The Montagne Noire, also known as the “Black Mountain” in English is a mountain range on the edge of the Haut Languedoc national park. It runs, loosely, from east to west, and itself forms the foothills to the Massif Central, the 85,000 sq.km upland zone of south central France. The Haut Languedoc forms the southern part of the Massif Central, and with its stunning viewpoints, is rather like a massive balcony overlooking the Mediterranean sea.
At Palatz, we live on the gentler slopes below this balcony, and because of this are occasionally blessed with rare wildlife that venture out of it, such as the St. Jean de Blanc, otherwise known as the Short Toed Eagle. We have a pair of these in residence at Palatz during the tourist season, and have grown very fond of them. They arrive from Africa in April/May with the warmer climate, and enjoy hunting the numerous snakes and lizards that live on our cliff-faces. You’ll often see them circling over the pool area and terraces mid-morning or evening, and they are truly beautiful to behold. The eagles stay around until Autumn before slowly making their way south again through Spain and over the Straits of Gibraltar.
The highest point of the Montagne Noire is the Pic de Nore at 1,210m. From the summit, as well as awesome views across to the Med and the Pyrenees, is the opportunity to come charging back down the slopes. And these are densely forested, almost uninhabited, with many, many epic downhill routes for burning through the trees at speed! Mountain bike, motorcycle, or just hot foot it!
There are more civilised ways to scale the Montagne Noire as well. The windy road up and down from the Pic de Nore makes for exhilarating cycling, and there are also some beautiful little villages, lakes and picnic stops that help turn an awesome outdoor adventure into the perfect day out!