Description: Start from the small car park in the centre of Vesegnin, next to the Domaine de la Boissière. You can find the exact starting point on the map further down if you don’t know the area.
Follow the road that goes through the centre of Vesegnin. After around 200 meters you will see a small apartment building, and here you take left and follow the small road that takes you down to the river Lion.
Follow the path until it takes you back on to Route du Maroc, take right and almost immediately to the left and you will see that you are on promenade de Gotaz.
Just before you come to the first house on your left you cut across the field. After a few meters you will meet the path that comes from Chemin des Etalles and you follow this pathway back to you starting point.
Description: The best starting point for this walk if you come by car is the big car park in front of the Gaston Laverriere sports complex.
Next to the car park there is a playground, a small skate park and also various possibilities for ball games (basketball, football and volleyball).
You will find a walking path that starts between the buildings to your left when standing in front of the Gaston Laverriere building.
After passing the buildings take right on Chemin des Tattes. After around 500 meters you’ll come to a crossing and because this is a circular walk you can choose to go left or right.
I normally start off to the left and has done so for this description. The left side will take you across the fields along the stream of Le Lion and you will find benches to sit down and rest if you need.
You will have the views of the Jura mountains on one side and the Alps on your other side.
After around 1,8 km you will arrive at a residential area. At the crossing, keep right. You will soon be passing the two tennis courts and a small playground.
Keep going straight on. When you reach the crossing with the possibility to take left to Ornex, you should stop to take a look at the Marais de Bois de Vessy. Here, the commune of Ornex has installed ponds for birds. Because of the large number of insects found around these types of ponds, many species of birds seek out these areas to find food. These ponds also provide an important source of drinking water for the birds. You will find observation platforms allowing you to get a better view of the animal life in and around the ponds.
When you’ve finished your bird watching, return back on the walking route towards Prevessin. Very shortly, you’ll reach the BMX and street work-out park. Turn right after the BMX park and continue straight on until you find yourself back at the starting point for this walk.
Description: I started this walk from the small car park in the centre of Vesegnin, next to the Domaine de la Boissière. You can find the exact starting point on the map further down if you don’t know the area. Further away, next to the elementary school of Grand Chènes, there’s a bigger car park and also a play area for those kids who still have some energy left to burn after the walk.
Starting from the Vesegnin car park, you walk along Route de Vesegnin through the small hamlet of buildings. After about 500 meters, take left onto Promenade de la Manchette.
Continue straight on. After another 500 meters, take left and follow the promenade de la Manchette. Keep walking straight on, after yet another 500 meters you again keep to the left and walk through a small barrier and continue straight on.
Now, walk until you see a bridge on your left side. Cross the bridge and you will see a small pathway that takes you along the river Le lion. In the springtime when there is plenty of water you may come across one or two people fishing.
If you are the proud owner of a fishing rod and would like to try catching a nice trout or two, don’t forget to buy the fishing licence before you start fishing. You can get this at the tourist information. Fun fact: women pay less for these licences in France, as a way to promote fishing as a less gender-specific activity!
Walking along Le Lion is peaceful, and you won’t meet a lot of people. In the springtime, you will be sure to smell the wild garlic that grows here in large quantities.
If you pay attention to the river you will also see the point where the rivers Le Lion and Le Grand Journans meet.
Where the pathway joins the road, continue to the right, and soon you will be walking past a small farm with chickens, horses and cows.
Continue along this road until you reach a roundabout. Here, keep right and walk on the Vie Detraz through another roundabout. When you reach the third roundabout, take right and you’ll soon be on the carriage road again.
When you are back at the bridge where you found the pathway, you now take left and continue back to Vesegnin.
This is a town people usually drive past, either on their way up into the Jura mountains, or towards Geneva in the other direction. Until recently, the main road passed right through the town centre, but now skirts around it, making Gex even easier to overlook.
Courthouse and prison – in the middle ages the prison was located inside the caste. It was moved out of the castle in 1616. Later it became to small (or maybe there were just too many criminals around) and it was moved outside of town. The new prison had twenty-four cells divided between two floors: twelve on the ground floor for men, and twelve on the first floor for women.
