Copyright: © 1998 - 2008 John Gardner
| A Walking Guide to the Massif de la Chartreuse |
Introduction
Despite being a "must-visit" destination for the 18th century Grand Tourists and having had its virtues acclaimed by such luminaries as William Beckford, William Wordsworth, John Ruskin and Joseph Turner, the Massif de la Chartreuse (location map) is now somewhat neglected by the British, despite being one of the finest walking areas in France. It does tend to be better known to cavers as it is also one of the finest caving areas in France with several hundred kilometres of caves explored in its 700 sq. kilometres, with three systems exceeding 50 km in length.
It seems to have lost little of its charm during the last 200 years, for in 1995 it was made a Regional Nature Park in recognition of its scenic beauty and its cultural heritage.
The purpose of these web pages is to provide a source of information about the area in general, and the walking in particular. Currently, some 25 walks are described, but more will be added as and when time permits.
Note that the site has been designed to allow rapid down-loading, and so photographs and maps are made available on separate pages.
This site has been developed using XHTML and Cascading Style Sheets, and may not display as intended on older browsers. The pages are designed to be printer friendly, and only the main content part of the page will be printed - without the title bar and the menu bar.
Do feel free to e-mail me with any questions or comments, and also to share your views on this site, or on Chartreuse itself, in the Guest Book.
"Along the mystic streams of Life and Death."
William Wordsworth - Descriptive Sketches (1793)