Walking

On the Right Track

Walking is by far the most popular sporting/leisure activity of the French and as with many things in France, it is well organised. The GR routes, Grandes Randonnées, have been in existence for more than 60 years. Lines are painted on rocks, trees, walls and posts – red and white for hiking routes and red and yellow for GR de Pays which are easier but longer circular routes. One single yellow line marks the shorter PR Promenade et Randonnée routes. Over the whole country, the network of paths offers nearly 180.000 km of routes. The Fédération Francaise de Randonnée Pédestre (FFRP) maintain these paths and markings so that everyone can discover France’s regions and natural history in complete safety.

For a map of all GR routes in France, see the Carte IGN, numéro 903 : Itinéraires de grande randonnée en France, Itineraries on the Grande Randonnée, Long Distance Footpaths.

In Burgundy the GR13 passes from north to south from Auxerre to Vézelay, through the Morvan Forest to Mount Beuvray and on to the south of France. There are many shorter routes zig-zagging across the region, and IGN Série Bleue features 156 different maps on the scale 1: 25,000 of each segment which are available from amazon.fr. Some of the more popular areas include Carte de randonnée : Vézelay; Chablis; Nolay; La Charité-sur-Loire; Saulieu - Lac des Settons; Semur-en-Auxois; Mâcon - Cluny - Solutré; Tournus

Below: left to right: Quarré-les-Tombes; Château Chinon; Mont Beuvray in the Morvan Natural Park. Below, Val Suzon near Dijon, Beaune and Chagny and Nuits-St-Georges in the wine belt.

The Topo-guides, published by the FFRP give details of the individual walks, maps, distances between each stage, timing, where to stay etc. in French.

Topo-guides for the region

Traversée du Morvan : GR 13/131/137 gives 350km of trails in the Morvan Natural Park.
Auxerre et ses environs à pied : 21 promenades & randonnées – day walks
Entre Cure et Yonne à pied

'Walks in the Beaune Countryside' suggests 30 routes with a map, telling you the distance, duration and rating, detailing the points of interest en route. It is availabe from the Beaune Tourist Office, 6 Boulevard Perpreuil for 3 euros.

Find Your Way With Ease

You could find this gadget invaluable on your country treks. The Garmin Foretrex 401 is an easy-to-use wrist- mounted high-sensitivity GPS navigator. It is ideal for active adventures that require you to keep both hands free such as hiking, skiing, camping, and it is even used by the military.

It is rugged and lighter than many watches as well as waterproof. It features an electronic compass, a barometric altimeter and a USB interface. You can even wirelessly share routes, tracks and waypoints between units. It also incorporates a trip computer, sunrise/sunset and hunting and fishing information and can connect to your PC.  When it's time to head back, simply turn on the TracBack® feature, and Foretrex will retrace your path back to where you started. Garmin Foretrex 401 GPS Watch