Le Pin

• Gard (30330) • Population: 339 • Altitude: 176 m

Le Pin is a small village in the pine and garrigue hills between Bagnols-sur-Cèze and Uzès in the Gard department. The village has a church with a sharply-steepled octagonal bell tower in front and at the back a square clock tower topped with a birdcage style campanile.

No village café, no commerce.

The only other sight of note in the village is an ancient covered lavoir (washhouse).

There's no café and no commerce in the village of Le Pin. A reminder of the loss is the fading sign for the Café Bouletin, which we were told has been closed for a long time. The small town of Connaux is only 5 km to the east, with shops and restaurants, and of course the large town of Bagnols-sur-Cèze is only 12 km to the northeast.

Although Le Pin village is tiny, there's recent and on-going housing construction (2015) here, mainly extinding to the west of the village center.

History of Le Pin

Name

First record, 1040 Villa Bonoïolo

Le Pin was on the St-Jacques-de-Compostelle upper German route, from Nuremberg, in 1520. In 1699 is was on the Great Languedoc (Toulouse-Lyon) route of St-Jacques-de-Compostelle.

Prehistoric: There was Neolithic, Chalcolithique and Bronze Age occupation here and in the surrounding hills.

Gallo-Roman: Important Roman ruins and artifacts have been uncovered (and are still being excavated) at the quarters of Les Planes (southwest of the village) and Messeiran at the Tave river just northwest of the village.

Medieval: There are some vestiges of the original 16th-century chateau. The village church dates from the 11th century but was rebuilt in the 19th century.

Hiking

• GPS: 44.090274, 4.540438

Maps

IGN (1/25,000) #2941 OT "Uzès"

"Le Val de Tave", map+info (1:25'000)

There are several good loop-hikes available from the village of Le Pin, most clearly marked with the yellow blaze of the petite randonée (PR) trails and signposted at strategic junctions.

A 1h30 loop east will take you to the extensive Roman and Pre-Roman Oppidum of Gaujac, with a stop along the way at the lookout tower and panorama panel of La Gardie. The Gaujac Oppidum is now large stone terraces and low walls, but was inhabited by Pre-Romans, Gallo-Romans and had a Medieval village.

Other PR loop hikes (2 to 3 hours) will take you to the nearby villages in each direction: Pougnadoresse, Saint Pons-la-Calm or Gaujac.

We did a 19-km loop hike to the south that included the Gaujac Oppidum and the villages of La Capelle and Masmolène (4h30), and shorter versions of that hike can be done.

Transportation Le Pin

Department 30, Gard Buses

See Beyond's Gard Department Bus Schedules for Gard bus-lines maps and bus-line schedules (Horaires).

Maps (Plans) for the Gard bus lines are on the www.edgard.fr website, with a flash webpage for each of five zones around Nîmes (www.edgard-transport.fr/plan/?rub_code=5).

Schedules for the Gard bus lines are available via the www.edgard.fr website horaires page (www.edgard-transport.fr/horaires/?rub_code=23).