Information on walking in France can be obtained from the Federation Francaise de Randonnee Pedestre, Information Centre, Sentiers Randonnee, 64 rue de Gergovie, 75014 Paris Maps L'Institut Geographique National (IGN), Espace IGN, 107 rue La Boetie-75008 Paris The IGN Blue and TOP 25 Series are the best walking maps for the serious walker with 2000 of them covering the whole of France at a scale of 1:25000. The "France Grande Randonnée" (903) guide to long distance paths is an excellent overview of walking routes in France. Navigator Maps Ltd are an agent for IGN in the UK providing 1:25000 scale walking maps for all regions including Corsica. Didier Richard Superb 1:50000 and 1:25000 scale walking maps for the Alps, Provence Corsica and the Jura. Based in Grenoble, France http://www.elstead.co.uk/ Elstead Map Company Walks There are three catagories of walking routes in France: the famous Grande Randonnée GR long-distance walking routes criss cross the whole of France. There are almost 60,000 km of GR walking routes with easy to follow white & red waymarks. Some of the GR long-distance routes are also part of European walking route network. France has five european long distance walking routes passing through the country, the E2, E3, E4, E5 & E9. Two famous GR routes are the GR5 through the Alps from St Gingolph on the banks of Lac Leman to Nice on the Mediterranean coast and the GR10 that traverses the full length of the Pyrenees. the GR de Pays are circular walking routes designed to allow the walker to discover a region of France over a few days. The waymarkers are yellow & red. and the latest addition to the network are the PR footpaths with walking routes taking from a few hours to a maximum of one day to complete. The vast majority of the waths take a circular route & the waymarks are yellow. Web
Sites
www.beyond.fr Maps & descriptions of walking routes throughout France www.randonnee.net/ An excellent French-language site with links to regional & local walking sites www.argonet.co.uk/education/stanfagg/france.html Informative site about a walk on the GR6 in the Dordogne www.ariege.com/what_to_do/outdoors/walking.html Walking and walks in the Ariège area of the Pyrenees www.provence-beyond.com/sports/hiking.html Walking in Provence with sections on walking in the Gorges du Verdon, the Luberon, the Cote d'Azur, etc. Weather French
weather reporting
By Car sapn-autoroutes.fr a guide to the autoroutes of France www.day-tripper.net/driveautoroutes another useful guide to the autoroutes of France By Train
www.fuaj.fr/a~frame.htm French youth hostel site with a map and contact information www.gites-de-france.fr/ Gîtes de France, publishers of the giîes and chambres d'hôtes guidebooks http://www.logis-de-france.fr/us/index.htm The Logis de France hotel guidebook online http://www.tasteofprovence.com/ French
Govt Mapping Division (IGN) for online ordering, in Paris, France
Further Information
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