Soum de Bazillac from Prat d'Albis

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A pleasant hike above Foix (in Ariège), alternating between forest paths and ridge trails, with beautiful views of the plain to the north and the Pyrenees to the south.

Details

n°880603
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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 16.64 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 6h 15 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Easy
  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 537 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 535 m
  • ▲
    Highest point: 1,629 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 1,201 m
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Photos

The ridges
The Loubatières rocks
The slopes around Bout de Touron
A beautiful area for grazing livestock

Description of the walk

(S/E) From the car park, take the road south for about 250 metres. When the road turns right, leave it and take the wide forest track opposite, which winds its way southwards.

(1) Follow the track south.

(2) Continue along the track, which heads west-southwest and then winds its way across several streams. After the Ruisseau de la Caugue stream, the track turns sharply east: continue for another 400 metres just before a hairpin bend.

(3) Turn right (sign) onto the path that climbs steeply southwest towards the Cabane des Gardes.

(4) Pass in front of the Cabane des Gardes and continue to the Col du Traucadou.

(5) At the pass, turn right onto the track that runs horizontally along the mountainside towards Col du Touron, due west. Stay below the ridge.
Be careful not to take the ridge path that heads west-northwest.

(6) At the Col du Touron, turn left onto the ridge path towards the Pas de Bazillac, due west.

(7) Cross the Pas de Bazillac, continue climbing north-west then west along the ridge towards the Pointe du Picou. Reach the peak, the destination of the hike.

(8) First, take the path in the opposite direction to Pas de Bazillac.

(7) At Pas de Bazillac, turn left, heading east, under the ridge, onto a track that leads to Pla d'Estal.

(9) At Pla d'Estal, leave the ridge by veering slightly to the left, east-northeast, into the meadow and descend (off-trail) on the north slope until you reach a path at the source of the Ruisseau de Couers stream.

(10) Follow this path towards the north-east. Join a road at Pla des Peyres and turn left heading north.

(11) At Pla des Peyres, at an altitude of 1389 metres, leave the road and turn right onto a track heading north-east. Reach the first pylon (altitude 1407 metres), follow the track until you reach a second pylon.

(12) Head straight down towards the east, off the trail, leaving the ridge on your right. The terrain is even, covered with fairly short broom that does not hinder your progress towards a cistern on your left.

(13) Look for a cistern about 200m away, on your left, due north. Turn slightly left-northeast, continue off the trail, looking for the most comfortable terrain (the terrain is easy), until you cross the track you took at the start of the hike.

(1) Take the track on the left, heading north, and return to the car park (S/E)

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 1,202 m - Prat d'Albis car park
  2. 1 : km 0.49 - alt. 1,224 m - Crossroads of the loop
  3. 2 : km 1.09 - alt. 1,266 m - Roc des Chemins Croisés
  4. 3 : km 2.93 - alt. 1,222 m - Track-Path Intersection
  5. 4 : km 3.83 - alt. 1,328 m - Cabane des Gardes
  6. 5 : km 4.24 - alt. 1,317 m - Col du Traucadou (1318m)
  7. 6 : km 6.4 - alt. 1,449 m - Col du Bout de Touron (1450m)
  8. 7 : km 7.95 - alt. 1,457 m - Pas de Bazillac (1458m)
  9. 8 : km 9.89 - alt. 1,628 m - Pointe du Picou
  10. 9 : km 12.63 - alt. 1,449 m - Pla d'Estal
  11. 10 : km 13.11 - alt. 1,408 m - Follow this path towards the north-east
  12. 11 : km 14.38 - alt. 1,388 m - Pla des Peyres
  13. 12 : km 15.12 - alt. 1,387 m - Cap de la Coume de l'Orri. Antennas.
  14. 13 : km 15.75 - alt. 1,299 m - Bear slightly left towards the north-east. Cistern.
  15. S/E : km 16.64 - alt. 1,201 m - Prat d'Albis car park

Notes

Parking at Prat d'Albis, at an altitude of 1,200 metres, which can be reached by a small road from Foix.
This hike should be avoided in foggy weather, as it includes some poorly marked or off-trail sections.

(5) Be careful not to take the ridge path that heads north-west.

(6) Panoramic view of the Toulouse plain to the north and the Pyrenees mountain range to the south. In foggy weather, be careful not to accidentally leave the ridge, as there are very few landmarks. For hikers who are not used to navigating in poor visibility, it is best to return directly to the trail by taking the track to the north-northeast.

(8) The Picou peak is a small summit marked by an intersection with another ridge that runs due north.

