Tournemire hiking circuit
Starting from Tournemire, walk across a majestic setting made of limestone rocks and grey marls and try to identify bird and butterfly species that have found refuge in the area - the Rock Swallow, the Red-billed Chough, the Large Blue – and plant species clinging to the cliffs such as Hormathophylla macrocarpa... A walk through a haven of biodiversirty!

Tournemire tunnel
This 1885 m long old railway tunnel was excavated towards the end of the 19th century. In 1988, a laboratory designed to undertake, geophysical, geomechanical and hydrochemistry studies was set up inside the tunnel. The aim of this fundamental research, carried out by the Nuclear Safety and Protection Institute, is to gain more knowledge of the way underground water moves and transports dissolved materials. It also examines the geological structure of the area. Some grey marine marl outcrops can be seen in the surroundings and are an equal mixture of clay and limestone.
To get more information: IRSN
Dry Grasslands
Dry Grasslands which are iconic features of the caussenard landscape originate from pristine forests that have been transformed by human actions (land clearing, stubble-burning, farming and pasture). This ecosystem is a semi-natural environment with outstanding biological particularities: it provides a critical habitat for rare animal and plant species and is a perfect hunting ground for birds nesting in surrounding cliffs and gorges. Moreover, these traditional pastoral lands have been used for centuries. At the end of the spring season, the causses scenery is decked out with tall grass (feather grass) that forms the shape of a thick silver hair. (source PNR Grands Causses).

Lavogne
Ever since the Neolithic period, humans have kept on improving the numerous natural ponds that they came across all around the Causse. They took advantage of these small land depressions called sotch or doline that provided essential water supplies to ensure the sheep watering, but were also used as laundry places or fish ponds, although their clayey bottom have always posed problems with leakage.
In the Occitan language, the word lavanha refers to all kinds of ponds whether natural or hand built, whereas at the PNRGC, we have chosen to keep the word lavogne, or lavagne to designate ponds with paved bottoms, for they have witnessed the development of pastoralism over the 19th century. (source PNR Grands Causses).

The Tournemire cirque

Tournemire amphitheatre

Birds
The cliffs of the Tournemire amphitheatre are an important playground and nesting area for numerous birds. These cliffs are home to great variety of bird life, from the most expressive to the most secretive such as: the Rock Swallow; the Alpine Swift; the Red-billed Chough; the Wall creeper; Bats (Greater Horseshoe) and birds of prey nesting on cliffs among which is the Eurasian Eagle-Owl.
Description
- Starting from the car park at the Tournemire town hall, walk along the D23 towards Roquefort. 20 m before the passageway that goes under the railway, take the tarmac track on your right up to the old railway tunnel entrance. Follow the yellow marks and turn to the right on a footpath. Go through a fence, then after 100 m cross a path and keep following the ascending track opposite “the engineer trail”. Once you’ve reached the top of a steep slope, turn into a small dry canyon and after 150 m enjoy a magnificent view on your left. Keep going until you reach the Causse du Larzac where the Fournials fortified farm can be seen (private property, visits not allowed).
- Leaving the Fournials farm on your left, take the track to the right towards the Viala du Pas de Jaux. From here, a possible option is to walk onwards for 300 m and just before a small stone building leave the track and take right a footpath that goes directly down to Tournemire.
- Keep following the caussenard footpath and walk past a lavogne (natural pond with a paved bottom on your left) then carry on along the amphitheatre up to the Grépounac cross.
- Retrace your steps back to the fork with the Arnals path.
- Take left the track with a red and white marking (GR71C). Carry on the GR which goes down the Tournemire amphitheatre. Walk your way down to the Pont du Diable where you will see the brook Brias resurgence.
- Head back to Tournemire on the trail, then onto a road which passes the side of the stadium (on the right hand side) then past a beautiful building which was formerly a convent, come back to the Town Hall car park.
Altimetric profile
Recommandations
Travel by bus or train: http://www.mobimipy.fr/
Carpooling : BlaBlaCar, Rézo Pouce, Covoiturage-libre, Idvroom, LaRoueVerte, Roulez malinInformation desks
Avenue de Lauras, 12250 Roquefort/Soulzon
http://www.roquefort-tourisme.fr/
contact@roquefort-tourisme.fr
0565585600
Situated in the Grands Causses Regional Natural Park, the cheese village of Roquefort stretches on the hillside over the famous scree of the Combalou Rock, in southern Larzac. The village is at an elevation of 630 m and has 700 inhabitants.
OPENING PERIODS:
The Tourist Office is open all year round:
- In July and August, Monday to Saturday: 9.30 to 18.30, Sunday: 10.00 to 17.00.
- April, May, June, September, October; Monday to Saturday: 9.30 to 12.15 & 13.00 to 17.30, closed on Sunday.
- January, February, November, December; Monday to Friday: 9.30 to 12.15 & 13.00 to 17.00, closed on Saturday and Sunday.
Transport
Travel by bus or train: https://lio.laregion.fr/
Carpooling : BlaBlaCar, Rézo Pouce, Mobicoop, Idvroom, LaRoueVerte, Roulez malin
Access and parking
Coming from Saint-Affrique or from Millau, take the D999, then follow the D23 towards Tournemire for 6 km
Parking :
Accessibility
The plesiosaure house is accessible to people with mobility impairment.
Source


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What to see
At its entrance, is a 180 million-year-old complete skeleton of an extinct marine dinosaur, the Occitanosaurus tournemirensis which was discovered fossilized in the “grey clay soils.”
The ecologically Sensitive Natural Space (SNS) of the Tournemire amphitheatre which is situated in the village of the same name, stretches over an area of approximately 130 ha and marks the boundary between the frontal causses and the causse du Larzac. This area has a remarkable environmental importance due to the geomorphology of the site and also owing to several natural habitats of European interest that it provides. This natural space shelters numerous noteworthy bird species: the Eagle Owl, the Golden Eagle, the Common Whitethroat, the Wallcreeper, the Red-billed Chough and some inconspicuous bats. A few plant species well-adapted to the topography, the rock and even sometimes to the Mediterranean climate can be observed: Hoppe's Figwort, Hormathophylla macrocarpa...
The House of Plesiosaur displays the skeleton of the marine reptile (it's a copy, the original is at Millau's museum) along with interpretative panels about the geology, Plesiosaur, flora, birds and bats. It is also the starting point of the Tournemire amphitheatre hiking circuit that enables you to immerse yourself in a unique environment and of the point of departure for the amphitheatre interpretive trail.
"Espace Nature Aveyron" is a mobile application which allows to discover the whole range of animal and plant species living in this ecosystem and to enjoy the SNS stroll.