The Chappe Tower at Narbonne-Jonquières

Narbonne – Domaine de Montplaisir on the edge of the former RN9. Car park above the château.

(S/E) Leave the car park heading towards the astronomical observatory, then follow the DFCI track. Pass a crossroads and a water reservoir to descend into the ravine of the Ruisseau du Villa de Fargues. After a bend near the A61, reach a crossroads.

(1) Head straight on, following the track uphill, pass a stone-clad operations post and arrive at a fork in the road with three branches.

(2) Take the central track westwards, which leads to a T-junction.

(3) Turn left, then, after a bend, pass under a double high-voltage power line, then past a micro-weather station. Turn left at the Fork in the road and head down to the Domaine de Jonquières (tennis court below on the left).

(4) Avoid the estate by taking the tarmac track to the right, then leave it at the next bend. Note a wind turbine (well) on your left, then follow the Ruisseau du Villa de Fargues stream before reaching a T-junction in a clearing. Ignore the side paths and follow the “gas markers” (specific warning posts) for a short while.

(5) At the Figaïrolles fork in the road, turn left, leaving the underground gas pipeline behind, and pass under the two high-voltage power lines again. Head slightly uphill to reach a double junction. At the 123m mark, turn right to reach a good track. Take a detour to the left to visit the Chappe Narbonne-Jonquières Tower (see § During the hike).

(6) Behind the tower, take the path that joins the track you left earlier. Stay on this track, which takes a detour through the Fenouillet ravine. At the next bend, cut across a hairpin bend. Return to the track and continue to a crossroads.

(7) Turn right (at the barrier) and head towards the first houses of Montplaisir on Rue Sainte-Émilie. Turn left onto Avenue des Constellations. At the corner by a care home, turn left to reach the Domaine de Montplaisir (S/E).

The Chappe Tower at Narbonne-Jonquières
The Chappe Tower at Narbonne-Jonquières stands on the heights of Roches Grises, above the water tower. The entire system was situated on high points, about ten kilometres apart. The Chappe telegraph lines were in use from 1793 to 1855. They formed the world’s first telecommunications network. They support an indicator mechanism that allows geometric shapes to be formed. “Instead of transmitting complete sentences, codes are transmitted,” explains Renaud Laus, president of Arhiscom.
Each position denotes a number from 1 to 92, always presented in pairs. The first figure indicates the page number and the second the line number. The correspondences were known only to the line manager. This system offered almost 8,500 combinations. The technology made it possible to transmit important messages from Narbonne to Paris in five hours. A revolutionary advance, as at the time it took five days on horseback to deliver the messages to their recipients... the GSM network has certainly changed all that!