The Durzon Spring later, you arrive at a crossroad, follow the path on Circuit A : 13 km by foot, Go and back. 4hours. the right and continue about 800m to reach to the spring. From Nant, by foot, cross the Place St Jacques (you pass in front of the bakery), follow the path be- La source du Durzon (Protected site, ZNIEFF, Natu- tween the gardens along the canal des Vernèdes. ra 2000). It’s the point of departure of the GR 71 path, Tour Return via the same way or traverse the Durzon by WALKS — du Larzac Templier - Hospitalier. the footbridge in concrete and take, at the far end Around Nant You pass in front of an orchard and further on the of the meadow, the path which goes up at the campsite Les Vernèdes, then the path steps over right of the Mas de Pommier. You will find the

tarred road to follow. Visual Identity : Mélissa

the canal and goes up to the road with a few stairs. - You are on the road to the Durzon spring and you You cross a route enclosed in blue marl and clay, can see on the left the hotel-restaurant Le Durzon. and see some fossil belemnite guards.

You pass behind the old factory which accommo- You go through the hamlets of Mas de la Place,

October 2018 dated a copper mill, then a sawmill which burnt on Les Rivières, pass the bridge of Mas du Pré and - June 1996, 30th. Passing on your left the St-Martin’s then you come back to Nant. bridge and keep going on the road along the canal of the Durzon river. Circuit B : 8km by car, 5 km by foot, 2 hours.

Against the mountain, the Beauvoisin castle was LARZAC ET VALLEES

Go by car until the bridge of Mas du Pré: take the - built more than 900 years ago. The fields on the direction to via . Near the ce- left are marshy and only the poplars can grow up, mentery, and just after the fire station, turn on so this plain is called Les Piboulettes, Piboul in the your left, in the direction of La Source du Durzon. Langue d’Oc means poplar. Just before the bridge of Mas du Pré leave your Keep going on that road.. car on the parking along the river, in front of an THE DURZON SPRING On your right, there is the powerful pumping sta- old dairy, cross over the bridge and follow the in- tion of the Durzon water, the water is picked up at dications of the itiner- ary A from the ***. its spring, then treated so it can be send to several different water towers, in the valley but also to the Conceptionand photo credits : OT WALK ON THE LARZAC CAUSSE AND ITS VALLEYS Distance: Duration: Larzac Causse, the water tower Serre de l’Aigle is 887m high. Circuit A : 13 km Circuit A : 4h00 Download walk leaflets on Circuit B : 5 km Circuit B : 2h00 You pass ahead the Camarat farm (on the right), go www.tourisme-larzac.com or straight ahead, don’t cross over the bridge, keep rando.parc-grands-.fr going on that way. When you find a sign that indi- & the application Rando Grands Causses Difference in Signs: cates Le Mas du Pré, turn to your left, cross over the height: Yellow pretty bridge of Mas du Pré and you can see the Guides for sale 50 m hamlet on the left. In the Tourist Office « Larzac et vallées » ***At the iron cross, follow the dirt track on the  The guide « GR 71 C/D Tour du Larzac Tem- right. The path will be shady, you will pass near the plier - Hospitalier » Avencas Karst spring. The path goes along fields, 200 km of hiking trails (GR) and 17 walks and www.tourisme-larzac.com on the right and where you enter into the forest. hikes (PR). 14,90€ Place du Claux - 12230 NANT The Durzon river is near. Tél. : +33 (0)5 65 62 23 64  The guide « L’ à pied » [email protected] Don’t cross the small tufa bridge on your right. 50 walks and hikes (PR). 14,90€ (Private property of Hugo family). A few minutes

WALKS AROUND NANT A large area between the Lévézou and the Cévennes formed a gulf where the seas of Mesozoic era deposited calcareous sediments, The Durzon in layers over 500 metres thick, for more than spring 50 million years . When the young Pyrenees and Alps mountain ranges were formed, they raised and fractured the plateau. Its altitude is contained between 850 and 1200 metres. As the sea gradually receded, it erodes the rocks, creating ledges; the , Jonte, Dourbie, Trévezel rivers dug theirs gorges, separating the region into different limestone plateaus called “causses”: the Causse Méjean, Causse Noir, Causse du Larzac, typical example of a karst. Karst : the name of a region in Slovenia, at the north-east of the Adriatic Sea; Austro-Hungarian geologists were the first to study Karst systems. This group of larges causses comprises calcareous formations from the Middle Jurassic Period over 500 metres thick. They are organized into karsts that supply a dozen major springs at the bottoms of valleys. Large reserves of water in the submerged karst zone regulate the flow of water from the Durzon spring which re-emerges at the bottom of a glen south-west of Nant near the Larzac Plateau. The approximately 120 square-kilometre Durzon basin is located on the Larzac between L’Hospitalet, , Cazejourdes and Egalières. A study made from December 1994 to June 1996, points out that the flow of the Durzon spring is varying from 0,8 to 3,5 cubic metre/second. Its average temperature is 11,3°C, from 10,2°C to 14,1°C. The Durzon river, just after its reappearance, receives the waters of an- other spring: the Avencas. Its flow is varying from the low water to 0,8 cubic metres/second; its average temperature is 11,74°C. The waters of these two springs have a chemical different composition: their supplying basin is not the same; the nitrates are much lower for the Avencas (2,09mg/litre) than the Durzon (8,34mg/litre), so we can suppose that the Avencas supplying basin is free from cultures; the average calcare- ous content is much higher for the Avencas (66,48mg/litre) than the Dur- zon waters (60,28mg/litre).

The Durzon is approximately seven kilometres long and flows into the Become a fan of our Facebook page Dourbie river at the locality “La Mouline”. Visit Larzac en Aveyron