Walls to hold the soil
On a slope like this, rain would wash the soil away in a few seasons. So the people of Valon built walls, stone on stone, without mortar, and filled in behind them to make strips of flat ground. The stone stores the sun's heat and gives it back at night, which helped the vines and fruit trees. The village still shows traces of that life: bread ovens, sécadous (chestnut-drying houses) and a threshing floor paved with schist.
When farming was given up, the terraces became overgrown with scrub. In 2023 and 2024 the commune of Lacroix-Barrez cleared part of them and laid out the trail, with help from local historians, dry-stone wallers and naturalists.
What the 21 stops tell you
- Dry stone: how the stones are chosen and laid so that a wall stands without cement.
- Life in the walls: plants, lizards and insects that make use of the gaps and the warmth.
- Electricity: the arrival of the dams in the gorges, with the Couesques reservoir just below.
- Farming in the past: why these terraces made the village prosperous.
Several viewpoints open onto the Truyère gorges, and some stops have things to handle, which children soon spot.
Practical information
- Start: at the far end of the village of Valon, past the cemetery. Yellow waymarks (PR).
- Distance: 1.3 km, about 90 metres of height difference.
- Time: one to two hours, depending on how long you spend at the stops.
- What to bring: walking shoes and water, as there is no drinking water on the way.
- Access: open and free all year round.
Our tip
Do it after visiting the castle: first the view from above from the keep, then the terraces seen from below. In summer, set off early in the morning or late in the day, as the slope heats up quickly in the sun.