Donkey trekking in the Cévennes

We'll meet up at 5pm at Mas de Corbière to meet our group and guide. We'll have our first friendly meal together at the gîte, where we'll spend our first night.

The next day, after saddling up our donkeys, we'll head for the Col de l'Asclié (985 m) and its sheep bridge, created for the passage of flocks of ewes during the transhumance.

We'll take the transhumance route towards Mont Aigoual, used every year by almost 10,000 head of cattle to reach the still-green mountain pastures at higher altitudes.

After a break under the hetraie, we reach the beautiful sheepfolds of Bonperrier before continuing on to our gîte, Le Fenouillet. After looking after our donkeys, we'll have dinner at our accommodation, a small family-run business offering a warm welcome.

On the third day, we'll take the winding paths lined with drystone walls to Ardalliers, a pretty village steeped in history and a hotbed of the Resistance. We'll then make our way to Puech Sigal, a magnificent hilltop hamlet, where we'll set up camp and meet Léo and Violette, who will be delighted to show us around their apiary...

In the evening, we'll spend our first night in a self-contained bivouac. We'll be taking advantage of the fact that the Cévennes National Park is one of the places with the least light pollution in France. It has also been awarded the title of Europe's largest dark sky reserve.

Early in the morning, after tidying up the camp and preparing our donkeys, we'll take the winding GR to Notre-Dame-de-la-Rouvière, a remote Catholic village in the middle of this region with a Protestant tradition.

We then continue on to the Valnierette, a small river ideal for a refreshing dip and a well-deserved break. In the shade of oak and chestnut trees, we'll make our way back to the campsite, pleasantly situated on the banks of the river.

We'll have a day to relax and discover the "Jardin des Sambucs", an extraordinary garden with a multitude of plant species and original constructions.

We'll finish the day with a short walk through some pretty hamlets typical of the Cévennes, perhaps giving us an opportunity to meet the local castane grower. Then it's on to our gîte, a small farm with animals and a small swimming pool.

On the last day, we'll follow paths through chestnut groves and green oak forests to reach small Cévennes hamlets surrounded by terraced fields.

We'll discover the medieval village of Saint-Martial and its 12th-century church, before returning to our starting point on the first day.

The tour ends at Mas Corbière at around 4pm.