Circular Thieure starting from Vals-les-Bains

Park in the Domaine des Bains car park in Vals-les-Bains.

(S/E) Follow Rue de la Santé to Boulevard de Vérone. Turn left onto Pont Saint-Jean and cross the Volaine.

(1) Turn right onto Rue Jean Jaurès, then leave this road at the next junction and turn left onto Route d’Oubreyts. Walk past the cemetery, then the pumping station. Continue to the junction with Route d’Autuche.

(2) Turn left onto it and continue up a gentle slope to reach a multi-way junction, past the village of Autuche.

(3) Turn right onto Chemin du Cousteja and arrive at the entrance to the village of Meysonnent.

(4) Take the path on the left, cross the Route de la Javarde, continue along the path and emerge at the hamlet of Guibourdenche. Continue the climb via a series of hairpin bends to reach a high point in the hamlet of Les Ayres.

(5) Head diagonally to the right along the downhill path to Aulagnet Haut. Before reaching the hamlet, after passing over a ridge, take the PR®-marked path to the right. Pass between the trees, cross a stream, then emerge next to a house in the hamlet of Aulagnet Haut.

(6) Join the track at the bottom of the hamlet and follow it down to the right; turn left up the steps to reach Aulagnet Bas and the D243. Cross this road and, before the river, turn left onto the path that crosses the Besorgues. Begin a steep climb with a series of hairpin bends, leading to the hamlet of La Vieille Église.

(7) Turn right at the next crossroads, after the hairpin bends. Continue until you reach the hamlet of Thieure.

(8) Begin another descent, with hairpin bends, through the woods, leading to the junction with the D578.

(9) Follow it to the right, taking care, for about a hundred metres. You’ll come to a three-way junction, with a bridge over the Volane in sight – this is the Pont de Bridou. Stay on the road to the right, on the right bank of the Volane. This is the^GRP® marked in yellow and red. Follow the Volane along its right bank. You’ll reach the D243, near the Pont de l’Ocre.

(10) Follow it to the right as far as Pont Neuf. Take the bridge to the right, staying on the^GRP® the whole time, following the Besorgues and then the Volane again, until you reach the Mas de Cros neighbourhood.

(11) Continue along the^GRP® and the bank of the Volane, passing the ‘Au Fil de la Volane’ campsite. Walk past the cemetery and the fire station, then past the town hall. Join Rue du Four; turn right onto it to return to the junction with Route d’Autuche, which you passed on the way out.

(2) Turn left and retrace your steps along the route you took on the way there until you reach the Pont Saint-Jean.

(1) Opposite, take Rue Auguste Clément; turn left off it to enter the woods, head towards the thermal baths, turn left, cross the footbridge, and continue on to the thermal baths car park (S/E).

(5) Lavoir aux Ayres.