Walking from La Roque Sainte Marguerite
to The Rocks of Montpellier Le Vieux
Superstition and legend surrounds the site and from a distance the
old pile of rockslooks like an ancient ruined city (some say) built by fairies or giants and destroyed by the devil or a malevolent spirit. The name comes from the shepherds who moved their flocks in summer from the plains of Languedoc towards the mountains in the north. They would have known the city of Montpellier, referred to by the locals as
Lo Clapàswhich is Occitan for
pile of rocks. Occitan for
ancientor
oldis
Vièlh, so this
ancient pile of rocksor
ancient citybecame
Lo Clapàs Vièlhor
Montpelhièr lo Vièlhor in French
Montpellier-le-Vieux.
To walk to Montpellier le Vieux, start from the path 50 metres down the road to the left of the restaurant/bar in La Roque Sainte Marguerite. The walk takes just over an hour and the map below shows how not to get lost in the last section of the walk!
