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 Walking Holidays in France is our company name and corporate passion, while The Enlightened Traveller® is our brand name and objective. Concentrating on The Hexagon gives us a competency and ‘savoir faire’ that you can rely on. Benefit from purchasing direct from us, the Anglo-French tour providers; get local support when you need it, including evenings and weekends, and plenty of added value along the way. With no fixed dates, no guides, nor quorum required, these flexible tours can be enjoyed on demand and in the company of your own family and friends. You are in charge, whilst we remain discreetly in the background – there if you need us.
 Walking Holidays in France Ltd delivers the best of self-guided walking in France, featuring a portfolio of long distance trails [GRs], regional routes [GRPs] and local paths [PRs]. You can opt for a full walking holiday or a short walking trip. Whichever your preference, you will find much here to whet your appetite; and whether seasoned hiker, cautious beginner or somewhere in between, you are empowered by our comprehensive walking notes, enlightened by the insightful trip dossier and relaxed in the knowledge that we move your luggage onto the next hotel whilst you carry just a day pack. So escape the office, shed your workplace attire, don your boots, apply the sun-cream and join us in the location of your choice in hikers’ heaven, The Hexagon, France.
We are delighted to present below a selection from our portfolio of walks in France. Whatever your interests, one of them will hopefully capture your imagination. Simply read the tour summary and, if the details appeal, click the adjacent photo for full tour details.
Alternatively, here are some other gateways into the site for you to follow:
 Hiking Camargue [click photo right] is a gentle, three-day stroll across the western section of France’s only river delta. The walking is anything but flat, as you cross a fragile biosphere from Roman Nemausus [Nimes] to the magnificent walled Crusader ‘cité’ of Aigues-Mortes on the Mediterranean coast. You hike a range of trails including river and canal bank, the last day of the St Gilles Way and a section of the Santiago de Compostella [Arles] route. Walkable all year round, we recommend you avoid July and August to enjoy Camargue at its peaceful best.
 Walking the Gardon Gorge [photo right] is a Light to Moderate tour, and a chance to enjoy hikes through the hill-top villages of the Gardon Valley before entering one of France’s Grand Sites, the Gardon Gorge itself, by the ‘back door’ en route to none other than the majestic Pont du Gard. You stay in a series of stone farmhouses, enjoy Mediterranean ‘produits du terroirs’ and can personalise your trip and spend your final night in either Uzès [First Duchy of France] or Nimes. Available all year round, best avoid the intense summer heat and drought.
 Cantal is a step up in the challenge stakes, to Quite Challenging [see photo right]. Cantal is not just home to one of France’s most flavoursome cheeses, but also the Massif Central’s most celebrated mountain range – les Monts du Cantal. This volcanic upland is in many respects as spectacular as the Mont Blanc massif – especially as you actually get to ‘bag’ each ‘puy’ rather than just observe them from a distance. It’s a moderate challenge based on elevation gain/loss rather than the distances involved, but rarely will you see so much breath-taking and verdant scenery compressed into such a relatively-small area; and the highlights can be further compressed into 3-days if you fancy taking the challenge up a notch.
 Tour du Mont Blanc sees you ratchet up the stakes to ‘challenging.’ Whilst not for the faint hearted, neither is it the exclusive preserve of the super-fit and gadget-less James Bond stunt man. Carefully segmented, our twelve-night tour [click picture above right] is walkable by most fit and healthy mortals. Yet if you are pressed for time, or simply wish to reduce the overall level of the challenge, why not walk just half [the best half, click picture right], or just sample a few stages to see what all the fuss is about? Either way, you sleep in private rooms [no dormitories], eat well and gasp at Western Europe’s most spectacular scenery. Book very early to enjoy this alpine master-class.
 If you like Pilgrimage trails, and the chance to immerse yourself in a millennia of French history, then the re-birth of the St-Giles trail should appeal [photo right]. Escape from the hordes that march the various St Jacques routes and discover France’s quintessential pilgrimage route from Le Puy to St-Gilles and, via a short extension of our own, onto the Mediterranean. Accommodation is of a good standard as you follow in the footsteps of French Kings, Simon de Montfort, Crusaders, clergy and medieval traders and explore the enchanting countryside through which the ideas of The Reformation arrived in Lower Languedoc. Opportunities exist to split the tour into shorter trips.
 Walking in Provence is a perennial attraction, so while the hordes frequent the best-publicised haunts, most miss out on the more authentic and interesting trails. Walking Provence-West is the perfect mix of fine, light-or-moderate walking and serious cultural insight [Click photo right]. Enjoy the fruits of years of local research, and the very best that Western Provence has to offer, compacted into six, gloriously-indulgent days. The accommodation is sublime, you can personalise your eating arrangements to suit your own budget and tastes, and there are options for shorter tours, too.
