Camias trail

3 points of interest

• Agriculture

  Camias and its agriculture

  In the 20th century, the hamlet of Camias still had 80 inhabitants. They grew grapes for wine. Some olive trees can also still be seen on the sunny sheltered slopes and some magnificent chestnut orchards on the shaded slopes (ubac). It is not difficult to imagine sheep and goats keeping these spaces open.
  This is where Albertine Sarrazin lived, the author of the two novels Astragal and La Traversière, while her husband raised hell in Montpellier or elsewhere.
• Agriculture

  The Reinette apple and the sweet onion

  The Arboux valley is the valley of the queen of apples! Apples have been grown here since the 11th century, and King Louis XIV was very partial to them. There are still many apple trees in the area.
  But the sweet onion also has its birthplace in this valley. It has been grown here for almost two centuries. The local climate and soil favour it: a sandy acidic soil, dry weather in summer, and a lot of water. The sweet onion is sown in February, planted out in May and harvested in August. It keeps several months in a cool dark place.
• 

  History

  The railroad

  On 11 June 1863, an imperial decree approved a convention between the minister of agriculture, trade and public works and the Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean Railway Company to build the railroad from Quissac to Le Vigan.
  It was built in sections: the Ganges-Quissac line was opened in 1872, the Ganges-Le Vigan line in 1874.
  On 24 August 1896, the Midi Railway Company opened a line called the Tournemire, between Le Vigan and Alby. At an average speed of 23km/h, the train carried passengers and goods such as wood, silk and hosiery.
  The old railway station at Pont d’Hérault is imposing and was built in a strategic location. In 1897 there was a project to extend the line to Valleraugue but it was never realised.
  Passenger transport on the Tournemire line was suspended in 1939; the line then closed section by section until it definitively ceased all operation in 1971.
  In contrast, the line linking Quissac and Le Vigan, which stopped carrying passengers in 1969, continued to convey freight until 1987 between Le Vigan and Ganges and until 1989 between Ganges and Quissac. Today, some walks use sections of this railway line to help us explore this heritage and the economic life of the time.