From Étang de Brocas to La Sauveté de Gabarchet

This walk, starting from the Étang de Brocas, continues through the pine trees, taking you to the Cabane de Gabarchet and contemporary art installation no. 07. Set amongst old parks to the south-west of the village.

A very quiet route. Suitable for walking, hybrid bikes or mountain bikes.
Unmarked route

Details

1067676
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 8.83 mi
  • ◔
    Average duration: 4h 10 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 85 ft
  • ↘
    Descent: - 85 ft

  • ▲
    Highest point: 295 ft
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 194 ft

Photos

Description of the walk

Start from the Étang de Brocas car park.

(S/E) Leave the Étang de Brocas car park, heading towards Garein, following the D353 out of the village. Continue past the businesses (transport and garage).

(1) After the second business, turn right at the fork into the woodland. Continue almost straight on for a long distance until you reach a road.

(2) Cross the road and carry on along the sandy track.

(3) At the four-way crossroads, turn left. Carry on until you reach the D353.

(4) Cross this road, and on the other side take the poorly marked path, which isn’t always easy to follow. Through the vegetation, a high-voltage power line on your right invites you to follow it.

(5) Turn right onto this wide, well-trodden track. At the DFCI406 information sign and before a pylon, continue to the left.

(6) Follow this track through the pine trees until you reach the second junction.

(7) Turn left at the four-way crossroads and you’ll very quickly reach the “Sauveté de Gabarchet”. Take the opportunity to have a break. Go round the hut on the left and continue along this path heading due east.

(8) Turn right onto the small road, then left at the first wide track.

(9) At the yellow schist track, turn left.

(10) Leave this wide track on the right, just before the Bario stream, heading slightly uphill.

(11) At the T-junction, turn left. At the end of the track, turn right.

(12) At the four-way junction, turn left, join the wide, compacted track and continue to a hairpin bend. Pass under the high-voltage power line heading north.

(13) Continue to the right along the sandy track beneath the pine trees, until you reach the edge of the pine forest. In front of the houses, keep right until you reach the campsite. Go round the hill to the left and head back to the car park where you started (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : mi 0 - alt. 210 ft - Car park at the - Étang de Brocas
  2. 1 : mi 0.67 - alt. 253 ft - Turn right after the second business
  3. 2 : mi 1.66 - alt. 276 ft - Cross a road
  4. 3 : mi 1.97 - alt. 289 ft - Turn left at the junction
  5. 4 : mi 2.37 - alt. 289 ft - Cross the D353
  6. 5 : mi 3.1 - alt. 272 ft - Turn right onto the wide, groomed track
  7. 6 : mi 3.69 - alt. 279 ft - Turn left at the DFCI 406 sign
  8. 7 : mi 4.48 - alt. 279 ft - Turn left at the four-way junction
  9. 8 : mi 5.47 - alt. 262 ft - Turn right onto the small road
  10. 9 : mi 6.29 - alt. 243 ft - Turn left onto the compacted track
  11. 10 : mi 6.53 - alt. 243 ft - Before the Bario stream, keep to the right
  12. 11 : mi 6.74 - alt. 240 ft - Turn left at the T-junction
  13. 12 : mi 7.28 - alt. 236 ft - At the junction, turn left
  14. 13 : mi 7.88 - alt. 246 ft - To the right, under the pine trees
  15. S/E : mi 8.83 - alt. 210 ft - Étang de Brocas car park near the - Estrigon (ruisseau) - Affluent de la Midouze

Notes

Please note:
after the WPT (3), there are no signposts.

Bring water, a hat and sunglasses.

It is best to go for a walk in the morning if it is very hot.

At the car park at the start:
tourist information kiosk (in season), picnic area, drinks, mountain bike and pedalos for hire.

Alternative routes:

Between (2) and (5): take the road and then the DFCI406 track.

Between (10) and (13), stay on the wide track.

Worth a visit

Reviews and comments

3.7 / 5
Based on 4 reviews

Reliability of the description
3.8 / 5
Ease of following the route
4 / 5
Route interest
3.3 / 5
PPC5740
PPC5740

Thank you, and enjoy your trips with VR

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cedsto
cedsto

At one point the path was impassable, so I went round the side; after that it was

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PPC5740
PPC5740

Thank you for your comments!

Not too damp?

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cedsto
cedsto

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 04, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

I had a lovely time on this walk; I’d definitely do the ‘Sauveté de la Garbachét’ trail again

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PPC5740
PPC5740

Hello Marie Hélène,

thank you for your feedback.
Sorry for the inconvenience caused by the rain.

This route is largely unmarked, so there’s no trail maintenance; it’s usually the local residents who mark the path as they pass by!

Enjoy your walk

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Marie-Hélène C
Marie-Hélène C

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 18, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

Walk taken on Friday 15 May 2020. A muddy section (following the floods in the South-West). Lots of fields and woodland. A bit monotonous but very peaceful. We didn’t come across a single soul....We lost our way despite having the route and map printed out on paper. Not all the paths had been maintained... So we ended up following the signs put up by the local council...

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Martine1953
Martine1953

The problem is that I don’t have a phone with GPS... I know it’s a bit old-fashioned, but I find it hard to be tethered. I’ll try some ‘better signposted’ routes. Have a nice day

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PPC5740
PPC5740
• Edited:

Thank you, Henri, for your support.
combining four tools (route, map, description, GPS) into a single tool is Visorando’s strong point.

@Martine1953,
I’m sorry to hear your outing was ruined!

You chose a route with no signposting; the landmarks in the countryside are sometimes very similar (the numerous sandy or schist paths all look alike).
The Landes is flat; apart from the pine trees, the landscape isn’t very varied.

For me, the only real difficulty lies between waypoints4 and 5.

The route description and the 1:25,000 IGN map are essential; a GPS is also recommended.

Kind regards

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henri57
henri57 ★

Hello,

Thank you for your feedback,

We set off with the description and the map.

It’s a good start, as the description and the route map go hand in hand.

We got lost twice.

Who hasn’t got lost

Finding your way in the forest isn’t easy, as it can sometimes be difficult to match the map to the terrain. In this particular case, we recommend using a GPS app in addition to the route description and the route map.

This tool, provided free of charge by Visorando, allows you to check waypoints and thus clear up any doubts about your direction.

See you soon

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Martine1953
Martine1953

Overall rating : 2 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 19, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Route interest : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing

We set off with the description and the map.
We got lost twice.
The first time we managed to get back on the route, but not the second time.
We must have covered between 20 and 25 km and found ourselves at a 90° angle to the correct route.
A rather uninteresting walk through the pine trees – very flat, very monotonous and with no landmarks: every path looks just like the one before and the one after...
A pleasant surprise: ‘La Sauveté de Gabarchet’.

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PPC5740
PPC5740

Thank you for your comments. Kind regards

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bedinoche
bedinoche

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 31, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

A lovely walk in the sunshine – a really good route, though there were just a few too many sandy sections

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