Chemin du Piémont
Narbonne, Carcassonne, Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, Lourdes, Arudy, Oloron-Sainte-Marie, St Jean Pied de Port; Montpellier, Béziers, Capestang, Carcassonne
Highest point: Col du Portet d'Aspet 1160m
This route along the length of the foothills of the French Pyrenees was originally conceived as running from Narbonne, via Carcassonne, Pamiers, St Lizier, St Bertrand de Comminges and Lourdes, to Oloron and St Jean Pied de Port.
From Carcassonne to the departmental border west of Lourdes, it has been marked as the GR78. See the sites of Aude FFRP; Association du Chemin de St Jacques in Ariège and Randonnées-Ariège for Ariège; Haute-Garonne FFRP; Hautes-Pyrénées FFRP for details of the respective sections.
The continuation on to the Somport route at Oloron and the Roncesvalles route at St Jean is with the stylised shell symbol. See Pyrénées-Atlantiques Amis de St Jacques for description of this.
For details of the whole Narbonne-St Jean route, see vppyr.free.fr and VTT Compostelle sites. The book Le chemin du Piémont Pyrénéen (Rando Editions) describes a route from Narbonne Plage, which largely corresponds to this route.
East of Carcassonne, there are two other possibilities:
- an extension of the GR78 from the Via Tolosa at Montpellier via St-Thibéry and Capestang to Carcassonne is planned
- webcompostella.com describes an alternative between Narbonne and Fanjeaux, the Voie des Abbayes, and also a link from Coursan to Narbonne
Detailed mapping for sections (compare with list above):
- Narbonne-St Jean Pied de Port
| km | cumul km | view on map | ||
| Narbonne-Fontfroide | 15.35 | 15.35 | ||
| Fontfroide-Lézignan | 16.78 | 32.13 | ||
| Lézignan-Lagrasse | 30.52 | 62.65 | ||
| Lagrasse-Montirat | 26.33 | 88.98 | ||
| Montirat-Carcassonne | 9.24 | 98.22 | ||
| Carcassonne-Montréal | 24.37 | 122.59 | ||
| Montréal-Fanjeaux | 12.21 | 134.80 | ||
| Fanjeaux-Mirepoix | 26.65 | 161.45 | ||
| Mirepoix-Le Carlaret | 23.00 | 184.45 | ||
| Le Carlaret-Pamiers | 9.99 | 194.44 | ||
| Pamiers-Pailhès | 24.96 | 219.40 | ||
| Pailhès-Mas d'Azil | 16.19 | 235.59 | ||
| Mas d'Azil-Saint Lizier | 28.47 | 264.06 | ||
| Saint Lizier-Castillon | 16.92 | 280.98 | ||
| Castillon-Saint Lary | 16.29 | 297.27 | ||
| Saint Lary-Cazanaous/Montcaup | 23.12 | 320.39 | ||
| Montcaup-Genos | 10.65 | 331.04 | ||
| Genos-Saint Bertrand de Comminges | 13.19 | 344.23 | ||
| Saint Bertrand de Comminges-Lortet | 25.82 | 370.05 | ||
| Lortet-Moulin des Baronnies | 17.30 | 387.35 | ||
| Moulin des Baronnies-Bagnères de Bigorre | 23.14 | 410.49 | ||
| Bagnères de Bigorre-Germs | 16.39 | 426.88 | ||
| Germs-Lourdes | 17.13 | 444.01 | ||
| Lourdes-Betharram | 15.34 | 459.35 | ||
| Betharram-Asson | 14.10 | 473.45 | ||
| Asson-Ste Colome | 17.42 | 490.87 | ||
| Ste Colome-Oloron | 25.37 | 516.24 | ||
| Oloron-Hôpital St Blaise | 21.85 | 538.09 | ||
| Hôpital St Blaise-Mauléon | 14.54 | 552.63 | ||
| Mauléon-St Just Ibarre | 23.24 | 575.87 | ||
| St Just Ibarre-St Jean Pied de Port | 20.41 | 596.28 | ||
| a | Fontfroide-St André de Roquelongue | 9.33 | 9.33 | |
| a | St André de Roquelongue-Lagrasse | 27.83 | 37.16 | |
| v | Ste Colome-Arudy | 3.42 | 3.42 | |
| v | Ste Colome-Louvie Juzon | 3.35 | 6.77 |
| Section overview | All sections | Individual section (select above) * | |
| IGN (France) | view | view | view |
| OpenStreetMap | view | view | view |
| Bing maps | view | view | view |
| Google maps** | view | view | view |
- opens in separate tab/window
- viewing all sections may take long time to load on slow lines and/or machines
- OpenStreetMap/Bing/Google cover all countries; national topo maps only sections in that country
- * display of individual section does not work in popup on route overview page
- ** initial load of Google maps takes longer
Id: piemont