Country:
City:
This route along the northern ridge has been chosen for its ease of access from Lourdes and the appeal of traversing the entire Béout massif. The summit is visible at all times, as is the secondary summit near the cable car station.
From Lourdes town centre, head towards the slopes of the Béout by following signs for ‘la Cité Saint-Pierre’, ‘Auditorium Padre Pio’ or ‘Village des jeunes’, 33 Avenue Monseigneur Rodhain, Lourdes.
Park your car either near the entrance to the Cité Saint-Pierre or in one of the site’s car parks (provided the security staff allow you to enter, particularly in the low season).
(S/E) Enter the site via the tarmac-surfaced local road that runs through it. Head straight up towards the higher ground, passing two large accommodation blocks on your right (the Saint Vincent-de-Paul and Ozanam Pavilions) and another large building on your left (marked ‘Bureau des guides’ and ‘Accueil’).
Continue uphill. You will then pass a series of three further accommodation pavilions on your right (marked ‘Sainte Anne’, ‘Saint Martin’ and ‘Saint Jacques’).
At the junction, pass the donkey stable and the exposed-stone toilet block on your left and take the small road that climbs steeply towards Mouniquet Farm and the Chapelle de l’Alliance.
Continue climbing along this small tarmac road, running alongside the edge of a woodland on the left—bordered by a rustic stone wall—and close by on the right. Pass a two-storey stone barn on the right, set into the hillside, and continue uphill.
(1) At the 526-metre mark, there is a small car park on the right and a wooden sign reading ‘Béout’ (Photo No. 24924). Follow the sign and go through a zigzagging cattle grid. At this point, you leave the estate’s grounds.
As has been the case since the start of the route, you will be following a circular route with virtually no signposting. From time to time, you will come across old yellow markings. Take care not to stray from the well-marked paths or the occasional faint tracks.
Immediately after the gate, turn left along the wire fence, heading up the embankment. A path then climbs to the right for a few dozen metres in elevation across a meadow. Stay on the right-hand side of the hillside; do not cut across the meadows.
You’ll come to a small ‘pla’, which may or may not have been mown, depending on the season.
(2) Turn sharply left to pass upstream of a short hedge of trees with a low stone wall at its base. There isn’t always a clearly marked path (especially at the start of the summer season, when it hasn’t yet been used), nor any visible signposting.
Head for Turoun Esplat (the small pass) above Mouniquet and head roughly south, leaving the modest secondary summit of Turoun Esplat (633 m) on your right.
At the end of this new ‘pla’, after passing through the small pass at the 620 m mark, the slope becomes very steep.
However, continue along this path (several routes are possible), which is roughly marked in yellow, heading straight towards the cross at the summit of Béout.
You will thus leave the western cliffs behind and reach the summit.
From up there, near the summit cross, there are views of the town of Lourdes and its surroundings, the Arboucau valley and the Soum d’Ech to the west, the Batsurguère valley to the south-west, the main Pyrenean range in the distance to the south, and its ‘big brother’ and rival, the Pic du Jer (948 m), with its funicular railway.
We then continue the route towards the viewpoint by the old cable car and the radio communications mast, which we will have in direct view.
The path, which is unmarked or very sparsely marked in yellow, descends through the ferns. Following the ridge, you pass by a first isolated rock outcrop, clearly visible from a distance (photo No. 24925), then at the 765-metre mark you reach a group of two boulders (photo No. 24926), including the famous ‘Mysterious Rock’, marked on the IGN map. These granite boulders – whilst all the other rocks here are limestone – have long been a source of mystery, hence the name ‘Mysterious Rock’. We now know that they were carried here by glaciers and probably originate from Cauterets or Gavarnie. They are erratic boulders.
The final stretch of the route via the small pass of Béout, between the Grand Béout (the cross) and the Petit Béout (the antenna), is rather rugged, passing through sharp limestone pavement and dense, low-lying vegetation (photo No. 24938).
(5) It takes 1 hour 15 minutes to reach the viewpoint from the start (for keen walkers; allow 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes if you take breaks).
The view over Lourdes and the surrounding area is very interesting. The place has an air of mystery as it lies virtually abandoned following a glorious past.
You are facing the Pic du Jer, which stole the limelight from the Béout in the late 1980s. Indeed, the Béout cable car, which had become obsolete and was too costly to renovate, was taken out of service in 1986. However, the two cable car cabins remained suspended from their cable until 2000, when the installations were finally dismantled.
For its part, the Pic du Jer funicular, built in 1900, has seen over a century of operation and undergone two renovations that have successfully preserved the historic character of the installation. Its operators developed other activities at the summit, which have helped to make it a major tourist attraction in L’Heure-de-Lourdes to this day.
On our viewing platform and in the premises of the old station – exposed to the elements and left to fall into disrepair – sheep have made the area their own.
There is a curious atmosphere here, as at all sites from the industrial era that people have abandoned, yet without removing the remnants of the past.
Continuing south-east, you soon come across a badly rusted sign, on which you can still make out the word ‘Gouffre’ alongside an arrow, and a steel handrail, embedded several metres into the rock.
This path leads, a few hundred metres further down, to the “Gouffre de Lourdes” and the cave’s former technical and visitor facilities.
The circular return loop does not follow exactly the same route.
Retrace your steps back to the 721-metre mark. Take care to stay on the path (and keep a close eye on children) as there are numerous faults dotting this part of the massif, on the small pass of Béout.
Then turn right onto a path that winds its way along the eastern flank of the massif, through ferns and rocks. Keep your eyes on a fairly large rock; you’ll pass by the foot of it, leaving it on your left (photos Nos. 24948 and 24949).
By taking this path – which, it must be said, is poorly defined, unmarked and little-used – you avoid having to go back over the ridge and the summit of the Béout.
You’ll rejoin the path you took on the way up. Stay on this track for just over a hundred metres.
(6) As soon as a path branches off to the right (not shown on the IGN map, but very visible on the ground), take it, descending steeply towards the buildings of the former Mouniquet farm.
As soon as the path passes close to the row of trees, you enter the private property leased by the Mouniquet family. However, you are permitted to use this path at this point.
Stay on the path behind the buildings, without attempting to climb over the fences, then return to the small ‘pla’ at the very start.
The descent back to the starting point through the Cité Saint-Pierre presents no particular difficulties.
Visorando Member
Difficult 
Easy 