Having lived in the Pays de Gex area for almost 20 years I decided that doing the historic walk around Gex was well overdue. Knowing that there is a weekly market on Saturdays, I decided that it would be a good occasion to combine visiting the market stalls with exploring some history. As the walk took me around Gex I realized how little I knew about the history of the area I live in.
You can almost feel the different epochs of history when walking around. In the little “bourg” (town centre) just below the castle ruins you are taken back to the middle ages and you can imagine how crowded it must have been in medieval times, with lots of noise and family life around the small square.
In other parts of Gex you feel taken back only a couple of hundred years, when Gex was an important and prosperous town in the region, with its small yet majestic town hall and courthouse.
Town hall – you will see on the doors that the coat of arms shows the Sire de Joinville
With all the contemporary architecture and large supermarkets and shopping centres that the influx of people to this area has brought in recent years, it’s easy to overlook the small local towns like Gex. I really recommend that you take some time to explore this small and charming town in the near future.
Fountain – built in 1746 with stones from Samoëns in Savoie.
You will find the walking route further down in the article but it’s always useful to have the printed map. You can get it from the local Tourist Office, located in Rue des Terreau.
In the summer months the tourist office also offers guided tours. To contact the Tourist information:
Each stop on the route has a panel of historic facts. Since these panels are unfortunately only in French, here are some historic facts about Gex and Pays de Gex:
Le Pays de Gex was called “Gaium” in the very old Latin charters, which is a word the old Romans used to describe a thick forest.
Gex has been inhabited since at least 1800 years before Christ.
In the 11th century, the Lordship of Gex became a Barony under the authority of the Count of Geneva.
Castle – built in 1353 by the Savoyards to guard the passagewayover La Faucille and the Jura mountain. In 1590 the Swiss decided it was time to attack and destroy it.
The geographical surface stretched from Fort l’Écluse in the west all the way to Versoix in current Switzerland, before being split between Geneva and Gex. In 1353 the Duke of Savoy sized the Barony and it became part of the Duchy of Savoy.
Church – built in 1860 and replacing the old church which was located where you today will find the Perdtemps primary school.
Gex and the Pays de Gex remained a political entity under the rule of the Dukes of Savoy for the next two hundred years until 1536, when the Bernese moved in to snatch control over the region. From 1563 Pays the Gex was torn between the Swiss, the Savoyards and the French and their respective religious convictions, with Catholicism in France and the Protestant reform going on in Switzerland. In 1601 Pays de Gex became attached to the Kingdom of France.
Tanneries – The tanneries used the water from the river Journans along with the tree bark that the nearby forest provided for the treatment of leather. The varying levels of water in the river forced the tanneries to stop the work for four months of the year. The last of the tanneries closed during the economical downturn of 1929.
Features: River – Views – Birds- Threes – Playground- Skate park
Overview: Accessible for all
Time: around 1-hour Km: 3,9
Description: Start from the centre in Gex and walk down Avenue Francis Blanchard until you see the the entrance to the park Promenade des Berges du Journans.
You will enter by walking own a flight of stairs where you have can look at the backside of the houses that used to be on the main street. The waterfall, the river, the threes and birdsong will give you the feeling of being out in the forest even if you are surrounded by houses and apartments. Choose you path and follow the river down towards Cessy. You will find several benches and there are many picnic tables available.
When you have crossed Chemin de la Poudriere you will find a nice and new playground and also one of the best skateparks in the area. Here you will also find the restaurant Mamma Mia that serves Italian food as well as ice-creams and refreshments.
In this part of the park you can also find a fitness trail.
The park ends when you come to Route the Mury and you have to turn around and walk back with the beautiful view on the Jura mountains ahead of you.
If you visit in the spring the you will be sure to smell the wild garlic!
Gex is the administrative center in the Pays the Gex and offers a variety of shops and restaurants and coffee places. If you have time, I recommend a walk around the streets in the town center.
The Activity Factory 