Walking in the Languedoc

31 walks in the stunningly beautiful Parc Naturel du Haut-Languedoc. The climate is warm, the vineyards stretch out below you, and above is the towering Espinouse Massif.

You are walking under a clear blue sky; the light is sharp, the sun warm on your back, the air scented with rosemary, heather and broom. The silence is broken only by the humming of the bees. In the far distance, the waters of the Mediterranean glint in the sunlight, and the peaks of the Pyrenees shimmer above the heat haze rising from the valleys. Down below, on the plain, miles and miles of vineyards stretch to east and west, reminding you of the dinner you have booked at that very reasonable little restaurant. Welcome to the Languedoc!

The High Languedoc mountains lie to the west of the Cévennes, in the deep south of France. Sparsely populated and relatively little-known outside the area, they offer wonderful scenery, excellent walking at all levels and glimpses of an older way of life for which many of us yearn. It is rare that you see another human being on the trail except on busy holiday weekends, but if you do meet a local, you may find your GCSE French of little use! The accent is strong and lilting, a perfect accompaniment to the sunny, carefree climate. ‘Pain’ is pronounced ‘peng’ and ‘vin’ is ‘veng’ – so good luck (there is a short glossary at the back of the book to help you)!

This book aims to provide both the serious hiker and the gentle Sunday walker with opportunities to explore the Languedoc mountains and to enjoy the many variations of scenery, vegetation and geology. It concentrates particularly on those mountains which are situated between the towns of Béziers (south), Clermont l’Hérault (east), Saint-Pons (west) and La Salvetat (north), though some of the later walks go slightly beyond these boundaries.

The largest section of the High Languedoc mountains is the Espinouse massif. It is made up of three summits – Espinouse, Somail and Caroux – all just over 1000m high. Many of its ridges act as the watershed between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and because it forms a natural and geographical barrier it has been seen as something of a frontier throughout the history of the Languedoc region. Many invaders – Romans, Visigoths, Franks and others – have had their progress checked by these heights.

From Neolithic times (3000bc) the broad ridges of the Espinouse were used by shepherds taking their flocks to new pastures, and there were numerous trading routes linking other provinces with the Mediterranean. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the agricultural economy was dominated by the production of chestnuts, and a large population invented many and varied ways of using them. Also, a lot of mining and charcoal burning took place on these mountainsides, and this activity was largely responsible, along with sheep droving, for the establishment of so many of the paths described in this book.

However, industrialisation, along with the effects of the two world wars, led to a huge exodus from the mountains. People flocked to the cities, leaving behind a large network of paths and drove roads which, with a gradual increase in leisure time, began to be used by city-dwellers for recreation.

Caroux is probably the best-known part of the Espinouse massif. Nicknamed ‘Mountain of Light’ because of the brightness of its rock faces, it soon became famous in the region as a hiking area; old paths were restored and waymarked, while new trails were opened by the Club Alpin Français. Many of these trails offer an invigorating challenge to the experienced walker. The summit plateaux of Somail and Espinouse are heavily wooded and offer less strenuous but very pleasant exercise.

To the south and east stretch a long line of foothills – the Avant-Monts, the Monts d’Orb, the hills of the Salagou valley, the Escandorgue – mostly covered thickly with evergreen oak and all providing delightful, secluded walking with fine views of the Espinouse massif, the Mediterranean plain or the Lac du Salagou. Many of the tracks are broad, used by farm and forestry vehicles; others, especially along the ridges, are very narrow, often used in the winter by hunters flushing out wild boar.

The variety of countryside is thrilling. To the north are the high causses, limestone plateaux with extraordinarily tortured rock formations. This is sheep country: windy, stark and mysterious, and very chilly in winter. Vast flocks of large, lean sheep, most unlike the cuddly Cotswold variety, roam these plateaux in the spring and summer, still often guided by lonely shepherds in the traditional beret of the region.

Drop down a little into the hauts-cantons above Bédarieux, and the hills are heavily wooded with oak, beech, pine and chestnut. Meadows are green and herds of cattle can be seen enjoying the lush grass. There are also a large number of goat farms, some run by refugees from the ‘peace and love’ days of the late 1960s, producing excellent round cheeses called pelardons. A wonderful sight, when in blossom in April, is the largest cherry orchard in Europe, situated on the plateau above Bédarieux (see Walk 21).

Once south of Bédarieux you are down on the Mediterranean plain and travelling through vineyards which are now among the finest in Europe. As little as 20 years ago, Languedoc wines were produced in huge quantities from poor grape varieties, and it is fair to say that most of them were dreadful. Fierce competition from Spain, Italy and the New World, combined with a 30% drop in home consumption of cheap table wines, forced the winemakers of the Languedoc to rethink their approach.

Since the late 1980s winemakers have been pursuing a policy of ‘quality, not quantity’, and wonderful wines can be found, not surprisingly, for the climate is ideal and the soil excellent. Try the reds of the Coteaux du Languedoc, Faugères and Saint-Chinian, and the rosé of Cabrières; enjoy the exquisite sweetness of Muscat – wonderful with Christmas pudding! But don’t mix alcohol with the midday sun – not if you want to walk afterwards!

Further east, towards Clermont l’Hérault, there is the astonishing limestone chaos of the Cirque de Mourèze with, close by, the gritty red soil surrounding the Lac du Salagou. The area is a geologist’s heaven.