Farinel circular starting from Saint-Symphorien

Park below, near the cemetery.

Circular path marked S5 by the La Symphorine Association.

(Out and back) With your back to the meadow and the information board, turn right onto the S5-marked path. Continue for about 100 m, then follow the GRP® to the left for about 200 m.

(1) At the junction in the left-hand bend, leave the GRP® and take the path on the right; you’ll soon reach another crossroads.

(2) Ignore the path on the right and head off to the left. Continue along the path which climbs through the woods to the four-way junction.

(3) Turn left and carry on straight along the path, which ends with a very gentle climb; then turn right and follow a small road to the hamlet of Foury.

(4) Take the path between the houses and continue southwards until you reach another crossroads.

(5) Turn onto path S5 on the right, walk for 100 m, then turn left onto the footpath and continue southwards to join the GRP®.

(6) Turn left onto the shared GRP® and S5 path, heading towards Saint-Symphorien and the Ruisseau de Sietges.

(S/E) Stay on the path as it curves to the right, then turn right to reach the meadow and the information board (S/E).

Circular path marked S5 by the La Symphorine Association
You’ll need to stock up on provisions in Puylaroque or Caylus, as this circular route follows quiet country lanes with no villages nearby.

In fine weather, the meadow at the start (owned by the municipality of Puylaroque) is the perfect spot for a picnic. You will also find an information board about the La Symphorine association. For everyone’s comfort and out of respect for others, please leave this place as clean as you found it

Saint-Symphorien, a place you’ll find nestled at the bottom of a valley: the Sietges.
- A 15th-century church listed in the national heritage register in 1948, though its origins date back further.
- A miraculous spring and its legends.
- A peaceful cemetery, facing the sky and the sun.
- Paths lined with dry-stone walls.
- The wildlife is varied. In particular, from spring to autumn, you may spot hares, hares, red squirrels and roe deer; during the day, numerous butterflies – some of which are protected – reptiles such as the ocellated lizard, and amphibians such as the green tree frog, the agile frog and the salamander; and in the evening, as night falls, the flight of bats, owls and barn owls. With a bit of luck, the friendly black-and-white badger may make an appearance.
- As for the flora, from the end of winter onwards, the spotted fritillary (or water tulip) appears along the edges of the paths near the stream and in the wet meadows. Then, from spring through to summer, the thirty varieties of orchids bloom one after the other, alongside many other plants. This festival of colours comes to an end in late autumn with the blooming of purple colchicum in the damp meadows.
- Box trees: natural curiosities, picturesque, vaguely eerie in the autumn mist, providing a protective canopy in the heat of summer, and inspiring the wildest imagination.