Les Mates Basses from Faugères

Park after Faugères when coming from Béziers at the Vilavigne wine cellar.

(S/E) Take the tarmac track downhill which follows the GRP® of the Tour en Minervois Saint-Chinian Faugères and the Grande Traversée de l'Hérault. Further down, you will reach a crossroads of tracks.

(1) Leave the GRP®, turn left, then immediately right onto the uphill track. Ignore the paths on the left to reach two large walls, marking the end of the track.

(2) Continue straight ahead on a small path and enter a forest of holm oaks.

(3) Pass a Carabelle (dry stone hut) on your left. On the right, on an old wall, look for a red dot on a stone, which will be the entry point to the site on your return. Continue to a crossroads.

(4) Turn right, continue uphill and reach the foot of the antenna site, where you will find a firefighting water tank.

(5) Turn left downhill onto the wide track: this is a Green Route, Grande Traversée de l'Hérault. Walk to the crossroads of two tracks.

(6) Leave the Green route and take the track on the left. Continue along this track until you reach a place called Le Pausadou, where a path begins.

(7) Take the path on the left and, after a steep, stony climb, you will return to the crossroads you passed earlier.

(4) Turn right and follow the previous path in reverse for a few metres to reach the crossroads and the stone marked with a red line, which you also passed on the way there.

(3) Climb over the low wall on the left and enter the site. From here, look for and follow the red marks on the oak trunks to follow the route. Pass by two beautiful caravels, one round and the other square. Look for the openings in the walls to pass from one plot to another. Finally, you will come to the Mates Basses site and its interpretive trail, which is well explained by small signs. Then join the green route.

(8) Turn right onto the tarmac track to return to the initial crossroads.

(1) Continue straight ahead and follow the same route you took on the way there to return to the Vilavigne car park (S/E).

Between (3) and (5): a caravel on the left, which is what these stone huts are called.
(6): Antenna site: enjoy the interesting view of the vast plain stretching to the Mediterranean.
Between (7) and (8): in front of the Pierre Magne caravel, see the sculpture by Jean Denant.
Please respect the site and do not take any stones, as they are the basic material used to restore these structures.

(S/E) Faugères, its wines, also worth seeing:

The caravel route on Mont Marcou

The 3 towers route