The best MTB trails around Pinet

It is difficult to imagine that between Agde and Marseillan lies one of the largest protected wetland areas on the coast. The Bagnas nature reserve, the former delta of the Hérault, long exploited for salt and then for viticulture, is today a space entirely dedicated to fauna and flora. Between lagoons, salt marshes and reed beds, this changing landscape hosts hundreds of migratory bird species each year.

A remarkable geological site, worthy of the fairy legend! It is actually a sandstone (clastic rock) with a carbonate cement and not a limestone. Differential erosion has shaped this landscape into natural basins.

A few hundred meters from the village of Castelnau-de-Guers, in the middle of a pine wood, the Saint-Nicolas-de-Talpusiac chapel was built on a hill at the foot of which passes the fishermen's path (cami peissonier) connecting the Étang de Thau to Pézenas. The chapel is mentioned in 1106 under the name "Ecclesiam S. Nicholay de Talpussiac". The name Talpussiac, translated as "Talpussiac's domain", suggests an ancient origin for the site. Archaeological surveys near the chapel led to the discovery in 1992 of the site of a rural settlement from late Antiquity. The current chapel, oblong in plan, and its south and west facades are pierced by a door. It was consecrated in 1819, but is now disused.

The dinosaur egg-laying sites, the red lands, the white rocks, and the Étendoir des fées are among the most remarkable geological sites in the municipality. The Étendoir des fées is worth the detour as it is an original formation of limestone rocks, deposited at the beginning of the Tertiary era, during the folding of the Pyrenean-Provençal chain, on a continental plain episodically crossed by rivers.

The Bagnas lock is the last single-chamber lock on the Canal du Midi before Sète, at the end of the canal. Built around 1676, it is located 235.2 km from Toulouse at an altitude of 2 m, between the Étang de Thau to the east and the Hérault river then the Prades lock to the west. It is located in the commune of Agde in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region.

In Agde, between the Canal du Midi and Bagnas: a stroll in the heart of natural and historical heritage. The final point of the mythical Canal du Midi before it flows into the Étang de Thau, the Bagnas sector constitutes a both symbolic and spectacular stage of the famous work by Pierre-Paul Riquet.

Magnificent view from the tip of the cape and from above

After the catastrophic devastation of the summer 2025 fires, it's extraordinary to see how nature is reclaiming its space. While keeping in mind the immense fragility of ecosystems, fellow cyclists and hikers, please be careful and spread the word.