lodging and transport of my main baggage from village to village.

  Next, I spent several days sightseeing, travelling by train from Ales south-west to Carcassonne for two days, back east  to Tarascon (site of Alphonse Daudet's "Tartarin de Tarascon") for a day, followed by a short ride north to spend one night in Avignon at Hotel de Blauvac in the old town.

  Then I made another hiking tour of six days around the Dentelles de Montmirail in the Vaucluse (mostly on the GR4 trail), north-east of Avignon, The tour, Under the Shadow of Mont Ventoux, was organized by WalkInnProvence. I started in Seguret and went counter-clockwise on small and rough trails, about 20 km between villages, until Vaison-la-Romaine. Then I returned to Avignon, back to Paris and over to the USA.

  Click the dots to see pictures from the two hikes (orange dots) and my visits to the towns in Le Midi (blue dots). Click the Back button to return to this page.