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Park your car on the side of the Col d'Ech (or Cami d'Ech) road at the starting point, not far from a beautiful house.
(S/E) Continue on foot along the track that climbs westwards. There are no markings, but you can't go wrong. The track rejoins a tarmac road near the pumping station. Continue climbing to the hamlet of Ech (two small houses), between which the Moules stream flows.
(1) Leave the two houses and the boundary wall on your left and turn right onto a track that is just passable by vehicle, heading north-east towards Lourdes. On the IGN map, the path is marked with a solid black line and then a dotted line.
Stay on the track and walk along the left-hand side of a gate and the fence of the huge Ech property, with a house at the end which you will go around at the back.
You will reach a fork (a more open area with our path continuing straight ahead, a path leading off to the right into the ferns towards Castet Miù and a lovely view of the Batsurgère Valley and the western face of Béout). Cars are sometimes parked here.
Take the narrow path opposite, which begins a climb due north.
At the north-eastern corner of the Ech property, you will reach a pastoral barrier (elevation 728) that opens onto the Soums d'Ech (913m) and Castet Miù mountains.
This mountain range is called "the mammoth" by locals because, when viewed from the north, its shape resembles that of this animal.
Continue climbing and, once through the ferns, head west as soon as possible, following paths that are more or less clearly marked (the dotted IGN trail is no more marked than the others).
(2) In a small valley (with a shrub that can be seen from afar) lies a beautiful spring (not marked on the IGN map).
Continue westwards along the contour line. Numerous erratic boulders dot the route.
Leave the Soum d'Ech cliffs, where rock climbing is practised, in the distance on your right.
When the slope becomes steeper, continue close to the tree-lined hedge, which is doubled by a fence. Then reach a dense grove, in the middle of which is a fence barrier.
(3) Before crossing it, you will have arrived at the Col d'Ech!
NB: Please note that the area is quite wooded, so it is not always obvious that you are on the pass. With the gate behind you: to your left, the steep slope leading up to Mail de Portes; to your right, a summer pasture overgrown with ferns; and in the background on the right, the Ech climbing cliffs. Opposite, there is a beautiful view of the Gave de Pau valley, the Subercarrère woods, the Lourdes forest, as far as Peyrouse, and Lake Lourdes.
To return, go through the fence at the barrier or around it via the low walls.
Descend to Cami d'Ech and its two cottages, clearly visible from afar, across pasture lawns and a well-marked path. To the right of the path is a peat bog, part of the Natura 2000 site "Granquet, Pibeste and Soum d'Ech" and farmed by a cattle breeder.
Keep away from the herds if necessary.
In summer, the grassland around the path is completely dry. However, in spring it can be flooded.
(1) Head to the junction of the two small houses.
Then take the same path as on the way there to return to the car park (S/E).
Visorando member
Moderate 
Difficult 
Very difficult 
