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AVEYRON and TARN

Tarn Valley from Albi to Millau

Very light, light and Moderate tours; see below

• All tours and cycling routes in Tarn Valley
• All tours and cycling routes in Pays de Roquefort
• All tours and cycling routes in The Canyons of the Grands Causses Nature Park.

Pont Lerouge and Viaduc de Millau

Between Albi, the pink city - with its beautiful old brick-built centre, the Toulouse-Lautrec museum and its Cathedral - and Millau, in the center of Parc des Grands Causses, you will be walking or biking alongside the Tarn river in a steep sided valley. Down in the valley between two hilly plateaux which rise up to 700m height, you'll get the feeling of being up in the mountains. The river flows swiftly to the West through the valley, also called "La Vallée de l'Amitiée", a very friendly place in which to stay and hike and a bit more to the East the Raspes du Tarn. You'll see and visit old castles in Brousse-le-Chateau, Coupiac, St.Izaire and picturesque villages like Ambialet and St.Rome de Tarn. For centuries life and local trade has centered around these places.

From Millau, a pleasant small Mediterranean alike city, also the gateway to the better known canyons of the Gorges du Tarn and a centre for activity holidays, you'll start the Tarn Valley walk under the worlds highest viaduct from where you will be heading further downstream.

From the second half of june the chirring sound of cicades will go all along with you as if in Provence.

More pictures on Pays de Roquefort.

South of the Tarn river, water acting on the limestone plateaux created caves, subterranean rivers, gushing springs. The most famous of the caves is now still used for the ripening of sheep cheese: Roquefort, king of cheeses, cheese of kings.

Pays de Roquefort also includes the Causse du Larzac with its restored Medieval Templars garrisons from where crusades set out in 10th-13th centuries, and the Redlands of Camarès with its Cistercienzer Abbaye de Sylvanès. St.Affrique, a small Southern town, is the starting place of many walks in this walking area. The landscape exudes peace and unspoiled natural beauty. Shepherds will be your only company during hours of walking.

Biking Gorges du Tarn and Cevennes

More pictures of Gorges and Causses.

E ast of Millau the Tarn river and its tributaries carved out 4 canyon like Gorges: Gorges de la Dourbie, Gorges de la Jonte, Gorges du Trèvezel and the most famous of all the Gorges du Tarn. These Gorges are at the heart of the most spectacular walking and cycling area of the Grands Causses Natural Parc. Steep crags of 400m and the typical scenery of limestone plateaux dissected by rivers.You'll see the Grotte Rose of Dargilan, the unusual scenery of the Causses (Le Chaos de Montpellier le Vieux and Roques Altes). Your walk begins and ends in Millau or at Château de Creissels.

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Far away from all the hustle and bustle, at 700km South of Paris, the Tarn river flows from the Cevennes through the departments Lozère, Aveyron and Tarn and the Grands Causses area.

A district with an extraordinary diversity of landscapes, that you will get to know when hiking and cycling through this far South part of the Massif Central: mountains, limestone plateaus (Causses), lush green valleys, roaring rivers (Tarn, Jonte, Dourbie, Lot, Aveyron, Dourdou). Lots of small villages here instead of large urban areas with dense population. No fast food here, but the French cuisine, honest food in small family run hotels where you will get a warm welcome.

Aveyron is also a rich source of (ancient) culture: the district of Templars, medieval cloisters and places of pilgrimage. And... apart from the cyclists and hikers, a renowned district for bird-watching in the valleys and plateaus, called Causses.

Albi is a nice start for accessing the Grands Causses nature park.
By the lovely Tarn valley you will reach Millau in 2, 3 or 4 days cycling, 7 or 8 days walking.