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Access: When you leave Carcassonne towards Mazamet on the D118, you will pass Villegailhenc and continue until you reach a small road on your right (D901) signposted Conques-sur Orbiel. Take this road and pass a large power station. Stop at the second driveway on your left. There is a large area where you can leave your cars even in heavy rain, as the ground is very stony and chalky.
(S/E) Take the driveway that goes up to the northeast and runs alongside the car park. Stay on the right-hand lane and you will arrive at the entrance to an old fenced-off landfill site. Continue along the fence. You will soon arrive at a sparse forest that is taller than the rest of the heath.
(1) When you reach an intersection, turn left and then left again a little further on. Follow this path, passing numerous dry stone walls. If you wish, you can leave this path for a viewpoint over a large valley. Continuing on, you will arrive at a large drystone shelter called La Cagarote, which means snail in Occitan. Take the large left turn in front of the shelter.
(2) You will come to a road, which you take to the right. This will take you back to the other side of La Cagarote, and you continue downhill after a large hairpin bend to the left. Follow these large hairpin bends until you see new stone walls opposite you and above you.
(3) On the left-hand side of the road, you will see a sign with a blue triangular tip. Follow this sign, which will take you up into the heath at the foot of the walls. From there, look out for the small blue-tipped signs that will lead you through a maze of a few hundred metres within the walls. You will come out onto the main road and follow the ridge line to a larger road, which you will take to the right for about 250 metres.
(4) You will arrive at a major crossroads with five main roads. Take the second road on the left, the one that goes off at a right angle. After 200 metres, you will pass a DFCI (Forest Fire Defence) cistern. Continue straight ahead, ignoring the roads on the right and left.
(5) You will arrive at the last major crossroads on this walk. Turn left down a very wide stony road. You will arrive at a tarmac road and turn left to reach the car park, which is visible from a distance (S/E).
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