A while back, I posted asking for suggestions for walking in France.
Well, thanks to those kind suggestions, I'm just back from a week walking
and camping in Vosges. We were based in Niederbronn-les-Bains, and I
managed to go walking most days. The food on sale wasn't much good for
me as a veggie (it's a very carnivorous region!), but we managed to find
an excellent patiserie!
The entire area is a mature forest (*not* just pine!), and a national
park. The walking is easy by hill-walking standards; the trails are nearly
always gently sloped. Club Vosgien do a good job in signposting the trails;
there are signs at junctions, and then occasional playing-card sized trail
marks on trees. It's effective, and not intrusive. A "problem" is that
the views are very limited by the forest; the odd viewing tower (such as
the one at Grand Wintersberg) allows you to see the range of sharp hills,
all of them covered with forest. In fact, the views are often from outside
the forest (such as from the citadel at [censored]). You're asked to be out
of the forest an hour before sundown, and only return at least an hour after
sunrise; whether these requests are well-observed or not, I don't know. Saw
very few people when walking, which was nice.
If I returned, I'd think seriously about doing a backpacking trip;
the trails make it easy to cover ground, and I think covering distance
would make for more contrast. I might also return when I'm too elderly
to manage things like Mickledore; there's good gentle walking to be had.
Mark
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Mark Manning [email hidden]