 If travelling by train is your penchant, why not combine it with hiking and enjoy our unique rail-hike tour in Eastern Cevennes. It is the perfect eco-friendly trip along France’s last-remaining and authentic mountain railway line. Enjoy circular walks laced together by short hops along the breath-taking ‘line of one hundred tunnels.’ Choose between the seven or four-night version and vary the challenge on most days according to how adventurous you feel [click picture right].
 Since Robert Louis Stevenson walked through Cevennes in 1878, he ignited a curiosity that has become a national treasure: The Robert Louis Stevenson/RLS Trail [see photo above right]. Originally way-marked in the blue and white of the St Andrew’s Cross, the nineties saw it re-branded as the GR70. Now Cevennes’ most famous trail, you will find various ways of walking this literary classic on this site. However, whilst it serves as a fine introduction to Cevennes walking, note that you traverse three other ancient and ‘natural’ regions before you reach the Cévenol valleys: Velay, Gevaudan and Mont Lozère. Our most leisurely version for walking the whole tour can be found by clicking on the photo right; or you can opt to walk just half or part of the trail.
 Donkey trekking in France’s last frontier has slowly gained importance since RSL’s exploits. Why not enjoy a slice of this unique heritage by walking half [7 nights] of the RLS Trail in the company of an asinine buddy? [click photo right]. Put your negotiation skills to the test and let your long-eared companion take the strain of carrying your luggage from inn-to-inn. And you can bring the children along to enjoy the ride on a shorter, 4-night experience. The ideal family get-away! It's fun, eco-friendly and you are not required to sleep in a stable. Please ask us for options to suit you.
 A newly-crowned UNESCO World heritage site, Cevennes is not only home to emblematic ‘rolling blue hills,’ but also a series of remarkable limestone table-tops or Causses. Now the latent geologist inside you knows that where there is limestone there is no water - or rather, it’s hidden under the surface; in this case in the form of the dramatically-incised canyons of The Tarn and the Jonte gorges. Get away from it all
to France’s most remote department and delight in the exquisite juxtaposition of gorge and plateau [click the very first square photo at the top of the page]. Alternatively, for a more moderate introduction to life in Cevennes, try our 4-night Cevennes Heaven trip.
 The remarkable hamlets, villages and vales of the Upper Ceze Valley are a haven to alternative and organic farming. Some homesteads boast the latest in solar energy panels whilst being bereft of running water. Home to many a hippy, the landscapes are quite stunning and the walking very varied. Located on the eastern edge of the Cevennes, we offer a four or six-night version, which allows you to stay in the same hotels for more than one night in order to fully explore the ‘Valley that Time Forgot.’
 Finally here, why not Walk in France's Garrigues? It’s a journey across picturesque, undulating lowland from the foothills of the Cevennes to Gallo-Roman Nimes. It is perfect walking for those who like to enjoy the fruits of the countryside whilst remaining intimately connected to civilization. Stay in fine stone farmhouses and choose from the full 7-nighter or a shorter 4-night version.
 Our range of walking tours appeals to a broad spectrum of tastes. Each trip is an adventure enabling you to discover parts of France that few get to see. You enjoy the walking as much as the being in France and appreciate that the pleasure you gain is commensurate with the personal effort you make. Our dossier sets the scene and your natural inquisitiveness is handsomely rewarded. You return home a more enlightened traveler, where your learning curve continues; and your next walking holiday in France thus starts from a higher level of understanding. We call it The Enlightened Traveller’s ‘walking dialectic'.  When it comes to walking, France has it all: 120,000 miles of varied trails covering the whole of the country. There really is something for every on e, so where will you go? May this site be your guide! We only recommend tours we deliver direct and know like the back of our hand. Your hiking trip has been meticulously planned - benefit from the fruits of years of experience and expertise that we bring to bear on a daily basis in everything we do. Opportunities exist for all-year-round hiking, so you can enjoy France at its best, in high or low season. You can walk at low or high altitude and choose from four levels of physical challenge: light, moderate, quite challenging or challenging. In fact, some tours allow you to choose between two different levels of challenge on a particular day according to how you feel on the morning in question. You can travel along with your luggage if the going gets tough and benefit from a phone loan if you live outside Europe – conditions apply, but really it’s down to common sense! Some tours allow you to bring as much luggage as you want, while others restrict you to one case weighing a generous 20 kgs.
Walking Holidays in France with The Enlightened Traveller®: delighting mind, body and sole!
Site last updated 23 May 2013
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UK: (0871) 284 8686
USA: (646) 797 2887
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