Aleyrac Priory – Mulberry Tree Near Crest loop from La Bégude-de-Mazenc

Mountain biking trails

Aleyrac Priory – Mulberry Tree Near Crest loop from La Bégude-de-Mazenc

Moderate

2.5

(2)

riders

Aleyrac Priory – Mulberry Tree Near Crest loop from La Bégude-de-Mazenc

02:30

25.3km

690m

Mountain biking

Moderate mountain bike ride. Good fitness required. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.

Last updated: August 18, 2026

Tips

Includes a segment in which cycling is not permitted

After 24.2 km for 79 m

Waypoints

Start point

Bus stop

Get Directions

6 m

Former Petit Train du Picodon Station, La Bégude-de-Mazenc

Highlight • Historical Site

When you think of train station buildings in France, you immediately think of magnificent arrival halls. But the reality in Begude-de-Mazenc? Rather rustic. The modest brick building, located not far from the M. Loubet park, served as a train station from 1893 to 1936 - without pomp, but with charm. Passengers waited patiently on simple stone benches for the Petit Train du Picodon, while at least believing they were safe from the notorious Mistral. The municipality had hoped for at least a toilet - they only got a small room. Fortunately, the street was wide enough to allow the trains to cross. Functionality, instead of grand architectural dreams!

Part 3 of the Petit Train du Picodon bike tour.

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371 m

La Bécudie-du-Mazzinc Silk Mill Ruins

Highlight • Historical Site

The caterpillar breeders delivered the silk threads in skeins to the "moulinages" on the river. There the silk threads were transferred to spools. The subsequent twisting of the threads increased their strength. At the end, the yarns were packaged and checked before being taken to weaving mills - an important export item from the otherwise economically weak region, alongside the more rustic woolen goods.

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695 m

Fließender Strom - Energie für die Drôme

Highlight • Other

Here we are standing on the main artery of the region's early industry, the Jabron. There is a height difference of more than 600 metres between the source in the hinterland and the mouth in Montélimar. This large difference was used to generate energy. This is why the region's factories, potteries and spinning mills are located on the banks of the Jabron. In order to make better use of the water power, parts of the river were straightened and provided with dams. In some places we can still find them today - but the factories are hardly in operation anymore.

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906 m

Italian Quarter and the Mill, La Bégude-de-Mazenc

Highlight • Settlement

The workforce in the factories on the Jabron did not only come from the region. After the genocide in Armenia, female refugees came to the region as workers. Many Italian women also settled here. They came mainly from northern Italy and were looking for work on the other side of the Alps. In La-Bégude-de-Mazenc they lived in their own district near the factories, which was named after them. But a comprehensive community life was usually not possible - so they often remained strangers in a foreign country.

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8.54 km

Aleyrac Priory

Highlight • Religious Site

Of the priory of Aleyrac, only the ruins of the Notre-Dame church remain today. And even if there is not much left of the church either, its facade remains almost intact and one can, on entering the enclosure, recognize the way in which it was organized at the time.

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20.0 km

Pretty watering hole

Highlight • Other

bucolic place

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24.1 km

Mulberry Tree Near Crest

Highlight • Natural Monument

The mulberry tree is crucial for silk production. Its leaves are the only food for silkworms (Bombyx mori) - and so without a mulberry tree there are no caterpillars, and without a caterpillar there is no silk. The tree was not native to the Drôme, but grew along the roadside. It was deliberately planted at the driveways of houses that bred caterpillars. This kept the routes short and ensured supplies for the beneficial insects. Today, however, there are hardly any trees left in the landscape.

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25.1 km