Olargues to Mazamet

This was part of a longer walk that we did in 2004.

Walking in France: Olargues to Mazamet abandoned railway
Olargues to Mazamet abandoned railway

The Piste Verte or the Voie Verte du Haut Languedoc is 59 km long, from Mons-la-Trivalle (4.5 km before Olargues) to Mazamet.

We found it by accident just after leaving Olargues, having made up our minds to endure a highway-bash through the gap in the mountains of Languedoc to Mazamet. This seemed a lesser evil than taking the uninhabited upland GR track, for which we  were totally ill-equipped, as we carried no cooking gear at all.

Stumbling onto the Piste Verte transformed the expected grim highway-bash into a delightful three-day stroll, punctuated by interesting excursions to the villages whose stations still stand beside the track, with plenty of pauses in cafés and restaurants – just the sort of pedestrianism that we like best.

The département of Hérault intends to restore the remaining section of the old railway line, so that walkers will be able to go all the way from Bédarieux to Mazamet on it. The progress of this work may be checked on the Voie Verte website

Getting to Olargues

There is an autocar (bus) service from Bédarieux to Olargues via Mons la Trivalle and this is a link to the timetable. Bédarieux has a railway station, so you can get there from almost anywhere in France.

Our route for this section

Day 1: Olargues to St-Pons-de-Thomières

Day 2: Saint-Pons-de-Thomieres to Labastide-Rouairoux

Day 3: Labastide-Rouairoux to Mazamet

This map shows accommodation icons for each night. Zoom in on a particular icon to see its precise location.

You can also see this map using Google Earth and take a virtual flight along our route.

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