The three passes, MTB circuit #2 (red)

3 points of interest

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  Architecture

  Le Massufret

  This hamlet was once very lively, since there was a school for a dozen children before World War Two. “It was basically a farmers' village. They weren't really looking to make money but to survive, in the tradition of farmers in the Cevennes. They lived according to the season: in summer, they prepared for winter. Chestnuts and potatoes were the staple foods, and there was soup at every meal” (Mr Velay).

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  History

  Path history

  A network of paths linked Le Massufret with the other hamlets in the municipality. A mule track lead from Montjoie to the Le Massufret (in Montjoie, you can see a circular platform, probably a vestige of an oppidum, a pre-Roman hill-fort). One path led through the valley to Soleyrols, another went to L'Aubaret on Mont Lozère or to Le Masmin, on the other side of the Ventalon ridge. At the time of the Camisards, after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), Protestants chose to meet clandestinely, at night, in remote locations. Their gatherings had to kept secret from the authorities. Preachers replaced the exiled pastors and recited Biblical texts. Inhabitants from all four corners of the municipality held gatherings in Le Massufret near a rock below the apiary.

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  History

  Castagnols

  (origin of the name: chestnut orchard).
  An important village long before Vialas, located close to a traffic artery on the ridge, Castagnols was the parish seat until 1684. The canons of the collegiate chapter at Bédouès benefited from the substantial revenues of its priory, founded by Guillaume de Grimoard, the future Pope Urban V. The inhabitants of Castagnols later strongly supported the Reformation. The Catholic church was burned down during the Camisard era. After 1970, Cévennes enthusiasts rebuilt it from the ruins.