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Languedoc

Valerie

100+ Posts
Will be heading back to southern France in April on a Chicks Trip with my sister, my mom and her sister and two other gals. I've been a few times to the area so am not unfamiliar but most of us (except Mom) are pretty outdoorsy (two are very outdoorsy) and like hikes and scenic plaes. Any ideas? We'll be in the general area of Minerve and doing daytrips. I love the Cathar castles, and will visit some of those. Anyone done some hiking in this area?
 
I have been thinking about a trip to this area since you recommended it after your last trip. I bought a hiking guide for the area - Cicerone Guide - Walks in the Cathar Region.

The map in the book shows that the GR77, French long distance path, passes right through Minerve. This page shows the map of the trail in that area. If you could get more information about the GR77, an option might be to walk parts of it in the area. The GR trails are usually well marked.

The Cicerone Guide has two walks from Minerve.

Walk 1 - 18km/11.2miles, 5 hours, 180m to 400m (220m gain)
This walk follow some of the GR77 and is a circular walk, so you get back to where you started. You see a dolmen on this walk.

Walk 2 - 6km/3.7miles, 2 hours, 150m to 340m (190m gain)

The other towns covered in this guide are Beziers, Lastours, Foix, Roquefixade, Lordat, Montaillou, Puivert, Montsegur, Usson, Puilaurens, Queribus, Peyrepertuse, Villerouge-Termenes, Rennes-le-Chateu, The Pech de Bugarach. They have long and short walks for several places. I have found these walking guides to be very good. We used one for the walks we did on the Amalfi Coast. I have the one for the Cotswolds (England) and it is good.

A guide for us is that a 300m gain is not bad. 500m is doable. We try to avoid steep downhills (hard on the knees).

Another thing to look for, and I will do some searching now since I am interested in this area too, is to find walking maps put out by the department. The maps published by Gard for the area around Uzes (we have hiked there a few times) are fantastic. Good maps, descriptions in English, good hikes.

It would be fun to seek out many of the Cathar Castles. I have not been to any of them. This website lists them all.
 
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This photo shows the hiking maps published by the Gard department (Uzes). You could contact the tourist office for the Herault department to see if they offer the same thing.

image-jpg.364
 
Yes, I have done a bit of hiking in Languedoc - but not very near Minerve (mostly I've been N of Béziers). I was always there in the height of the summer, so never did any particularly long hikes. There are some good shortish routes in L'Hérault à pied, which is what I mostly used, as far as I remember. I can't find any départment-published maps on my shelves, but I don't think I was assiduous in hunting our the tourist offices as Pauline usually is - as she well knows, I'm normally more focused on seeking out the next good meal :pig:
 
If you read French, I have a small book called Les plus belles balades de l'Aude which contains an excellent selection of long and short walks throughout the Aude département, some of which will be be near Minerve. You'll probably need to buy it locally though; it will be available in bookshops.
 
My French is non-existant, unfortunately. One of the GR trails goes right through my cousin's village and we've done a portion of it from there to Minerve. We also found two dolmens (I think we sent you a picture Pauline). We got lost trying to find another one. The Cathar castles are amazing. We've visited Peypertuse and Lastours, and will hit a couple more this time around. Looking forward to being there. I am ready to unplug and be on vacation!
 

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