Circular walk from Croze to Milhac-de-Nontron

Park at Place Georges Combeau.

(S/E) With your back to the shops, take the tarmac road on the right. Cross the next junction towards Thiviers, and continue to the cemetery on the right as you leave the village.

Yellow markings along almost the entire route

(1) Head up towards the cemetery and walk along its right-hand side. At the top of the cemetery, take the path on the right, pass close to a mobile phone mast on your right, and climb to the top of the hill. Continue straight on along this path, ignoring any side paths.

(2) After the junction with the Chadeuil circular loop, which branches off to the right, when you can see a large farm in the distance to your right, turn left onto a grassy path that descends alongside a meadow before crossing a small copse. On leaving the copse, turn left towards the hamlet of La Roussarie. At the junction with the next path, which runs alongside some gardens, turn right. At the entrance to the hamlet, after a pond on your right, turn right and continue along the tarmac road until you reach a four-way junction just past the last houses.

(3) At the Stop sign, take the road opposite (towards Panit) for about fifty metres, then turn right onto a stony track. This crosses a stream via a ford (to be avoided in wet weather), then begins the climb up the hill through the woods. At the next three-way junction, turn left and climb to the top of the hill.
On the descent, the path crosses a track to the right heading towards the Villars caves. Continue downhill until you reach the edge of the woods, where the path joins a white dirt track.

(4) Turn left onto this track, then right at the next junction, to enter the woodland again. Cross a small valley and climb back up to the higher ground. Go round a house, then head down towards the hamlet of Croze along a tarmac road. Turn right, then left at the entrance to the hamlet. Walk down to the stream. The route joins the^GR® 361 here.

Yellow and red/white markings

(5) Turn right to pass in front of the spring, at the foot of the Maison des Pères (built, according to legend, by the monks of Peyrouse), and head back up a narrow path to the heart of the hamlet. Turn left, then left again at the crossroads, and head down to the RD 707.
Cross the bridge on the left and, immediately afterwards, turn right onto a stony track that descends to a ford; cross the stream via the footbridge. Take a path branching off to the left through the woodland alongside the stream and pass through the tunnel under the Voie Verte.

(6) At the exit, turn right. The path crosses a woodland, then runs alongside a meadow on the left-hand side. At the junction, turn left, and left again at the next two junctions. The path descends through the woodland to cross a stream, then climbs back up to a tarmac road. Follow it to the right, passing through the hamlet of Les Moulières whilst staying on this road, until you reach the châteaux.

(7) Turn right onto the path that climbs alongside the wall of the Moulières castles. After the buildings, head slightly to the left onto a narrow, stony sunken track which leads into the woods to a junction with wider paths. Turn left, then straight on at the next crossroads, leaving the^GR® route^.

Yellow markings

(8) Follow the white dirt track through the woods, skirting fields, then at a junction, turn left towards Maumont. The Forest Fire Defence Track (DFCI) continues through the forest, then descends into the valley to a ford.

(9) Cross the stream via the footbridge. The path climbs to the left. At the top of the hill, after skirting some meadows, take the road opposite at the junction towards Maumont. A few dozen metres further on, after the lodge car park, turn left onto a grassy path towards Milhac-de-Nontron.
At the junction in the hamlet, turn left onto the road, then turn right onto a dirt track between the houses. It descends through meadows, then climbs up to the right along a meadow until it reaches a road.

(10) Turn right and follow the road to Mathaly Farm. Opposite the buildings, take a sunken track on the left which descends through meadows; then, on the uphill section, turn left between the fields, heading towards the forest. After passing through the woods, the track joins a road.

(11) Turn left onto this road and continue until you reach a house on your left, at a place called Les Vignes.
Leave the road by taking the path that runs alongside this house, then heads down through the woods and joins a tarmac road.

(12) Turn left towards Milhac. A few dozen metres further on, turn right onto a path that leads across meadows towards the water tower. At the water tower, turn right towards the former girls’ school and head down Rue du Temple on the left. Then follow Rue des Rosiers to the right to return to Place Georges Combeau (S/E).

Avoid doing this walk in wet weather, as the path between Panit and Croze, between (3) and (4), is flooded at the ford and very muddy in the forest.

Picnic tables in Milhac and Croze (5).

Refreshments available in Milhac: bakery, bar.

Enjoy the links between the hamlets that once shaped life in these villages.

In Milhac, the fortified church of Saint Martin, the remains of a Templar commandery
In Croze, the Maison des Pères, built by the monks of Peyrouse Abbey
In Les Moulières, the château, sheltered behind the gates of Peyrouse Abbey