La Couvertoirade and Le Caylar: The Hospitallers' Walled Village and the Roc Castel
Occitanie, France
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Larzac Commander
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225
XP
+100 France
= 325 total
1 day
La Couvertoirade and Le Caylar: The Hospitallers' Walled Village and the Roc Castel
225 + 100 XP
On the Larzac plateau the Templars and then the Hospitallers held fortified villages, and La Couvertoirade, one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France, still keeps the walls its own inhabitants had built from 1439 to 1445, in fear of the mercenary Routiers, by Deodat d'Alaus, master mason of Saint-Beauzely. A few kilometres south, Le Caylar sits below the Roc Castel at 752 m, where a castle begun in the 12th century has left its ruins around a chapel of the same age.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Walk the part of La Couvertoirade's rampart that is open, then climb through the village to the church of Saint-Christol and its walled cemetery, both listed in 1945 along with the presbytery, and find the commanderie the Hospitallers took over from the Templars in 1312
2
of 4
Climb the Roc Castel to 752 m through what is left of the 12th-century Castellas, find the polychrome wooden retable of the 14th century inside the castle chapel of Notre-Dame de Roc-Castel, and from the top pick out how far across the Larzac you can see
3
of 4
Walk the lanes of Le Caylar and find two things: the Arbre sculpte, the old elm in the village carved into figures, and the houses the village dates to before the 10th century, the oldest fabric in the place
4
of 4
Outside the walls of La Couvertoirade, find the lavogne, the paved sheep-watering pool the causse needs because the limestone will not hold water, and the moulin de Redounel above it, and work out between them how a village up here fed itself on ewe's milk for Roquefort
Walk the part of La Couvertoirade's rampart that is open, then climb through the village to the church of Saint-Christol and its walled cemetery, both listed in 1945 along with the presbytery, and find the commanderie the Hospitallers took over from the Templars in 1312
Climb the Roc Castel to 752 m through what is left of the 12th-century Castellas, find the polychrome wooden retable of the 14th century inside the castle chapel of Notre-Dame de Roc-Castel, and from the top pick out how far across the Larzac you can see
Walk the lanes of Le Caylar and find two things: the Arbre sculpte, the old elm in the village carved into figures, and the houses the village dates to before the 10th century, the oldest fabric in the place
Outside the walls of La Couvertoirade, find the lavogne, the paved sheep-watering pool the causse needs because the limestone will not hold water, and the moulin de Redounel above it, and work out between them how a village up here fed itself on ewe's milk for Roquefort
Before you go
The village of La Couvertoirade is open and free all year, but the rampart walk is ticketed, only part of the wall is accessible, and it closes whenever the Point Accueil is shut: roughly April to mid-November for walk-up visits, and by booking only after that. Ring ahead in winter.
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About Occitanie
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
225 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
325 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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