Peak Saint-Wolf

The Peak Saint-Wolf is a mountain of the Languedoc-Roussillon located near to the communes Cazevieille and Saint-Mathieu-with-Tréviers in the department of the Herault. Located at 25 minutes of Montpellier the peak is visible of most of the department of Herault and littoral. It is one of the most beautiful natural sites and excursion of the Northern area of Montpellier. It forms, with the Mont Hortus, a protected natural site and lodges in particular some beautiful specimen of Rapaces.

Geology

Constituted of limestone of the Jurassic , the peak offers a spectacle seizing with its double miniature, the Montagne of Hortus, located just opposite.
The stone of the Holy Peak Wolf was formed by the accumulation of marine sediments, which with the wire of time, reached a very great thickness.
Temperatures and pressures modified the nature of the deposits to give this white rock that the movements of the tectonic plates drew up towards the sky. Certain places are very rich in fossils (pyritous ammonites catches in blue marnes).

Vegetation and panorama

The vegetation which clings here is burned the summer by the sun, is washed copiously at the time of the storms of autumn and is swept by the winds of North in winter. Top of its sharp-edged peak, the Peak Saint-Wolf holds head with the elements.
At the top the sight extends on Hortus and, further, towards the the large Cevennes the Causses. All the littoral plain, Montpellier and the sea can be easily detailed in clear weather. The Northern face of the Holy Peak Wolf, very abrupt, makes the happiness of the pilots of sailplanes which benefit from vertical winds.

History

The Château of Montferrand draws up since 1108 on the peaks of the Holy Peak Wolf, with the site of a former manor house romain.
It is accessible to foot (45 surroundings minutes since the carpark) thanks to a path which climbs with hillside. Today ruins some, the castle present of the vestiges of walls and turns. The cellars arched accessible and are rather well preserved.
The accesses of the castle of Montferrand are rather dangerous: the Northern side is a vertiginous cliff and some open holes give directly in the cisterns of the castle… 3 meters lower.

The legend of the Holy Peak Wolf

The peak Saint Wolf holds its name of a moyenâgeuse legend of love. Three brothers, Wolf, Guiral and Clair, all in love with beautiful Bertrade, left in crusade without knowing which between-them it would choose like husband.
With the Holy Land return, the beloved had trespassed. Despaired, they decided to live as hermits at the top of three close pitons. That on which Guiral lived became Saint-Guiral. He is located close to the Aigoual Mount. That on which Clair lived was named Saint-Clearly, (it is with its feet that the town of Sète is built). Installed on highest, Thieri Loup died the last, giving its name to the mountain. Like his two brothers, it had lit every March 19th of its life a fire in the memory of its liked well.

The Vineyard

The wines of the peak Saint-Wolf, without profiting from a specific AOC are among most famous of the wines of Languedoc-Roussillon. It is about the soil “Peak Saint-Wolf” (Name Coteaux of Languedoc).

External bonds

  • the site of the area of the Peak Saint-Wolf
  • Center of Gliding Montpellier-Peak Saint-Wolf
  • the Holy peak Wolf close to Montpellier
  • Mr. Mattauer: deciphered geological Palimpsests , For Science, n°325, p. 56-61, November 2004. (also in version)
  • the excursion of the Peak Saint-Wolf

Random links:Assess | Orroli | Klisura (Surdulica) | Collar of Manse | Stac year Armin