The Corniches of the Cirque de Saint-Beaulize

Departure from the hikers' car park on the village square.

(S/E) Go down Rue des Remparts, passing under the castle. You will soon reach the crossroads with Rue des Aires at the town hall.

(1) Continue down Rue des Aires for 80 metres until you reach the D93. Turn right onto Route de Fondamente. You will come to a crossroads with a fountain.Turn left, almost 180 degrees, onto Route du Fangas, cross this neighbourhood and then take a concrete ford before reaching the cemetery.

(2) Continue past the hamlet of Les Arnals, cross the Ruisseau de la Fousette stream again and you will reach a gate.

(3) Turn right, then follow the track for 150 metres and turn right. Now take a fairly steep path, entering a buissière (a path lined with box hedges, forming a veritable corridor of vegetation characteristic of the Causses), heading north towards the plateau.

(4) Cross a road twice, and 200 m further on, leave a path on your right (which joins the GR®71C). Continue straight ahead and, after a final climb, you will reach the Causse du Larzac plateau.

(5) Follow the path that leads into the undergrowth and quickly emerges onto the cliff edge. Walk alongside the horse paddocks for 300 metres.
Important note: exercise extreme caution if you are accompanied by children, as the path runs along the cliffs of the causse for over a kilometre. At this point, the cliffs are home to a large population of griffon vultures, which can often be seen.
Then walk along a large field, in the hedge, still on the edge of the plateau, until you reach a hairpin bend.

(6) Turn 180° to the right to begin the descent from the plateau. A few hundred metres further on, turn left to cross a scree slope (be careful, this is a slightly tricky passage). Reach the edge of the meadows, continue through juniper and broom vegetation before entering another scrubland. Stay on this path until you reach the village and come out onto a small road.

(7) Cross it and, before a garage with blue doors, leave the track that climbs to the left and take the path that descends to the right. A hundred metres further on, cross a concrete footbridge over the Fousette. Turn right, following the Fousette and the communal gardens. Walk up a paved slanting street for 50 metres and you will come to the D93, which you should cross. Take the concrete steps leading up to the village. Walk up Rue de l'Ancienne École, Rue du Four (covered passage between two houses), then Rue de l'Église. You will then come back to the original crossroads at the town hall.

(1) Turn left and retrace your steps to return to the hikers' car park (S/E).

Shortly after (5):stop to admire the beautiful view to the south over the avant-causse, the hedges and meadows that form a bocage landscape, and the village of Saint-Beaulize.

The Larzac plateau