Photos

June 9, 2007
Valleraugue 300339 30570
Gard Languedoc-Roussillon
44.083 3.633 436 m

Carnival or transhumance?
Festival of transhumance. Halt before the continuation of the way towards pastures of mountain.

One sight
Other sight

Preceding publication

Pass of the Serreyrède 1299 m, in the mountain of Aigoual, where the line of the division of water between the slopes the Atlantic and the Mediterranean passes.

Festival of transhumance, departure of sheep towards the Aigoual Mount, followed happy hikers. At the pass of the Serreyrède also is the large "draille of Languedoc" passes, where the sheep transit at the time of transhumance in June of each year. Halt before the continuation of the way towards patures of mountain.
The transhumance of the herds is an ancestral tradition and also the need for changing pasture according to the season, to mitigate the risks of the climate, like the dryness. Transhumance with place in the mid-June and the end of the summer. The shepherds carry out a demanding life, not very favourable to cause vocations of succession.
In this context, to arouse the interest, has been created the festival of the transhumance which takes place each year in Espérou, a small close village, divided between the commune of Valleraugue and Dourbies. Decorated with pompoms and bells, the carved fleece, marked, a total of 10.000 sheep leave for several months mountain pasture towards the pastures Aigoual and Lozere.
http://www.causses-aigoual-cevennes.org/villages/esperou.php

In this mountain of the Cevennes, one discovers very varied and wild landscapes, immense forests, deserted moors, steppes, tracks, brooks, falls of water, canyons, swallow-holes and caves, causses, a vegetation and a typical fauna. One discovers there also people and their habitat, of the disseminated firm hamlets and, architectures which merge with the rocks.
High place of the history of the camisards and men of the maquis, it inspired by many Cevennes writers such Andre Chamson, Jean-Pierre Chabrol or Jean Carrière.
It is a captivating country which one cannot escape from the charm.

Valleraugue is a common Frenchwoman located in the department of the Gard of the Languedoc-Roussillon area, populated of 1009 "Valleraugois", distributed on 79 km², that is to say 12 hab./km².

My images of Valleraugue