In case of fog, from point (11), stay on the road and return to the car park by following this road downhill.

Worth a visit

(4) Cabane des Gardes. This is a very pretty cabin, kept in excellent condition by volunteers. Please respect the place. Leave the cabin in the same condition if you stay there.

Between (6) and (8) Panoramic view towards Toulouse and the Ariège Pyrenees.

Reviews and comments

4.4 / 5
Based on 20 reviews
Reliability of the description
4.1 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.3 / 5
Route interest
4.9 / 5
Louteva
Louteva

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 30, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

Great walk. The climb through the forest isn't particularly interesting, but once you reach the top, the view is superb. There were lots of people on the ridge on this sunny Sunday at the end of winter. The descent through the broom bushes isn't great; we would have preferred to take the road. If we did it again, we would park the car higher up and walk a little further along the ridge.

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LaPierre
LaPierre

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 13, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

Splendid view from point no. 5! And in glorious weather.
However, at point 3, there must have been a sign indicating the guards' hut missing, as the only one left was only visible if you had eyes in the back of your head... so we walked an extra 10 minutes along the forest path before turning back to find the sign, which this time was right in front of us (and we later met other hikers who had had the same mishap), but it wasn't a big deal.
It was very busy from point 7 to 8, then on the way back to 11, as many walkers leave their cars at Pla des Peyres to do only this part.

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Gilles Garric
Gilles Garric

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 17, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

easy hike, the end of the trail could do with a signpost or two.

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bergpaden
bergpaden

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 09, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful hike. At the end, we didn't find the right path, but that's okay. It's very pretty.

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Paillole
Paillole

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 11, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely hike with beautiful panoramic views of the Saurat valley, the Séronais region, Foix, Tarascon, etc.
No particular difficulties, except that at this time of year you need to wrap up warm when you reach the Picou!
The last part, hurtling through the broom and holly, is quite fun.
Keep an eye on your GPS and you'll be fine...

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noemsch
noemsch
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 24, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A beautiful hike, fairly easy as the elevation gain is well distributed throughout the route. There are some stunning views along the way, we even saw some bearded vultures! However, we found the return leg (second half of the loop) rather uninteresting. The path was quite overgrown with brambles, very straight, and the view wasn't amazing. Please note: the end is not on a path! We had to make our own way through the thick vegetation. But it's still doable!

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HenriCastanet
HenriCastanet

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 19, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

beautiful hike along the ridges with magnificent panoramic views

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gatsfamily
gatsfamily
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : May 29, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

The start of the walk in the forest is particularly pleasant. We didn't encounter any particular problems between points 7 and 9. We were lucky enough to come across cows, sheep and, above all, a large number of magnificent horses. We just found the terrain a little difficult on the off-trail descent (after point 12). But that may have been due to fatigue at the end of the walk!

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momovoy
momovoy

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 05, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A ride on a gentle horse that allows us to go as far as we wish. We stayed on the ridge.
Very beautiful 360° view.

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Francis3170
Francis3170

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : May 08, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A truly beautiful hike that we will gladly do again.

A few comments:

- As with previous hikes, we found that the return route from point 7 to point 9 no longer corresponded to the map, but more importantly, it was of very questionable interest. I think that when we do it again, we will return via the outward route (point 6 to point 1), which is much more pleasant.

- Once we reached point 8, we couldn't resist the temptation to continue on to Rocher de Batail. It adds about 1 km to the hike, but it's worth it.

- The hike was very busy on Saturday 8 May. It's better to do it during the week and outside of school holidays to enjoy it more :-)

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JF13
JF13

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 30, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A splendid hike with magnificent views above the clouds!
As mentioned in other reviews, we lost our way towards the end and ended up crossing grasslands and ferns, but that didn't spoil our overall enjoyment of this hike!

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domi4231
domi4231

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 02, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

The start of the hike is very good, and the route along the ridges is superb. However, the return journey is not easy. The end of the trail does not exist, and otherwise you have to cut across fields. The risk of getting lost is low because it is not in the forest. It is better to return via the trail that everyone takes and the forest road to finish.

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micheldu81
micheldu81

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 25, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Very nice walk
Thank you

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Patrick P14.
Patrick P14.

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 25, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A magnificent hike, especially the section along the ridges.
However, the return off-trail is very difficult and it's a bit of a gamble.
It is better to return by following the trail

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Domitille de La Roque
Domitille de La Roque

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 07, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

actually, we got lost, because north, south, east and west are a bit random when it's cloudy and you don't have a compass, but we have to admit that we didn't start from the same point as the one you indicate, intentionally, and that must have confused things a bit...

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