Pic de Saint-Barthélemy et l'ermitage de saint Anastase

Montferrier

The Pic de Saint-Barthélemy is the most famous mountain of the Tabe massif, although the Soularac exceeds it: four grassy ridges climb it on a gentle slope, and from the summit one sees the plain of the Ariège and the Pyrenees as far as the sea. On its flanks, a menhir at the Col de la Peyre, a double cromlech and perhaps a dolmen. According to his early Life, Saint Anastasius the Venetian, a monk of Cluny, spent three years as a hermit, around 1082–1085, in the mountains near the abbey of Pamiers and built an oratory there; tradition places this hermitage on the peak. Deeds from 1316 to 1535 are said to name 'the church of Saint-Anastase which is at the summit', still mentioned in 1672, before the dedication to the apostle Bartholomew prevailed. An annual pilgrimage for Saint Bartholomew's day is described by the historian Olhagaray in 1609: people climbed up on the evening of 23 August, spent the night on the summit, waited for the sunrise and heard mass in the morning; the custom is said to have lasted until the end of the 18^th century. This vigil turned towards the east, together with the megaliths and the name of the Soularac, has led some to say that the peak was first the centre of a solar cult with nocturnal autumn festivals, whose survival Olhagaray noted; it is said that Christianity merely took over this gathering. On the flank of the peak, the Étang du Diable carries the dark side of these beliefs, reported by Hélie in 1540 and Belleforest in 1575. Of the oratory, nothing survives.

Wikipédia — Pic de Saint-Barthélemy ↗

Getting there : Four routes, all on foot: from the Monts d'Olmes resort by the Col de Girabal (3 hours), from Appy by the same col (3 hours), from the Étang de Moulzoune by the Fangas mines (4 hours), or from the Lasset valley by the Col du Trou de l'Ours. The Pyrénées Cathares tourist office waymarks a 15 km loop with 1,030 m of ascent starting from the Montferrier forest track (6 h 30, difficult), by the Truites, Diable and Supérieur tarns. A summer and autumn outing, when free of snow.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound