Pic Saint Loup
| Pic Saint Loup | ||
|---|---|---|
 The Pic Saint-Loup in winter (from the east) |
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| height | 658 m | |
| location | North of Montpellier | |
| Mountains | Cevennes | |
| Coordinates | 43 ° 46 '43 " N , 3 ° 48' 41" E | |
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| rock | limestone | |
| Development | trail | |
 The chapel just below the summit |
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The Pic Saint-Loup is a 658 m high southern French mountain in the region Okzitanien in Hérault .
Location and surroundings
The Pic Saint-Loup can be seen throughout the Montpellier area and is Montpellier's "local mountain". It is located south of Rouet and Notre-Dame-de-Londres and west of Saint-Mathieu-de-Tréviers . Other municipalities in the area are Cazevieille in the southwest and Mas-de-Londres in the west. If the visibility is good, the view from the summit region extends across the city of Montpellier to the Mediterranean Sea.
The limestone mountain has the shape of a ridge running in a west-east direction with a comparatively flat south flank covered by dense vegetation and a steep rocky north wall. Opposite it, the Montagne d'Hortus rocky plateau rises 512 m.
Attractions
At the summit there is a watchtower and fire tower, the Tour de Guet , as well as the Saint-Joseph chapel and a hermitage that was inhabited until the 1960s. About a kilometer to the east stands the castle ruins of Château de Montferrand ( 393 m ) on a foothill of the mountain .
Ascent
From Saint-Mathieu-de-Tréviers as well as from Mas-de-Londres and from Mas Rigaud, paths lead to the La Croisette junction south of the summit, from there a marked trail leads the last 100 meters up to the summit. Further, more difficult climbs lead over the east ridge and through the north flank. The starting point for most hikes to the summit of Pic Saint-Loup is the hiking car park on the northern edge of Cazevieille . The 2.67 kilometer long hiking trail along the southern flank of the Massif begins there at an altitude of 301 m.
On the north face there are also climbing routes of difficulty 5b to 8c .
Wine
A red grape variety is named after the mountain, made from the Counoise grape variety and assigned to the Coteaux du Languedoc wine-growing region .
Legend
Legend has it that once two lovers - a shepherd and a shepherdess - fled to the mountains to avoid the girl's marriage to a rich merchant. Chased by dogs, they suddenly stood in front of a towering mountain range. They prayed for help, whereupon a giant living nearby split the mountain with one blow. This is how the Pic Saint-Loup and the neighboring Hortus came into being.
Another version is that three crusaders ( Guiral , Clair and Thieri Loup ) were in love with a girl named Bertrada. When the three returned from their adventure in the Holy Land , Bertrada had already died, whereupon the three retreated to the mountains as hermits .
Web links
- Pic Saint-Loup - Photos and information (English)
- Legend of the mountains Pic Saint-Loup and Hortus (French)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Daniel Anker, Jacques Maubé: Languedoc Roussillon: 50 selected hikes in the hinterland and on the coast . Rother, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7633-4306-5 , pp. 22-24 ( Google Books ).
- ↑ summitpost.org , accessed on September 19, 2012
- ↑ climbingaway.fr ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 19, 2012
