Creation of the Great loop of the Périgord-Limousin Park, Vaque Veire

To respond to new trends and the growing appetite for roaming, the Périgord-Limousin Regional Natural Park wanted to strengthen its hiking offering and promote its territory through a gentle discovery of its heritage (natural, cultural and landscape).

CREATE A TRIP TO DISCOVER THE LANDSCAPES AND CULTURE OF PériGORD-LIMOUSIN

In response to new trends and the growing appetite for roaming, the Périgord-Limousin Regional Natural Park wanted to strengthen its hiking offering and promote its territory through a gentle discovery of its heritage (natural, cultural and landscape). In this context, the Park and the Dordogne department have created a 200 km route, inaugurated in May 2019: “The Great Loop of the Périgord-Limousin Park, Vaque Veire”.

Initially designed for hiking, the route was marked out for mountain biking use and connected to the Tour Charente VTT, in partnership with the departments of Haute-Vienne, Charente and the Charente FFVélo departmental committee (2021/22).

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Defining a Path at the Crossroads

The Grande Boucle was designed largely on municipal paths, registered in the PDIPR (Departmental Plan of Walking and Hiking Routes) of Haute-Vienne and Dordogne for several reasons.

On the one hand, to respond to a demand from the territory by proposing a hiking offer complementary to the existing one and which creates the link between the territories which constitute the Regional Natural Park. On the other hand, this leads to the enhancement of the existing network of paths and facilitates the monitoring and maintenance of all the routes.

Finally, this allows the meeting of different users (residents and vacationers, hikers or mountain bikers, practitioners in a sporting or leisure setting, etc.), to cross-reference expectations and needs to respond to them and work on the qualification of the offer .

Ensure the sustainability of the route

Aimed at a varied public, passable all year round, particularly in spring and autumn, the Grande Boucle is a reason to visit the Périgord-Limousin Regional Natural Park. The route, which allows tourist attendance to be distributed over the seasonal wings, generates economic benefits (shops, accommodation, catering, etc.). Also, it is necessary to ensure its maintenance, monitoring, and to put in place appropriate valorization to guarantee its practice and sustainability.

Lead the itinerary as part of the Tourist OFFER

The Park relies on this roaming to carry out a certain number of tourist actions, in conjunction with its partners: listing accommodation, creating stays along the route, organizing events on the loop, etc.

The Great Loop in a few figures:

1 launch event: 8 hikes supervised by 7 local associations
-180 km traveled
-286 participants and more than 50 community volunteers mobilized
-5 cultural events organized around hikes bringing together 145 people
Trail la Virada dau Parc: individual initiative of a non-stop trail on the Grande loop du Parc for the benefit of France Alzheimer in June 2022. The event made it possible to mobilize local associations to accompany Patrick Heyer in his race or organize refreshments .