Blanot – Vaux-sur-Aine – Blanot circular loop

Park in the car park in the village of Blanot, near L’Étape

(S/E) Leave the car park on the right, passing the book exchange, the wash house and the fountain.
Head towards the Grozellier cheese shop on the right. Turn left immediately after its car park. Follow the tarmac path, which soon becomes stony, and join the^GR®®76A(red and white markings) at the ‘Péluzot’ junction.

(1) Continue to the right along the GR®^®.
Walk past a large shed and carry on straight ahead until you reach the D146.
Without crossing the road, leave the^GR®® by turning left onto the esplanade.
Cross it diagonally to the left, keeping the portable building in sight.

(2) Go round it on the left and follow the path down to the D15.
Carefully cross the D15 to head down the path directly opposite (you’ll need to cross the road to see it).
At the path, turn left.

(3) When you reach an abandoned building, turn right shortly afterwards, then right again, to walk past it. Take the path that climbs until it ends, ignoring all the side paths branching off to the right and left.

(4) At the road, turn right. Follow it to the junction, then turn left towards ‘Accès D15 5 t’. Ignore the path leading uphill to the right.
At the next junction, take the grassy track opposite.
At the crossroads, at elevation 461, head back up to the road, passing a green transformer.

(5) At the ‘Le Devant’ signpost, take the road on the right, towards Les Quatre Vents.

(6) Just before the start of a bend, turn left onto a reddish, stony track. It is marked on the electricity pole just before it by a brown symbol above a slanted square.
Follow it, keeping to the left, until you join the^GR®®76A. Turn left onto it.

(7) Leave the^GR®® via a path on the left, situated between a tree marked with a red ‘S’ on a white background and another bearing the same brown symbol as before. Leave the^GR®® in this way, just before it turns right towards ‘Pierreclos’ and ‘TGV Mâcon’.
Pass the tree marked with two crosses (one Yellow Cross, the other Red Cross and White Cross) and take the path marked with a Red Cross.

When you’re almost at the end of the descent, ignore the path on the left and continue to the right, still going downhill.
At elevation 395, ignore a path branching off to the right, just before a stream (often dry in summer). Cross this stream.
Stay on the main path that runs above it until you begin the descent towards the village of Vaux-sur-Aine. When you reach the wash house, take the road that leads uphill and walk through the whole village, staying on it the whole way.

View of the (private) château of Vaux-sur-Aine, built in the 16th century, which features an open courtyard, at the corner of which stands a circular tower. The château itself is adorned with four towers of varying sizes.

(8) At the junction, turn left onto the path marked in yellow.
850 m further on, on the left, you’ll see a building with a wooden gallery and a rather unusual tower. This is La Bouzolle. Sacha Guitry is said to have stayed there on several occasions.

Join a small tarmac road. Follow it down to the left. When you reach a main road, turn left again.
Walk past the picnic area with its wayside cross and its ‘Verger à croquer’.

Before the junction, turn right onto the Sentier du Buis.

(9)Carefully cross the D15 to follow the Chemin de l’Étang towards St-Gengoux-de-Scisse. Pass the pond and continue straight on until you reach the road. Follow it to the right for 150 m.

(10) Before the junction with another road, turn left onto the Chemin de Pratys.
Follow it straight on until you reach a three-way fork in the road.

(11) Take the middle path, used by cyclists and marked by a cairn featuring a red stone (cairn R).
A little further on, a tree on the left bears the same brown symbol as those encountered before Vaux. Take the path on the right to avoid climbing over the fallen tree and rejoin the track a little further on.
Winding your way uphill until you reach a path running at right angles, marked with a cairn R.
Follow it to the right.
At the junction, take the path on the left that leads uphill.
Pass in front of a tree marked with a 12.
Step over or go round the first fallen tree, then continue uphill, following the path which veers slightly to the left.
Step over or go round the second fallen tree and, here too, continue uphill following the track.

(12) At the junction, head uphill to the right (the plot opposite has been cleared of trees).
For your information, on the left, the second path leads to the old Crue farm, which sheltered the Blanot resistance group during the Second World War.

At the next junction, continue to the right along the main path.

(13) At the ‘Bois des Brosses’ signpost, take the path on the right.
Join the^GR®®76Aat a large crossroads. Follow it down to the left, then leave it almost immediately when it branches off to the left towards Mâcon. Continue straight on to Blanot Bourg.
Take the opportunity to admire the Merovingian tombs, the Priory and the Romanesque Church of St-Marin before returning to the starting point of this walk (S/E).

Bring water and walking shoes. A small pair of secateurs: the vegetation can be quite dense between the Chemin du Pratys and the Bois des Brosses.

Toilets in the Blanot car park

Refreshments, dining and accommodation available in Blanot and Azé

Food shops (Cheese shop in Blanot and cheese shop, bakery, butcher’s/delicatessen in Azé)

Market on Sunday mornings in Azé

Visits to the Azé Caves from April to the end of October and/or the Blanot Caves in July/August, as well as during Heritage Days in September.

A dip in the Azé outdoor swimming pool, open from June to the end of August