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"It’s easy enough to imagine the English out on a long-distance walk, clomping along in heavy leather hiking boots, wearing tweed over bulky wool sweaters and carrying droopy old-fashioned canvas packs. This is simply a crude caricature of what we picture the English to be. But the French? Walking? Such an idea doesn’t fit our stereotype at all. But as unlikely as it may seem, France even more than England is a walker’s paradise: France, only three times England’s size, has more than eight times the mileage of public footpaths. These are not just secondary roads cobbled together and called trails but real paths, dirt tracks passing through forests, vineyards, gardens and fields that are well marked, well mapped and open to anyone who has both the knowledge and the determination to use them…" – chapter 1, France on Foot |
| WALKING IN FRANCE, A SHORT OVERVIEW:  The French trail system is 110,000 miles long and is made up of three types of path:1. Long national paths, called sentiers de grande randonnee or GRs for short. These are numbered—GR 3, GR 76, etc.—and are mapped on the one-sheet, 1:1,000,000 IGN map #903, France, Grande Randonnée. There are 38,000 miles of GR trails in France; they are laid out to connect one point with another. For example: the GR 5 runs from the Luxembourg border all the way down the Vosges, Jura and Alp mountains to the Mediterranean. GR trails are marked with white over red blazes. 2. Regional paths, called GRPs. Only the longest of these paths are shown on IGN map #903. There are 25,000 miles of GRP trails in France; each covers one region thoroughly, often in a circular layout. Individual GRP trails can be well over 100 miles long. They are marked with yellow over red blazes. 3. Local paths, called PRs. These trails radiate out from many towns and villages in France offering the visitor a chance for an hour to a day’s walk to a local beauty spot or to a place of historical interest. These paths are marked with a single yellow blaze or, if there are many paths that intersect—as is usually the case—a single blaze of any color. Officially there are 47,000 miles of local paths but in reality there are hundreds of thousands of miles. The GR and GRP trails criss-cross every region, a fact that makes it possible to take a long distance, village-to-village-to-village walk anywhere in France. And, since almost all land is privately owned, the trail you choose will pass through vineyards, orchards, fields, forests and even back yards. Villages with hotels, bed and breakfasts and restaurants are close together in rural France, making it very easy to walk without camping out, carrying only a light pack containing your clothes and a minimum of other personal items. The organization that established and maintains the trail system is called the Féderation Française de la Randonnée Pédestre (FFRP), or French Long Distance Walking Association. Headquartered in Paris, it is made up of over 2,000 local clubs. The FFRP also publishes, at last count, over 200 walking guidebooks called topo guides. Some describe in detail selected portions of some GR trails, others a region's GRP and/or PR trails. All but three of these guides are in French, but nevertheless much of the practical information—addresses, lodging, etc—is easily understood by the English-only speaker. The Institut Géographique National (IGN) is the French government mapping agency. This organization publishes many maps at varying scales, which make it easy for the independent walker to first plan and then take a long distance walk anywhere in France. IGN map #903 gives you the grand overview, individual maps from the IGN green Top100 (scale1;100,000) series allow you to plan your walk at home before you leave and the very detailed maps from the IGN 1:25,000 blue series will guide you on the trail, almost whispering in your ear, there’s a village just over that ridge, the trail turns to the left just after the cemetery… e-mail your questions and comments to walk@franceonfoot.com back to top SITE CONTENTS * LINKS * ARCHIVE * UPDATES MAIN PAGE * HOME |
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Randonnée: n. fem. (old French randir, to run rapidly) 1. A journey over an extended period of time on foot, bicycle, horseback, skis, etc.. Sentier de Grande Randonnée (abbr: GR); a specially marked trail which makes possible long-distance trips…
– Petit Larouse Illustré, 1990 |