Walks near Vernet-les-Bains and to Canigou

The SENTIER du BARON (Sahorre)

The Sentier du Baron (Sahorre) (description) map

géoportail

3 hours;  climb: 500m

A walk from Sahorre which climbs to the hamlet of Thorrent and into a forest of handsome pine trees. The path is named after an eighteenth-century baron who was buried in a tiny church at Thorrent.

1 - THE START - Sahorre, road bridge over the River Rotja. The road to Vernet-les-Bains is behind us. We cross the bridge. We turn left up a lane (the 'Chemin Eglise Saint Etienne'). The lane is steep and climbs in zig-zags... We pass Saint Etienne church, on the left. The lane bears to the right.

2 - Bifurcation. We follow the track to the left.

3 - Junction, track and footpath. We go to the right, up the footpath. The path crosses a canal... We cross a semi-open area (disused quarry on the right)... Our path bends to the right and continues to climb... We join a track. We follow the track, to the left, for a short distance.

4 - We leave the track and we follow a path on the left. The path goes alongside an orchard.

5 - Thorrent. From the road in the centre of the hamlet, we go to the left, up a lane. We pass the charming Eglise Sainte-Croix (restored), on the left. The lane climbs steeply.

6 - Gate and junction with a track. We go left, along the track, for a few metres. Then we turn right and we follow a path alongside a canal.... After a short distance, the path leaves the canal and descends to the right... The path meets a road. We go left, along the road.

7 - 'Col de Fins'. We go to the left, on a track which climbs into a forest.

8 - Track junction in a small open area ('Costes'). (Here, the 'Ronde du Canigó', with its red-and-yellow waymarks, goes to the right.) We follow our track, to the left... The track bends to the left.

9 - Bifurcation of tracks. To visit the 'Tambour of Sahorre' (out and back), we go to the right. We climb on the track for another few minutes.

10 - Bifurcation. We enter the forest on the left (signposts). We bear to the right, we climb, and we follow a path (no waymarks) to the tambour.

11 - The tambour - a huge drum which was at the head of a cable car which carried iron ore down to Sahorre. We return by the same route to point 9.

9 - Bifurcation of tracks. We go through a gate on the right and we follow the track on the other side, to the left... The track winds downhill, now in semi-open country... The track eventually passes a château (not open to the public), on the left.

6 - Gate and junction with a track. Here, we re-join our outward route. We go to the right, through the gate and down the steep track, to Thorrent... We follow our outward route down to the start at Sahorre.