Beuil: Loop hike in the Bergians Plateau

The Bergians Plateau south of the Village of Beuil offers a variety of landscapes: Alpine meadows, woods, ancient hamlets, pasture areas. Some of the old houses seemed to be secondary residences while others were permanently occupied. There’s a marked trail circling Bergians which can be reached by itineraries from Beuil, Les Launes or along an ascending trail from the D28 road.

We chose the latter option and parked next to signpost #68, our starting point. There’s a vast parking between the road and the Cians River (huge terracotta-coloured boulders near the riverbed).

2.Above D68 road

2. To Bergians from #68

3.Verdant forest trail to #56a

4.Bergians Soutran

We climbed along a good trail to signpost #56a and forked left, starting the loop clockwise. After a short climb, we reached the first hamlet named Bergians Soutran (lower Bergians according to https://beuil.fr/circuit-des-bergians/ ). There were yellow markings here and there to show the trail. We forked left before the last houses (Image 4), entered a nice forest trail and headed west. The well-used trail soon forked left while the one on the map continued straight. But the terrain there was ingrown and wild boars had been messing around. We followed the beaten unmarked trail, and came to a wide forest track shown on the map. We followed it, first southeast then northwest, and soon reached signpost #57a on the map, 57 on the signpost. There was a large herd of cattle roaming nearby.

We were now in open terrain with a 360° panorama. We continued a bit as not to disturb the livestock, found a good spot for our picnic before continuing to Bergians Soubran (the upper Bergians). We came to Collet de Guérin at 1639 m, another signpost with #57.

5.Soon after Bergians Soutran

6.Hamlets in Bergians

7.Cattle in Bergians

8.Western side of Bergians

9.Return trail forking left

10.Cians River Valley

We headed east along a dirt track leading to a nearby house, walked right behind it before continuing along a path to signpost #55 where we crossed a paved road. After a few hundred meters we started to descend rapidly and passed a place named Rétouria with some houses.

We came to the beforementioned paved road again (Signpost #56), crossed it and saw our descending trail next to a house by the road, with an opening in the fence (forked sharply left, image 9).

We reached sign post #56a, closing the loop and descended back to our starting point.

Climb: 410 m

Distance: 7,1 km

Duration: 3h 10

Map: 3640 OT Haut Cians Valberg