Nîmes-le-Vieux
Paysage du causse Méjean à Galy
Paysage du causse Méjean à Galy - © Olivier Prohin
Fraissinet-de-Fourques

Nîmes-le-Vieux

Agriculture and livestock farming
Causses and Cévennes / UNESCO
Water and geology
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This ruiniform block field (felsenmeer) on the Causse Méjean has resulted from the capricious dissolution of the dolomite limestone. It emerges suddenly, like a final panoramic viewpoint before the abyss of the gorges that delimit the Causse.

The Nîmes-le-Vieux Trail showcases a variety of typical Causse Méjean landscapes: stony arid hillocks; a few hollows of deep soil overlaid with winding plough lines; steep promontories looming rampart-like; and vast stretches of craggy rocks, whose shapes fire your imagination and captivate you.


6 points of interest

  • Nîmes-le-Vieux
    Nîmes-le-Vieux - © Eddie Balaye
    History

    Nîmes-le-Vieux: a trail to the very core of dolomite rock

    The block field of Nîmes-le-Vieux was given its name in 1908 by its “discoverer” Paul Arnal, the Protestant pastor of Vébron. In 1910, the journal Causses and Cévennes published an article about the site by the famous geographer E.A. Martel: “Unlike Montpellier-le-Vieux, it is not a collection of enclosed spaces 100 m deep and grouped around a central rocky range, but a cliff front, a projection of the Causse Méjean surface that presents a long stretch of semi-circles all bristling with hundreds of carved, sculpted Dolomite rocks full of holes…”

  • Hameau de l'Hom
    Hameau de l'Hom - © Guy Grégoire
    Landscape

    A “handmade” landscape

    The hamlet of L'Hom stands sheltered from the north and west winds by a rocky barrier, on the edge of a basin of deep soil (doline) that is the reason for its being built in this very spot.

  • Pie grièche
    Pie grièche - © Régis Descamps
    Fauna

    Imps of shrubs and rocks

    Birds as light as sprites and as quick to vanish find shelter and food here. The combination of short-grass prairie rich in both grasses and herbaceous plants (and frequented by insects and rodents), and rocky areas offering much shelter means that many varieties of bird can be observed.

  • Paysage du causse Méjean
    Paysage du causse Méjean - © Guy Grégoire
    Geology

    A drop, time and an abyss

    This ruiniform relief has resulted from the dissolution of the bedrock, which has left behind the most resistant parts and given them the most varied shapes. The areas that are currently hollows have been subject to the most intense erosion, which has in some places created arches, vaults and even small gorges. Since the Causses emerged from the sea during the Mesozoic, rainwater from the lower strata of the atmosphere (and hence high in carbonic acid) has entered the bedrock through its many fissures and permeated its depths, speeding up its erosion.

  • Saxifrage des Cévennes
    Saxifrage des Cévennes - © Yves Maccagno
    Flora

    Attack!

    Even on bare rock, plant life manages to get a hold and evolve increasingly plentiful habitats for species that are increasingly demanding. From lichens to flowering plants, this is the great adventure of plant life, starting from the driest mineral substrate.

  • Sentier de Nîmes-le-Vieux, causse Méjean
    Sentier de Nîmes-le-Vieux, causse Méjean - © Olivier Prohin
    Tradition

    When the herdsman...

    The chorus of the “Chanson du Bouvier” inflects in the vowels of the alphabet (to which ancient civilisations attributed the virtue of an incantation) the “divine name which must not be pronounced”. Bouvier is also the old name for the Arcturus constellation (Boötes), which is near Ursa Major and looks as though it is following the latter’s Plough through boundless space, as a herdsman follows his cattle.


Description

From the car park, walk about 150 m through the hamlet, then turn left after the agricultural buildings.

  • Departure : L'Hom, car park
  • Arrival : L'Hom, car park
  • Towns crossed : Fraissinet-de-Fourques and Vebron

Forecast


Altimetric profile


Recommandations

This walk has six numbered information panels.
Horse-riding or mountain-biking are not allowed on or adapted to discovery trails.

Is in the midst of the park
The national park is an unrestricted natural area but subjected to regulations which must be known by all visitors.

Information desks

Tourism'house and national Parc at Florac

Place de l'ancienne gare, N106, 48400 Florac-trois-rivières

https://www.cevennes-gorges-du-tarn.cominfo@cevennes-parcnational.fr04 66 45 01 14

This office is part of the National Park's associated tourist-information network, whose mission is to provide information on, and raise awareness of, the sites and events as well as the rules that must be observed in the National Park's central zone.

On site:  exhibitions, video projections, events and shop Open year-round

Find out more

Access and parking

Col du Perjuret, on the D 996 from Florac or Meyrueis, or on the D 18 from Mont Aigoual. At the Col du Perjuret, head towards L'Hom, where the walk starts.
It is not possible to start this walk from Galy. 

Parking :

Car park on the right as you enter L'Hom hamlet

Calculateur d'itinéraire Lio

Utilisez le calculateur liO pour organiser votre trajet en région Occitanie.

Autres régions

Calculez votre itinéraire en Auvergne Rhône Alpes sur Oùra


Source

Parc national des Cévenneshttp://www.cevennes-parcnational.fr/

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