The Tour du Puecheral (by mountain-bike)
Le Tarn à Bédouès
Le Tarn à Bédouès - © CC Florac Sud Lozère
Bédouès-Cocurès

The Tour du Puecheral (by mountain-bike)

Architecture and village
History and culture
Water and geology
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A smooth route around Le Puecheral. You will cycle on a part of the draille de la Margeride to join up with the path to Cocurès and then go through Bédouès village.


6 points of interest

  • Chèvre de race alpine
    Chèvre de race alpine - © Olivier Prohin
    Agriculture

    The Gautier goat farm

    Yolande and Christian run a small farm where they make farmhouse goat's cheese, a typically  Cévenol product. Their herd consists of 60 Alpine dairy goats, and all their milk is processed on-site into farmhouse cheese. From late November to late April, the nanny goats have a break so their little ones can feed!

  • Château d'Arigès
    Château d'Arigès - © com com Florac Sud Lozère
    History

    Château d’Arigès

    This can be seen on your left, in a gap in the forest. It was only a share-cropping farm, whose buildings were in ruins, when the Lord of Issenges bought it in 1658. He lived in it from 1688. This Château, which is no doubt more comfortable than the « maison carrée » (“square house”), was built in a river bend of the Tarn and is surrounded by fertile soils well-suited for crop-growing.

  • Troupeau de brebis
    Troupeau de brebis - © com com Florac Sud Lozère
    History

    Transhumant history

    “I moved my sheep to summer pastures all the way in the Margeride. I'm from up there myself. When I was a kid, there were many of us in the family, and whenever we saw a transhumant [seasonally migrating] shepherd pass by, my dad would say: one day you'll have to go off with a shepherd... I left and became a transhumant shepherd. My first stopover was Bonperrier. Then we'd eat at L'Hospitalet, and go down to Florac for the night. I moved pastures with 4,000 sheep.”

  • Draille de la Margeride
    Draille de la Margeride - © CC Florac Sud Lozère
    Pastoralism

    The draille de la Margeride

    The ascent to Issenges is on the draille de la Margeride. A draille is a path used by herds of goats during the transhumance: moving up to the mountain pastures in June and coming back down again in September.

  • Le manoir d'Issenges
    Le manoir d'Issenges - © CC Florac Sud Lozère
    Architecture

    The Manoir d'Issenges

    This fortified house, built from 1624 onwards, is an example of a type of rural seigneurial estate inherited from the Middle Ages. The complex consists of three buildings: the main building with its almost square ground plan, and two long and low wings of farm buildings, which together enclose a courtyard open to the gardens to the east. The entrance is via an archway located at the southern corner of the main building. This building must have had four corner turrets, a projecting tower in the centre that contained the spiral staircase, and an entrance topped by a pediment. This fortified look was reinforced by musket slits and a parapet, or at least a brattice over the entrance gates. The turrets have been demolished and the central tower reduced in height. The mullioned windows have been preserved. A stone shows the date of 1624.

  • Châtaignier en fleur
    Châtaignier en fleur - © Nathalie Thomas
    Flora

    The sweet-chestnut grove

    The chestnut grove borders the former track from Chadenet to Bédouès. Many other species (oak, ash, hazelnut) have settled in this grove since it stopped being exploited 50 years ago. “Towards Chadenet, trees were cut for the tannins, they were cut before the Great War. My father worked there, bringing the trees down the mountain with oxen. There were four or five of them, each with his pair of oxen, and they brought it all down by the track all the way to Pontèze.”


Description

Mountain-bike route #12. From the car park at the village hall, exit right onto the D 998. After a few metres, turn right towards La Baume. Immediately after the bridge, turn left and cycle along the river Tarn to the Azinières/Terre Rouge housing scheme. Before you get to the village de vacances (holiday village), turn right to Issenges (GR 43). Just before the Manor, go right to Chadenet. At Chadenet, take a magnificent path on the right, fairly smooth, that leads to Cocurès (Les Gardettes). Join up with the D 998 and cross the Tarn to return to Bédouès.

  • Departure : Bédouès
  • Arrival : Bédouès
  • Towns crossed : Bédouès-Cocurès, Florac Trois Rivières, and Les Bondons

Forecast


Altimetric profile


Recommandations

No cycling off-track. You are strongly advised to wear a helmet. Do not forget your repair kit and a small set of tools. Please shut all gates and barriers after yourself. Slow down in farms and hamlets.


Transport

Bus line 258 “Florac – Sainte-Enimie – Le Rozier”, every day in July and August

Bus line 261 “Florac – Le Pont de Montvert – Mont Lozère”, every day in July and August

https://lio.laregion.fr/

Access and parking

From Florac, take the D 998 towards Le Pont-de-Montvert

Parking :

Car park at the village hall in Bédouès

Calculateur d'itinéraire Lio

Utilisez le calculateur liO pour organiser votre trajet en région Occitanie.

Autres régions

Calculez votre itinéraire en Auvergne Rhône Alpes sur Oùra


Source

Agence d'Attractivité Touristique Gorges Causses Cévenneshttp://www.cevennes-gorges-du-tarn.com
Parc national des Cévenneshttp://www.cevennes-parcnational.fr/

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