Transhumance: inspiration for a new GR in France - La Routo, GR 69

[Purky]

For centuries it was done like this: during late spring the shepherds of the plains of Camargue and Crau in the Provence, France, would gather their sheep and start the "transhumance à l'anciennes". Thousands of sheep and their herdsmen would walk almost 400 kilometers to the Stura Valley in the south-west of Piedmont, the province of Cuneo, Italy. A voyage to the succulent grass of Italian mountain pastures. And when the summer ended, they would walk back again. The journey was known as La Routo, and stretched between Arles and Pontebernardo.

Until this old tradition was forbidden about sixty years ago. The old way hindered modern life: quite literally, because the sheep got in the way of present day traffic. From the fifties and sixties on the sheep would be transported in huge trucks to the foot of the Alps, where the shepherds would take over for the last bit and walk their herds to higher ground. Transhumance became a rush job.

Patrick Fabre, director of the 'Maison de la Transhumance' in Domaine du Merle, spent ten years studying and identifying the original route. He is convinced that the old pastoral practice of transhumance has merit (and not just agricultural) and is sustainable, unlike the new way of raising livestock. And to promote this view, the 'Maison de la Transhumance' was involved in the development of a new French grande randonnée: the GR 69.

From Arles to Borgo San Dalmazzo, La Routo now offers a 480 kilometer trail (400 km on the French side). Antoine de Baecque (historian, critic, writer and enthusiastic hiker) is also on board of the promotion train, as he walked this route for a 2018 ARTE documentary by Pascal Cardeilhac: "Sur la route des bergers". With only a little stretch of the imagination you can consider this a pilgrimage to nostalgia, the rediscovery of the old ways.

As if my bucketlist wasn't already long enough...



'La Routo' website: http://www.larouto.eu/sur-les-pas-de-la-transhumance/

Maison de la transhumance: http://www.transhumance.org/

The map: http://www.larouto.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/LaRouto_carte_2015-modif.pdf

Documentary (available until 8th April 2019) : https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/082733-000-A/sur-la-route-des-bergers/

 

[TMcA]

You can also see this in France on the GR65 - the Chemin du Puy - in Aubrac and St Chély d'Aubrac (see link below). Cows, not sheep, however. This event draws a huge crowd to the tiny village of Aubrac, so I think finding lodging there would be difficult. I had walked through Aubrac about a day and a half earlier and happened to see it on my way into Saint-Côme-d'Olt .

There is even a "warning" note about this in my 2013 Miam Miam Dodo on Plan 11 advising of "réservation très à l'avance indispensable..." because of this event and also because of a marathon in that area on another date.

https://www.tourisme-aveyron.com/fr...ranshumance-st-chely-d-aubrac_TFO073183595131

I might be mistaken on this but something in my memory tells me that this type of event occurs in Spain as well.

Glad I saw a bit of it and hope you get the chance, also.

Tom

 

[Felipe]

Yep. In Spain they are officially called "vías pecuarias" (drover's roads), and more coloquially, "cañadas" or "cañadas reales". Transhumance have almost disappeared, but every year there is a transhumance festival in Madrid, with flocks of sheep going down the avenues.
Vias pecuarias are protected by law, but many of them have suffered the ravages of urbanization or plain neglect.
I vaguely remember a point (before León?) where a vía pecuaria intersects the Camino Francés -there was an info panel witrh maps. And I understand that Camino de Madrid goes partially along a vía pecuaria, too.
This latter is the case of the Piedmont way. It seems very traditional and folksy -but on the other side, there are lots of sheep dung, so you have to be careful about the place you sit or place your backpack...

 

[he.panpub]

Hi,
In Spain, in 2017, I hiked on the "Camino Torrès" from Salamanca to Santiago but through Portugal. From Salamanca I walked on "via pecuarias" for 4 days : Salamanca - Ciudad Rodrigo

 

[Bernice M]

Is not the Ruta de la Lana from Alicante to Burgos one such route?

 

[Purky]

Is not the Ruta de la Lana from Alicante to Burgos one such route?

Yes. It was common for pilgrims back in the day to follow the path of traders and shepherds with their herds for added security.

 

[amancio]

Vía de la Plata south of Salamanca is a full fledged transhumance route, you see the "VP" markers all along the way, where VP = Vía Pecuaria, that is, livestock way. Past Aljucén on the way to Alcuéscar you find the broadest stretch of Vía Pecuaria, and also between Fuenterrobles de Salvatierra and Morille you go through places where the livestock track is 80 meters wide and very easy to visualize.

 

[islandwalker]

The Ruta Transandalus makes use of numerous vías pecuarias in its 2000 kilometer mountain bike loop around the perimeter of Andalucia.

 

[amancio]

The Ruta Transandalus makes use of numerous vías pecuarias in its 2000 kilometer mountain bike loop around the perimeter of Andalucia.

indeed, it is an amazing route to do by bike, not so sure on foot, though, but I do know cyclists who are doing it

 

[islandwalker]

not so sure on foot, though,

Good point, Amancio. Most of the route is on tracks, senderos, and vías pecuarias. For the few parts where it is on a paved road, there are trails available that a walker could use as an alternative, such as the GR 7 and the GR 48. Villages are conveniently spaced for walkers as well as cyclists.

 

[amancio]

there you go, I just realized it goes through my hometown in south Granada even! I have heard of an MTB route from Antequera to Zahara de los Atunes and I thought that woudl be part of the Transandalus, but it is not, actually. Interesting...