Parcours VTT L'Ecluse de Nourriguier
This easy route will allow you to discover the Costières landscape and take you to the Rhône-Sète canal, popular with boaters.
Route details
Description
The Rhône-Sète canal has a very slight gradient in Terre d'Argence, and the Nourriguier lock is the only one in operation along the route. It is mechanized and automated.
Along the banks, the shallow ponds offer opportunities to observe a large number of birds (egrets, grey herons, kingfishers, etc.) that find their food here. The marshes and wetlands are conservation sites for the European pond turtle.
On your journey, you will pass through Valescure on an ancient aqueduct built in the 1st century AD.
Audio guide for the route is available via the Latitude Gard smartphone app, downloadable from the App Store and Google Play.
For your comfort and safety, equip yourself with the appropriate equipment. Before setting off on the circuit, check if it is suitable for your level and check the weather. Stay on marked paths, respect nature, facilities and cultivated plots, do not transport or light fires. In summer, remember to hydrate yourself. Enjoy your walk.
Along the route, directional posts guide you. The name of the place and/or direction to follow is indicated in bold italics and in quotation marks. Follow the description below:
D – From “BELLEGARDE – Place Batisto Bonnet”, follow Rue de Beaucaire towards “VALESCURE”. Turn left at the roundabout and then, when you reach “Mas St Jean”, turn right to reach “VALESCURE”.
1. At "VALESCURE", turn left towards "Mas de la Fontaine du Roy", carefully following the yellow markers. Go over the railway line and turn right, then turn right again onto the road which this time passes under the railway line. 230m further on, take the path on the left.
2. Arriving at "Mas de la Fontaine du Roy", turn right towards "ÉCLUSE DE NOURIGUIER". Cross 2 roads (Caution! Especially when crossing the RD38).
3. At “NOURIGUIER LOCK”, turn right to follow the Rhône to Sète canal towards the “PORT” via “Le Pation”.
4. At "LE PORT", turn right to return to "BELLEGARDE – Place Batisto Bonnet" via "BELLEGARDE – Église" (Caution when crossing the RD38!)
Route taken from the map guide of the Gard departmental collection Espaces Naturels "Terre d'Argence, entre Provence et Camargue"
