The Radiance of the Cevennes
|
|
The Radiance of the Cevennes |
|
Imagine an explosion of golden broom in the Cévennes, a symphony of wind and color, a requiem for the abandoned highlands.
Embark on a walking adventure on the ridges of the GR®7 between La Bastide Puylaurent and Belvezet, the GR®70 Stevenson Trail between Langogne and Luc, the GR®700 Régordane Way between Villefort and La Bastide-Puylaurent or the GR®72 by the Abbey Notre Dame des Neiges to Saint Laurent les Bains and Loubaresse. The Cévennes await you, ready to dazzle and move you!
"Star" hikes start from the guest house "L'Etoile", nestled a stone's throw from the La Bastide-Puylaurent station at 1024 m altitude. This house is located on the Cévenol Marseille-Nîmes-Clermont Ferrand-Paris line which crosses the Cévennes and at the junction of Mende, thus offering many route possibilities.
Every evening, you will return to the guest house of Philippe Papadimitriou, tired but drunk with space, light, wind, and colors. Your feet will be heavy with all these steps on the shale and granite trails, your calves sometimes scratched, and hardened by all these efforts of ascent and descent. Your shoes will have traveled all the history of these Cévennes, with its breathtaking landscapes!
And every evening, you will receive priceless gifts: the panoramas, the wind, the space, the light, the atmosphere of L'Etoile, the presence of its dog Billy, placid and philosopher, the host table, the Belgian beers on the terrace, the homemade bread, the evening herbal tea, the fire in the fireplace, Philippe's piano concertos (Gurdjieff and De Hartmann?), the comfortable and restorative night, and all the tomorrows on other trails!
"My Cévennes" in Toulouse. The other night, I had the privilege of welcoming Philippe, alias the gold digger, alias the cowboy of American ranches, alias the king of cycling between Belgium and grace, alias the friendly manager of L'Etoile in La Bastide-Puylaurent, this high perched village between Lozère and Ardèche. He was passing through my good city of Toulouse, quite sad since the explosion of last September 21. We "navigated" from Brussels to Toulouse, from Prague to La Bastide-Puylaurent, from the United States to Australia, with always in the background, this corner of the Cévennes where Philippe has created a place to live that everyone can appreciate and love, as long as he takes the time to listen, to feel, to walk, to open wide the eyes and the heart! And Philippe the adventurer, Radka the Praguer, and Billy the placid dog, hit the road in the night, towards other skies, towards other "addicts" of L'Etoile, towards Bayonne and Bordeaux!
***
... I found my Cévennes ... in freedom! ... pure happiness after a few years of infidelity! ...
La Bastide-Puylaurent at 1024 m altitude ... the guest house L'Etoile and its maestro Philippe ... this atypical gîte, crossroads of European encounters! (email sent to my list of friends as soon as I returned to Toulouse on Thursday, June 30, 2011 with some photos). . it is always with a lot of emotion that I take the TER Nîmes-Mende to reach the village of La Bastide-Puylaurent through this Cévenole mountain! Nîmes, Alès, La Grand Combe, Chamborigaud, Génolhac and Villefort.
From the Protestant Cévenne to the Catholic Cévenne, beautifully described by the writer-storyteller Jean Pierre Chabrol (who now rests near Chamborigaud). Enclosed valleys, bare peaks, chestnut forests, lost and perched hamlets, and these brooms that cover these highlands once populated and now abandoned.
La Bastide-Puylaurent, the highest point of the Nîmes-Clermont-Ferrand railway line, at the junction of the Mende line which, it, will rise to more than 1200m. . and a few steps from the station, this gîte de L'Etoile where it is so good to stay!
Philippe will welcome you in this former holiday hotel that he has transformed and embellished with his own hands over the years (for 25 years I believe). Bright and comfortable rooms, a large common room with its host table where, every evening, passing walkers or staying meet to share the dinner prepared by the maestro, a large fireplace and the piano that Philippe sometimes delights us with his improvisations, and it is available to potential amateurs!
I do not forget the terrace under the arbor where it is good to taste a Belgian beer, and the cabin near the Allier which flows along the park below the high white building. A real little paradise for the night! All this still hovers the soul of the disappeared gîte, the dog Billy who knew so well how to curl up in the wicker armchairs, in front of the fireplace and always present on the doorstep when the dring dring of the bell under the veranda rang to welcome you! . and then every morning, after a hearty breakfast, the walkers scatter, who on the Stevenson trail, who on the Régordane, who towards the abbey Notre Dame des Neiges, who towards other loops (numerous) starting from L'Etoile!
Come and discover these Cévennes and the guest house L'Etoile. You will leave enchanted promising to come back as soon as possible! Returning to Toulouse, the TER took me back down to Nîmes. I am always a "landscape drinker" addicted to this region away from the main roads and large cities. By Christian Lalanne
Old romantic Hotel, L'Etoile Guest-House is a mountain retreat in the South of France. With a beautiful park along the Allier River, L'Etoile Guesthouse is located in La Bastide-Puylaurent between Lozere, Ardeche and Cevennes. Many hiking trails like GR®7, GR®70 Stevenson trail, GR®72, GR®700 Regordane way, Cevenol, GR®470 Allier river, Margeride. Many hiking loops. The right place to relax.
Copyright©etoile.fr