GR78 - Chemin du Piémont
E-W through the French Pyrenees
500km (approx)
Highest point: Col du Portet d'Aspet 1160m
Being marked the length of the foothills of the French Pyrenees as the GR78, eventually from the Chemin Catalan at Narbonne but currently from Carcassonne via Pamiers, St Lizier, St Bertrand de Comminges and Lourdes. For more details, see vppyr.free.fr and VTT Compostelle sites; also the sites of Association du Chemin de St Jacques in Ariège and Randonnées-Ariège for Ariège; Haute-Garonne FFRP; Hautes-Pyrénées FFRP. The Pyrénées-Atlantiques Amis de St Jacques have waymarked the route on to the Somport route at Oloron and the Roncesvalles route at St-Jean, described in a Guide du Bourdon and on their website. The book Le chemin du Piémont Pyrénéen (Rando Editions) describes a route from Narbonne Plage, which largely corresponds to this route.