Tourisme Minervois-Caroux - OUTDOORS & ACTIVE

speleo Poussilieres28 Few people know it, but the subsoil of the Haut Languedoc is home to many caves and cavities.

Carved out of limestone over 500 million years old, they are among the most beautiful in the world, both in terms of their originality and the exceptional concentration of concretions (stalactites, stalagmites and other eccentrics which can even be coloured).

The Glass Spinner Cave in Courniou and its draperies, the Lauzinas cave, listed for fifteen years or so, with its fossilised clay mushrooms, the Asperge cave with its white and blue aragonites, the Artenac cave with its prehistoric fossils, or the Macoumé and its Sixtine Chapel, a cavity entirely covered with brilliant white aragonite, illustrate these geological wonders...

Over the millennia, they have served as dwellings for the first men (Camprafaud cave), as burial places, as hiding places (maquisards...) or have been exploited for guano, a natural fertiliser (Julio cave). They are also home to a fragile and often unloved cave fauna: the bats.

Over the last 20 years, nearly 100km (62miles) of galleries have been discovered by the speleoclubs of western Hérault.

Vous pouvez vous aussi les découvrir au Centre Cebenna à Olargues lors d'un diaporama en 3D et

pour les plus téméraires et ceux qui veulent s'initier et organiser une sortie, contactez directement nos partenaires professionnels de la spéléo.

You can also discover them at the Cebenna Centre in Olargues during a 3D slide show and for the more adventurous and those who want to learn and organise an outing, contact our professional potholing partners directly.

Diaporama - Crédits photos : Jacky Fauré, spéléoclub

You can either park in the cellar parking lot or in a small parking lot halfway between the town centre and the cellar. The advantage of the latter is that you can avoid having to start your walk along the road by a passage without a pavement. In any case, you are heading towards the suburban area bordering the St Chinian bypass.

Quickly you will find a blue marker. After a steep start, the small road turns into a track between vineyards and scrubland.

You will pass close to the blooming mimosas (in February and March only...), a vast hotel complex for hunting dogs and, without realising it, you'll take a monotrace path.

The path climbs regularly and is very stony. Take the direction of the relay antenna which overhangs Saint Chinian from its 680metres.

At a crossroads, the signs invite you to turn right. Straight ahead, unmarked, take the single-track path, which may lead you to the summit. Count a good hour more (round trip), but the view is worth it.

If you choose to continue on the marked path, a long traverse follows, on the side, bordered by scree slopes, to finally join a wide track downhill.

From crossroads to crossroads, you go down through the vineyards (very hot in summer). Don't forget to take a little time to look carefully at the blue "barraque" of the "maritime cycles".

After leaving your car in the city hall parking lot, follow the sign for "Puech de la Vigne Nègre". After a short distance, the path winds its way between the houses and takes you through a rocky passage on the heights of the village. From vineyard plot to vineyard plot, you progress while being able to admire magnificent views. The signposting is new but you have to be careful at some intersections. After a more or less flat section, you will walk on a track that looks like a dried-up torrent that is no longer flat. Watch out for your ankles. The last kilometres are situated on a small and quiet vineyard road.

After leaving your car in the city hall parking lot, take the road towards Cessenon sur Orb. After 200metres, the signposts take you slowly down into the Rhonel valley. After a well-watered ford you turn right in the direction of the gap, in the limestone bars. Mountain atmosphere guaranteed! Follow the signs at the break, the path is brand new, it is not necessarily well marked in the rough scrubland.
After crossing the road, you are in sight of the Abbey of Fontcaude. The path passes over the heights of the Abbey on the same signposting as the GR787 called "Chemin de Fontcaude". At this point, you will walk 10km (6.2miles) of tracks that turn around the plots of vines, in the direction of the ruins of St Bauléry. Halfway there, you have the possibility to cut short and return to Cazedarnes. The variant shortens the mileage by half.

If you decide to continue past the ruins of St Bauléry, you will find a small road that takes you to the other side. After a concrete section, the path offers a very narrow and stony section. After a last track and a few plots of vines, find the heights of Cazedarnes. The parking lot is not far away.

The departure sign is on the edge of the main road at the exit of the village, in the direction of Saint Chinian. It starts on a small road, then continues on a track, that make you rise on the heights of the village. The crossing of the Pech de Montmajou is made by a wide track.

At the end of this track, at the big crossroads, try to find the Dolmen on the opposite side: it is not on the actual path.

After the Dolmen, a descent on a wide track takes you across the D20 at the bottom of the valley to go up to the opposite side, towards the ruins that can be guessed from far away: Camp Redon. At the top, you are in the Saint Chinian hiking area. A last descending loop takes you to the Cébazan lime kiln and then to your starting point.

Vue sur la mer, randonnée du Dolmen à Cébazan

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