Circular loop starting from the Col de la Bûche

Park at Col de la Bûche, preferably behind the Natur'Bois company, to avoid cluttering the customer car park.

(S/E) Turn right at Natur'Bois onto the downhill path, marked in yellow, heading north. After a few dozen metres, stay on the path on the right. Continue downhill to a small pond. Continue along the Chemin des Grands Bois until you reach the D81 and an isolated house.

(1) Continue right along the path to reach the crossroads leading to the hamlet of Les Érignards.

(2) Ignore this hamlet and also leave the yellow markings behind, turning left onto the wide path. Then continue right onto a road, the Chemin des Bruyères, to reach the hamlet of La Quichère.

(3) Continue straight on and cross the hamlet until you reach a crossroads (calvary). Turn left and join the D39, which leads to the Étang de la Quichère. Go past it.

(4) Cross the junction and follow this road uphill to the houses in the hamlet of Crot du Bois.

(5) Take the road furthest to the left and steepest, heading towards Crêt Loup Haut. Follow it to the Crêt Loup crossroads, where there is a wayside cross and a red house.

(6) Ignore the path branching off to the left. Of the three remaining paths, take the middle one. Continue along the Fontcharbonnier Forest Track until you reach a three-way junction at the hamlet of Fontcharbonnier.

(7) Turn left uphill and you will very quickly come to a crossroads of paths.

(8) Here you have two options:
- take the path on the left to join the GR®765 North via a shortcut,
- stay straight ahead on the yellow-marked path and follow it to a multi-way junction (route).

(9) Leave the yellow markings and take the^second path on the left, continue uphill and reach the village of Fontimpe.

(10) Turn left uphill, then downhill to a junction (signposted towards the Notre-Dame de Fatima Chapel, a few dozen metres away). Continue straight ahead on the GR®745 North, following the white and red markings, and reach the junction of the shortcut described above.

(11) Keep right on the GR®, pass the Fontcharbonnier sign, follow the red and white markings to return to the Col de la Bûche car park (S/E).

(4) Picnic tables, playground, public toilets, car park at the Quichère lake.

(4) La Quichère lake: games, picnics, fishing. This lake was created for fishing by the municipality of Écoche in the late 1980s, on the site of a former pond recorded in the 17th century and likely removed in the late 18th century, when ponds were considered useless as they took up good agricultural land and were harmful to health. The embankment and the road (which ran around the pond) were redesigned at that time: the embankment was reinforced and a new route was laid out for the D39 road running along the embankment, with the nearby junction also being redesigned.
(10) Notre-Dame de Fatima Chapel, built between 1943 and 1948 on the initiative of Father Guyot, parish priest of Le Cergne, and thanks to donations from local residents who had prayed to Our Lady of Fatima for the safe return of prisoners. (Source: Loire Tourisme)
Information panels. You can climb the bell tower, but the view is partly obscured by the surrounding trees.