Olette - Canaveilles (English)

This is an excellent half-day walk with views of beautiful scenery in the hills of central Conflent. During the climb from Olette, in the Têt valley, to Canaveilles, perched on slopes high above, we follow one of the most delightful footpaths of this area. The descent is across an open plateau and then through a pine forest. (You may encounter cattle grazing on the upper slopes of this route. Please keep dogs under close control.)

pdf version to view and print:
walks-vernetlesbains-canigou.eu/wikiloc/Olette--Canaveilles--Eng.pdf

pdf version for smartphone:
walks-vernetlesbains-canigou.eu/wikiloc/Olette--Canaveilles--Eng--s.pdf

Walking time: about 2h30. Ascent: about 400 metres (lowest/highest points: c.600 metres/c.1000 metres).

1 - Start: Olette railway station. With the station behind us, we go to the left. We walk up the lane to the main road which goes through Olette. We go to the left; we cross the main road at a disused petrol station; and then we follow a footway across a bridge, with the main road on our left. We go to the right, along a lane, and, after passing a house on the left, we go to the left, up a grass track, to a:

2 - Track junction. We go to the right, up a rough track. The track approaches a hydro-electric water pipeline, then it swings to the left. We follow the track uphill, through a forest. The track swings to the right, it goes under the pipeline, and it soon emerges on a tarmac lane. We go to the right, along the lane. After a short distance, we turn to the left and we follow an unsurfaced track. After another short distance, we turn to the right, and we go up a footpath. The footpath meets the track again - we go straight across and we go up the path opposite. The path meets the track again, and we turn to the left, where there is:

3 - A three-way track fork. We go ahead on the middle track. The track takes us past a pylon and then up to a water tower, at the top of the water pipeline. We go to the left of the tower, and we follow a broad footpath which takes us out of the forest. This delightful path follows the contour line for some distance, with the Têt valley far below. Along the way, we see the villages of Marians and Nyer on the other side of the Têt valley. Eventually, the path swings to the left, by a water trough (abreuvoir), and it climbs to meet a grass track. We go straight ahead, up that track. At a terraced area, where the track swings to the right, we go straight ahead, up a grassy path to:

4 - Canaveilles village. The mairie (town hall) is directly opposite. It is worth wandering through the narrow streets of this charming settlement, which dates back to at least the ninth century. But we should return to this point and then go to the left of the eleventh-century Romanesque church (https://www.sauvegardeartfrancais.fr/projets/canaveilles-eglise-saint-martin/). We keep to the main track, straight ahead, as we leave the village. This track then swings to the right and it climbs the hillside. Along the way, we have fine views back to Canaveilles. We eventually approach:

5 - A hairpin bend in the track, on the crest of an open plateau. We go to the right a few metres before this bend, to a small rocky outcrop (but we can first go up to the bend to admire an old orri (drystone cabin) and the view towards mountains beyond). From the rocky outcrop we follow a well-used path, downhill, across an open grazing area. Our path, which later becomes a track, first goes slightly to the right of the crest of the plateau, and later to the left. As we descend to the left, we enter a pine forest. We go through a gate, which we leave closed, and we follow the track as it winds down through the forest. We eventually return to the:

3 - Three-way track fork, which we passed on our way up. We go to the right, down the waymarked path which we climbed earlier on. We then follow our outward route down to Olette, and back to the start of this circuit at the railway station.