Le Ravin secret de Champernal
2 points of interest
- 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.” - 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”.
Description
- Departure : Pont de Champernal
- Arrival : Pont de Champernal
- Towns crossed : Saint-Privat-de-Vallongue and Ventalon en Cévennes
Forecast
Altimetric profile
Recommandations
Attention au franchissement du pont routier à l'arrivée pour rejoindre le parking.
Information desks
Tourism'house and national Parc at Florac
Place de l'ancienne gare, N106, 48400 Florac-trois-rivières
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
Tourism office Des Cévennes au mont-Lozère, Le Collet-de-Dèze
RN 106, 48160 Le Collet-de-Dèze
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.
Open year-round
Access and parking
Parking :
Source
Report a problem or an error
If you have found an error on this page or if you have noticed any problems during your hike, please report them to us here: