Champdomergue

Agriculture and livestock farming

History and culture

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Champdomergue: a site of remembrance of the wars of religion and World War II.

Here everything is a reminder of subsistence farming, where people grew their own vegetables and maintained the chestnut orchards: walled terraces that have now been colonised by holm oak; a former béal (irrigation channel) carved into the rock; a wall built from upright stones.

4 points of interest

Agriculture
The béal (irrigation channel)
On large slabs of stone, the path straddles the béal which irrigates the crop terraces, and whose starting-point is 1.5km upstream.
“I know that several people had a right to the béal, and they each had their day to use the water. Where I lived there were at least 3 kilometres of béal, and to maintain them, we’d work in March and autumn. Nowadays you can water the parcels with a hose but it doesn’t distribute the water like a béal. When there were channels everywhere, everything was green, now it’s all dry”.
Agriculture
Bancels (crop terraces)
“They used to have their gardens over there, in Cessenade, they planted tomatoes, beans… because the village wasn’t hooked up to the water mains yet. The bancels were walled in to keep back the soil, with an opening just large enough for one man and his load of manure, they carried everything on their backs, even a mule couldn’t get there… Back then, there was so much to do that on evenings when the moon was full, they would repair the low walls, and there were people, this is really long ago, who took on a labourer to help them and they paid him with two or three basketfuls of soil that he would take back to his own bancels.”
History
Champdomergue
In the field are the ruins of Champdomergue where, in 1702, the first confrontation of the Camisard War took place between those fighting for freedom of conscience and Louis XIV’s soldiers. Champdomergue was a commemorative site until 1937.
In 1943 and 1944, Champdomergue sheltered a Resistance unit of German and Spanish antifascists, Armenians and Russians (deserters and escaped prisoners) and French men. They actively participated in the Vallée Longue Resistance through various acts against the Gestapo and the French Milice.
History
The railroad
The railway was primarily used to transport goods and passengers. In 1943-44, more than 120,000 people travelled on this line every year. Chestnut and maritime-pine wood were taken down to the plains and coal, materials and goods for shopkeepers were brought up. “People took the train to sell their products and produce at the market in La Grand-Combe. That market financially supported the whole area. There were big crowds there, and miners earned a good living in those days, so they didn’t pinch pennies at the market.”

Description

At Champernal bridge, take the path on the right bank of the brook to join up with a disused railway.
1) Turn right onto the disused railway.
2) Immediately after the railway bridge, take the little path on the left that goes uphill via Rome to join up with a track on the ridge.
3) Turn right onto this track until you reach the road, which you take downhill through Leyris Bas. Past this hamlet and a spring, take the path that goes uphill on the left. You climb through a reforested area of pine, Douglas fir and spruce, crossing a forestry track several times.
4) When you reach the ridge track, take a track on the left to Champdomergue. Walk around the meadow on the left. At the road, turn right and go downhill to the pass.
5) Below the pass, take the track on the right.
6) At the first intersection, go downhill on the left and continue on the main track. Then take the road downhill to Altavias, La Borie and Soulatges.
7) Take the path downhill to Burjas, which runs above the disused railway.
8) Take the disused railway for 750 m.
9) Fork left onto a path that comes out on the N 106. Turn right onto the road to get back to your car.

Departure : N106: hairpin bend below La Blacherette (at Champernal bridge)
Arrival : N106: hairpin bend below La Blacherette (at Champernal bridge)
Towns crossed : Saint-Privat-de-Vallongue, Ventalon en Cévennes

Altimetric profile

Recommandations

Make sure your equipment is appropriate for the day’s weather conditions. Remember that the weather changes quickly in the mountains. Take enough water, wear sturdy shoes and put on a hat. Please close all gates and barriers behind you.

Information desks

Office de tourisme Des Cévennes au mont Lozère

le Quai, 48220 Le Pont de Montvert sud mont-Lozère

https://www.cevennes-montlozere.com/

info@cevennes-montlozere.com

04 66 45 81 94

Tourism'house and national Parc at Florac

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

https://www.cevennes-gorges-du-tarn.com

info@cevennes-parcnational.fr

04 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

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