We are fourteen walkers to involved in the discovery of « la Montagne Séranne, le Pic St Loup, le Cirque de Navacelles…
We are lucky, the sky is deeply blue ! We drop off our luggage at « les Lutins Cévenols » Centre, base camp of our stay, and at once, Christian is ready to guide the group to « le Ravin des Arcs » where the Lamalou River had dug deep gorges. In Summer, it is possible to ford the river, but after the recent rains, the foaming water jumps over the rocks and prevents our return on the other side.
The day after, we attack the ascent of « le Roc Blanc » through the paths lined by wild box trees in flower, and thorny bushes which scratch our legs. At the top, the sight is astounding: however a light mist deprives us of the sea view ! After the narrow rocky ridge on the crest, we begin to come down through stony slopes unpleasant for the muscles of our thighs and knees !
The next day, Christian chooses a softer trail to rest our legs: we rush forward to discover « les Gorges de la Vis » as far as « le Cirque de Navacelles ». We take a nice botanical path above the old bed of the Vis River which has desappeared underground for fifteen kilometres. We reach « les Moulins du Foux » built during the eleventh century and used until 1907. These mills used the water power where the Vis River reappears meeting the Virenque River. The tremendous exit of the water under the mills is an impressive sight ! At the last we reach « le village de Navacelles » at the centre of the Cirque which was formed over thousands of years by the river Vis eroding the cliffs.
The fourth day, the sky is still fine, to our great delight. We go round the « Pic St Loup » by the West and North. We are alone going up and coming down. The botanical enthusiast people can admire the first spring flowers: orchis, iris, hellebores, narcissus, asphodels. The Pic is finally accessible, there only remains 200 metres of steep climbing to do: the most courageous of us reach the top. Suddenly, everything changes ! A crowd of walkers coming from the nearest car-park attacks the summit ! The spell is broken ! To close the 4th day, Christian takes us along the Herault, and with his pan he carefully washed the sand in search of gold nuggets under the admiring gaze of his fans! He will find, alas, only a tiny amount of gold dust!
The last day, the sky is sulky ! It’s raining, it’s cold weather, it’s time to come home ! We will keep in our memory this wonderful country side; we enjoyed the good harmony between everybody, the happiness and good mood of all. Thanks to Christian and Dominique for this nice walk.