French bank holidays in May and June often give an opportunity to explore new places. With a few hours for myself to spare (my partner could unfortunately not follow me on this kind of outing, although she'd love to) I decided to take in three of my Massif Central +100m prominence summit list which should hopefully be available soon.
This route starts from the main car park (€3 yearly fee) in the village of Mourèze (Hérault, France). The first 30 minutes took me across the fantastic lunar maze of rocks, boulders and pinnacles that is the Cirque de Mourèze, which is easily accessed from the village.

The ascent of la Montagne de Liausson starts gently, but the last part is pretty steep and I'd say the trail could be slippery in wet conditions. The views from the ridge -particularly to the N over the Lac du Salagou and the mountains beyond- are absolutely amazing and worth the effort. The patchwork of colours is particularly amazing: red earth, blue water and sky, light green vineyards and dark green forests.

It's definitely worth lingering along the ridge to enjoy the different points of view, before getting to the main top (535m) which stands to the W end of the ridge. The plentiful of wild flowers and butterflies meant loads of stops for more photos.
From the main top it was a steep descent to the Col de Portes. The marked trail veers left here and takes you back to the village; instead, I headed straight on an unmarked trail to the Sommet de Lousses (511m). The ascent is rather gentle and straightforward. A large cairn marks the crossing with the narrow trail that leads to the top of the ridge, which is worth a bit of exploration. The highpoint is a small rocky outcrop which requires some light scrambling and offers a 360° vista, including another fantastic viewpoint over the lake.

It was now getting pretty hot yet the incredible variety of flowers -including several species of wild orchids- I met along the trail that goes down into the Combe de Lousses caught my attention and meant more stops for photos.

The last summit of the day was now in view but the route across the col is not very obvious. After reaching a gravel track I followed it for a hundred metres or so and picked a trail that goes down to the right. It soon reaches some ruins before petering out, but after another 100m I reached the end of another gravel track and soon found (to the right) the elusive trail that zigzags across the forestry to the top of Mont Mars, aka. Mont Sainte-Scholastique (502m). The climb is not very long but steep, with only one viewpoint along the way. The highpoint lies on the edge of a drop and provides another nice yet rather restricted viewpoint. A few tens of metres away lies the remains of an old chapel which apparently dates back to the end of the 10th century, and just nearby is another, wider viewpoint.

The final part of the final descent requires some care in terms of navigation as the trail keeps zigzagging and the few crossings have no signposts. At one point you reach a large gravel track and you're soon back to the village, which is well worth a visit too. A superb hike, not to be missed if you're in the area !!
Note that apart from a ca. 100m stretch at the col between the last two tops and a shortcut I took while leaving the last top, this route only consists of marked or relatively well-maintained trails/tracks. The Cirque de Mourèze offers lots of possibilities in terms of exploration and has a whole network of faint trails. This could be done with younger children (under supervision), yet the whole route, be it the sole ascent of la Montagne de Liausson would obviously be too demanding for little legs.