Copyright: © 1998 - 2008 John Gardner
| A Walking Guide to the Massif de la Chartreuse |
Introduction
"The Grande Chartreuse has exceeded my expectations; it is more wonderfully wild than I can describe, or even you can imagine. It has possessed me to such a degree, that I can at present neither think, speak, nor write upon any other subject."
William Beckford. 1778
Although it was a "must-visit" destination for the 18th century Grand Tourists and having had its virtues acclaimed by such luminaries as Gray, Beckford, Wordsworth, Ruskin and 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, and three systems exceeding 50 km in length.
It has lost little of its charm in the last 250 years, and in 1995 it was made a Regional Nature Park in recognition of its scenic beauty and its cultural heritage, a status which was renewed in 2008.
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 26 walks are described, and 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.
A PDF file (3.27 Mb) of the print version of the website with maps but without photographs, is available for download.
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)