Landscapes of the Garonne at Langoiran from the hillsides and riverbanks

Langoiran Town Hall car park Place du Dr Abaut

(S/E) With your back to the car park, cross Avenue du Général de Gaulle and take Rue René Urarre slightly to your right until you reach the footbridge over the Grand Estey. Cross it and take the path immediately on your left that runs alongside the Estey to the Garonne. Leave the footbridge on your left and turn right onto a tree-lined avenue. Pass in front of the Chantiers Navals de Tramasset, a listed historic monument, and continue to a small road on your right.

(1) Leave the banks of the Garonne and take the small road on the right to its end. Turn right again until you reach a roundabout.

(2) Take the^first street on the right (Rue de Verdun) then the^first street on the left (Rue François Mauriac). Continue to Grand Estey at the junction with Chemin de l'Estey.

(3) Turn left onto the right bank of the river. Head upstream, pass under the D10 and continue to a footbridge over the Grand Estey. Cross it and turn left to go up the left bank to the bend in the road. Continue along the bank for about 150 m until you reach the Langoiran exit on the D240. Follow it to the right until you reach the roundabout.

(4) Cross the roundabout. Turn left and walk along the shop car park, following the D20 until you reach a small road on the right (Chemin de Berquin). Follow it for a few dozen metres, then take the path between the two houses on your left. This path climbs quite steeply and leads to the vineyards overlooking the Garonne alluvial plain. Once you reach the vineyard plateau, continue straight ahead on the track between the vines for about 150 m until you reach the track on the left.

(5) Follow it and then turn right after a few metres, passing a small stone hut on your right that was once used to store agricultural equipment. At the end of the vineyard plot, leave the track and take another one on the left, climbing up to a tree-lined sunken path.

(6) Turn right and follow the sunken lane to a small tarmac road that continues along the lane, ignoring the paths on the left and right. The track joins the bend in a road, keep to the right and continue to a crossroads in the hamlet of Le Pin.

(7) Turn left, continue straight ahead, passing a small road on your right that descends into a valley, then climb back up towards Langoiran le Haut. Pass Château Chauvin on your left and, about 300 metres further on, you will reach the start of a farm track on the left, next to a small hut and a vegetable garden.

(8) Follow this path for about 100 metres and turn left onto the farm track heading north-northeast. Keep going in this direction until you reach a bend in a dirt track. Follow it to the right just before reaching a house. Continue to the road (D119), follow it to the left for a few dozen metres, and just before a bus stop, you will see a fire hydrant.

(9) Immediately afterwards, take the dirt track on the right. Walk to the bottom of the valley where it meets another track. Take this track on the right. The track then becomes grassy and quickly turns left. Stay on this grassy track at the bottom of the valley; do not take the paths that go up the hillsides. The track runs alongside a wood and, a few dozen metres after a left-hand bend, you will come to a path that descends to the right.

(10) It descends steeply for a few metres and crosses the woods. Turn 90° left at the edge of the woods, then 90° right along a vineyard plot, then left along the perpendicular plot and finally right onto a path that leads to a house from a small local road.

(11) Follow this road downhill to a hamlet crossed by a valley. When this road turns sharply to the left, leave it and go straight on along the path between the vineyard and the woods. Climb to the end of this plot to reach a small road.

(12) Turn right onto this small road, which stays on the crest ofthe hills (there are several viewpoints over the Garonne valley). Ignore all the crossroads and pass a civil aviation control tower on your left to reach a crossroads shortly afterwards.

(13) Cross and take a vineyard path that climbs up the road embankment before turning right along the vineyard. At the^first intersection with another vineyard path, turn left, then right at the^second intersection, continuing straight west along the plots. You will arrive near the Château de Langoiran. Do not head towards the château, but turn right onto the path that leads to the D119 below.

(14) Cross the D119 and turn left onto the path at the bottom of the vineyard, running parallel to the departmental road for about 200 metres. It then turns right and winds between the vineyard plots without ever heading towards the property at the top of the hill on the right. This path climbs quite steeply towards the top of the hill, marked by a few shrubs that are clearly visible from below. Stay at the top of the embankment; the top of the hill is marked by a small limestone "wall". Follow the path, which curves slightly to the right (north).

(15) Continue along the path between the vineyards, on level ground, until you reach a road. Take the road on the left and pass the cemetery. Go past the gate of the Château le Biac and continue to the calvary, which is set back from the road on the left.

(16) Head towards the calvary, pass to the right of the monument, then take the path that veers right between a wooded area and the property boundary. After a few dozen metres along the property fence, the path descends steeply to lead into the Garonne valley between two properties at the level of the D10.

(17) Cross the D10 (take care) and follow the footbridge on the right along the banks of the Garonne. Pass under the bridge (incorrectly called Pont Eiffel as it was actually built by the contractor Five Lilles) and continue to the mouth of the Grand Estey. Do not cross the Grand Estey.

(18) Walk up the Grand Estey via Rue de Berquin. After about 200 metres, turn right onto Rue des Écoles, a pedestrian street, to reach the town hall car park (S/E).

Picnic tables are available on the banks of the Garonne near the mouth of the Grand Estey.

The paths that cross the vineyards are often private paths used to access the plots. Hikers are tolerated here. However, do not cross the vineyard plots; stay on the paths between the plots. Stay as far away as possible from the buildings and structures in the vineyards, as these are often the headquarters of the wine estate where you are walking.