Country:
City:
Coming from Aubenas via the D4 and the Défilés de Ruoms, or from Ruoms after crossing the bridge over the Ardèche, head towards Labeaume via the D245. Take the second small road on the right signposted ‘Dolmens, Le Ranc de Figère’. The start of the walk is at the end of the tarmac road, near an old cross. An information board provides an introduction to the site.
Please note: The car park spaces were blocked off by a rock embankment on 29 March 2021. See the ‘Practical information’ section below for alternative options.
(S/E) Continue in the direction of arrival via the wide path that runs alongside the dolmen site; some of the dolmens are visible from the path (see below).
(1) At the end of the dolmen site, continue (despite the Yellow Cross and White Cross marking the end of the signposting) along the wide, uphill path that curves to the right (do not take the small yellow/white-marked path which continues in the direction you came from and will be the return route). When you see a metal gate leading to a house, leave the path and take a track on the right. A little under a hundred metres further up, the path on the right towards La Lauze, shown on the IGN map, is blocked. Continue uphill to the left, following a wall. You’ll reach a flat area (wooden electricity pole, houses on the right). Leave the houses on your right and head down the wider track which continues from the path you arrived on. You’ll reach a junction of several paths near a house.
(2) Take the wide path on the right until you reach the road. Cross the road and continue along the path opposite. When you reach the houses, do not take the path that continues straight on; instead, follow the widest path which veers to the right and passes to the right of the Malpas houses. At Poucholle, stay on the path on the left until you reach a road.
(3) Take the road on the left, which turns at a right angle and then left again after about a hundred metres. Continue along the tarmac (this won’t take long) until you reach a deep depression (usually dry) spanned by a bridge. The road then becomes quite steep. After a bend, it is blocked by electric fences. From the direction of arrival, a stony path leads straight ahead, continuing uphill, flanked by walls. After a good hundred metres, it comes to a T-junction with another straight path of the same kind.
(4) Follow this new path to the left. A few hundred metres further on, you’ll come across the yellow/white markings again. Carry on straight ahead. After a few hundred metres, you’ll reach a wider track; follow it to the right. Pass to the right of a house, continuing to follow the markings (ignore a track on the right, then a path on the left). You’ll reach a tarmac section and come to a junction.
(5) Despite the Yellow Cross/White Cross (the markings veer off to the left, then return sharply to the right to end up at the same point), take the path opposite, which quickly leads to another junction. Follow this wide path to the right, which goes round the Abeille megalithic necropolis. The path first curves widely to the left (following the fence on the left; ignore two paths branching off to the right), then becomes straighter (note the dovecote high up on the left) before reaching the beautiful buildings of L’Abeille. Cross the hamlet and continue in the same direction until you reach the junction with the Chapias footpath.
(6) Turn left and gradually rejoin a path through the oak trees, between imposing rock formations. You’ll reach the junction with the Chemin de la Grange de Bernard (an old broken cross, of which only the base remains).
(7) Opposite the junction, and very slightly to the right, take the path leading back to the Ranc de Figère.
(1) Return to the original route, which leads back to the small car park. (S/E)
Visorando Member
Difficult 
Easy 
