Cirque de Billière - Virgin of Saint-Pierre-Eynac

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A lovely, easy circular walk, mainly through woods. Discover the Cirque de Billière, then return via the Virgin of Saint-Pierre-Eynac, with a beautiful view of the knolls.

Details

n°2832403
Creation:
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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 4.90 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 2h 00 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Easy
  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 196 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 189 m
  • ▲
    Highest point: 1,022 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 852 m
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Photos

Cirque le Billière
Ascent to the Cirque de Billière
View of the Virgin Mary statue

Description of the walk

Start from the centre of the village of Saint-Pierre-Eynac, a small stone village. Parking is available next to the church.

(S/E) Walk past the church and follow the main road towards the cemetery. At the corner of the cemetery, turn left and follow the wide dirt track marked in yellow. Stay on this dirt track, which leads to the Cirque de Billière.

(1) Shortly after the cirque, at the first intersection, keep left and follow the yellow markings. Follow this path through the forest until you reach a tarmac road.

(2) Turn left, then left again immediately afterwards, and stay on the small tarmac road that leads to the Source du Bachas des Peatlands.

(3) Continue left, following the path uphill. At the top of this road, turn left and walk for about 250 metres.

(4) Take the trail on the left and continue until you reach a four-way crossroads.

(5) Continue straight ahead to quickly reach the Vierge Blanche. Enjoy the view, then descend to the village via the path, which leads to a tarmac road leading to the main road (D26).
Turn left to return to the car park where you started (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 859 m - Car park next to the church.
  2. 1 : km 1.03 - alt. 935 m - Cirque de Billière
  3. 2 : km 2.17 - alt. 945 m - Tarmac road
  4. 3 : km 2.87 - alt. 948 m - Bachas of peatland
  5. 4 : km 3.9 - alt. 1,022 m - Trail path on the left
  6. 5 : km 4.26 - alt. 992 m - Crossroads, opposite
  7. S/E : km 4.9 - alt. 860 m - Car park next to the church.

Notes

An alternative route is possible. Between (1) and (2), in the forest (elevation 985), a small path climbs up to the left, which then leads to the top of the Cirque de Billière and rejoins the path shortly before the Virgin Mary statue at (5).

This alternative route is shown as a dotted line on the IGN map.

Reviews and comments

4.2 / 5
Based on 7 reviews
Reliability of the description
4.3 / 5
Ease of following the route
3.7 / 5
Route interest
4.6 / 5
langlaise
langlaise

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 15, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Lovely walk, very pleasant. Very good description, which is fortunate because, on part of the route, the markings must be too old and cannot be seen.

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Moi43
Moi43

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 30, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Lovely walk
Very beautiful viewpoint

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petitman
petitman

Lovely walk... varied terrain alternating between woodland paths and roads.
Took less time than expected, 1 hour 40 minutes.
The climb is at the start, then after La Vierge there is a slightly steep descent.
Beautiful view at the Virgin Mary statue.

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Crunch
Crunch

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 10, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A lovely short hike through the forest with two points of interest: the cirque at the start of the hike and, at the end, the promontory overlooking St Pierre Eynac, offering views of all the surrounding mountains with small information points explaining the landscape.

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Les Pierrefeux
Les Pierrefeux

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 31, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very pleasant walk in summer as it is shaded almost all the way. A lovely spot for a picnic near the source of the Bachas stream, where you leave the small tarmac road for a wide track. The most difficult part of the route is after the barrier at point 5 to the Virgin Mary statue: a steeper section with more stones. Beautiful views. Plenty of parking options, including shaded spots in summer (village entrance, church, cemetery).

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mielouri
mielouri

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 05, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

An interesting route to do during lockdown.
A pleasant route in the forest, with beautiful panoramic views and information panels starting from the Virgin of St Pierre Eynac.

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catsermatis
catsermatis

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 29, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

An easy and pleasant trail with plenty of shade, ideal in summer. However, it is difficult to find your way from point 2 in the description. If the path was the right one, it was blocked by a barrier that was impossible to cross (no doubt to prevent access).
But it seems possible to take the forks to go uphill, which we have not yet tried.

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kendo
kendo

Overall rating : 2.3 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 15, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

The paths are nice and pleasant, but there are no markings and they don't correspond to anything.

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