The Ourliades from Auziale

Date of your route : Oct 10, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A very beautiful hike, with a pleasant, shaded climb. The arrival at the Col de l'Ourliade is magnificent. The unmarked path to the summit of Montahut is well marked and easy to follow, offering superb 360° views. The descent along the track is fine, even if it is not the most pleasant; fortunately, a large part of it is on a footpath.

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Date of your route : Sep 29, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

VERY NICE ROUTE
At the start, we follow a drovers' road through chestnut trees, sheltered from the wind.
We pass under MONTAHU and the path becomes difficult. We follow the GR7.
After leaving the GR7, the descent to Auziale requires a little care.
to be done.

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Date of your route : Jul 26, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A magnificent route, the most beautiful walk of my week in the Herault.
The climb to the summit is not signposted but is very visible and well maintained. Just don't miss the short climb in the woods on the right just before the concrete river bed.
Once at the top, there's a magnificent view of the entire region.
From the summit, the route is signposted to circle around the summit until you reach the descent to the hamlet.
I'll definitely do it again if I return to this region.

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Date of your route : May 21, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A magnificent hike, with a long but not steep or rocky climb, mostly under chestnut trees, and a beautiful arrival at the Col and Pic de l'Ourliades. The path along the mountainside is magnificent and fragrant (especially with the broom in bloom). Two-thirds of the way down, I recommend leaving the boring track (and the GPX!) and turning right onto the yellow markings, following them along a beautiful, more technical path that has been recently cleared.
You will then come out at the end of the track leading to AUZIALES. Note that there is a recess for three to four cars near the final metal barrier, on the right, in a bend, about 300-400 metres before the hunters' hut.

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Date of your route : May 21, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

I did this hike again on 21 May 2024 and noticed that yellow-marked trails had indeed been created on the right-hand side of the track (as sev11 had already mentioned in their comment on 24 April 2024).
As a result, the descent that I had described as "monotonous and stony" has become much more pleasant.
I therefore modified the description and saved the new "gpx" track on the VISORANDO website.

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Date of your route : Apr 03, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Nice hike, gentle path (steep climb but no steps) up under the shelter of the trees. We spotted two mouflons on the opposite slope as we reached the pass. Superb 360° panorama from the pass.
At point 1, just before the Cros stream lookout, you have to search a little to find the blue marker on a rock. The trail was buried under dead leaves and we quickly lost our way, but found it again a little higher up after searching around a bit.
From point 4 onwards, the trail was initially quite bucolic. Then the small paths to the right of the trail had apparently been redeveloped and very well marked (it seemed recent), so we didn't do much of the trail and didn't find anything "monotonous and stony". We only came across three runners.

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Date of your route : Oct 01, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

The first half is pleasant, shaded, and uphill until after the pass.
The downhill section of the trail, with no shade, is less enjoyable.
I only encountered one other walker.

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Date of your route : Sep 25, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Superb hike, a little difficult to find the start of stage 1. To find the path at the start of the climb near the dry stream.
Otherwise, superb. The descent is rocky, yes, but reasonable.

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Hello,
Thank you for your kind comment.
Indeed, in some places, you can leave the "monotonous and stony" track to take small paths on the right as you descend, but as these tend to close up and are hardly used anymore, I preferred to stick to the track for these reasons.
Kind regards.
Noël

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Date of your route : Sep 22, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

An interesting circular loop that I know well, having even cleared part of the uphill trail when it reopened. As I recall, the downhill trail was created to replace an old path used to carry electricity underground from the wind turbines. There are marked remains of this path that allow you to leave this rather unpleasant trail. The Col des Ourliades also offers numerous variations towards Mauroul, Bardou, or Les Horts.

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