Pic Saint-Loup

Cazevieille

North of Montpellier, the Pic Saint-Loup raises a blade of limestone 658 m high, its south face dropping sheer onto the garrigue: a landmark visible from the whole Languedoc plain and from the sea. On its sharp ridge stand a great iron cross, a lookout post and the chapel of a former hermitage; to the east, the Château de Montferrand, raised in 1108, occupies the site of a Roman outpost. Local tradition, known as the legend of the Three Hermits, has it that three men of Saint-Martin-de-Londres — Loup, Guiral and Clair — loved the same lady, who promised to marry the most glorious of them. They went off to war and returned years later to learn that she had died in their absence. Each then withdrew to one of the three mountains that form a vast triangle around the village, and every year at Christmas they lit a fire on the summit that the people of the plain could see. The fires grew fewer, then only one burned, then none at all: that is how their deaths became known. In their memory the three heights took their names: the Pic Saint-Loup, the Saint-Guiral above Le Vigan and Mont Saint-Clair at Sète. A neighbouring version, more romantic, names the lady Bertrade and sends the three brothers off on crusade.

Hérault Tourisme — La légende des Trois Ermites ↗

Getting there : Yellow-waymarked path from the village of Cazevieille (car park at the start): around 6 km there and back, 2 h, moderate, with a few rocky passages before the ridge. The Château de Montferrand is 45 minutes' walk from the Saint-Mathieu-de-Tréviers car park. The coordinates given are those of the summit, shared between several communes (Cazevieille, Valflaunès, Saint-Mathieu-de-Tréviers, Mas-de-Londres, Saint-Jean-de-Cuculles).

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

Ambient sound