Spring had arrived in Provence, as we started off on the first day of my through hike between St. Gilles and Roquefort on the Côte d’Azur. My wife joined me for the 22km hike between St. Gilles and Arles, primarily along the Petit Rhone river, a branch of the Rhone that runs from Fourques (just north of Arles) to the Mediterranean – also connecting to the Canal du Rhône to Sête via a lock just south of St. Gilles.
It was a mostly sunny day, reaching 18 degrees at its height – a beautiful day for walking. We had spent the night in Nimes, and therefore took a local bus from Nimes to St. Gilles, arriving downtown at 9.30am.
We didn’t hang around in the town and quickly found the first marker pointing us in the right direction. St. Gilles to Arles is the last (or first, depending on which way you are going) stage on The Arles Way, popularly known as Via Tolosana, so it is well signed.
We had quickly passed through the small town before crossing the Canal Rhône to Sête and continuing through the countryside towards the Petit Rhône. Although the weather indicated it was spring, the trees, vines and flowers hadn’t started to bloom, so the countryside was a mixture of green and grey. I missed a turn along a disused railway track after 3,5km, which led us on an extra 1km back and forth to the small hamlet of Cavalès – which didn’t make me popular with my wife.
For most of the next 17km we walked along a grassy path with the Petit Rhône on our right hand side and different kinds of farming on our lefthand side – fields for crops, orchards and grapevines. It was a pleasant walk, away from traffic, but without a lot of variation. We could also see the Alpes in the distance – topped in snow.
At one point we could see some greyish blobs in the distance blocking the path. We discussed whether they were stones or animals. As we got closer, we could see that it was a flock of sheep grazing along the path with a dog keeping an eye on them. What was worse, the farmer had set up a fence that blocked the path. We climbed down the slope and continued along a the fence, that had been put up next to small tree and scrub, so there was next to no place to walk. We could see that at least one other person had taken the same path. The sheep and the dog were very interested and followed us all the way along the fence, which extended 700m. I eventually got tired of clambering through trees and scrub, often with thorns, and started pulling up the fence and moving it a few meters away from the scrub, giving more room to walk. It was super frustrating that we had to take this detour, but probably the single thing we remember most clearly from the todays walk.
Back on track, we took a break before continuing along the path. There were a number of barriers along the path, blocking vehicles, but with sign stating that there was no entry as it was dangerous to walk along the path. We assumed the message was only for vehicles and continued – not finding any dangers along the way.
We crossed the river on the outskirts of Fourques continued along the river on a stretch very popular with walkers and runners before heading into Arles crossing the Rhone itself.
We stopped for a refreshment, before taking the bus back to Nimes.
