Country:
City:
Park in the hamlet of Balayn.
(S/E) Head for the Col de Fontaye via the signposted path from Balayn to Montpeyroux.
(1) Turn right and head for the Col de Fontaye (elevation 613m).
(2) Turn left towards Juny.
(3) At the three-way junction, turn right towards the old hamlet of Juny.
(4) Continue along the track, which turns into a path: the Chemin des Bruyères.
(5) The path passes some pretty ruins and joins the River Vivance, which you cross.
(6) Take the path that climbs to the right along the river through the beech trees to the village of Vaudevant.
Watch out for dogs on the right as you approach Vaudevant; they are kept in but may startle you.
(7) Cross the Route de Satilleu and head uphill past the old houses in the village.
(8) Turn left to head up towards Les Combes and Char along a pleasant path overlooking the village.
(9) Follow the small tarmac road. After about 400 m, you will see Clozel Manor on your right. Continue to the Croix du Gibet.
Gibet means gallows: seigneurial justice was administered here under the Ancien Régime. Visible from afar and situated at a crossroads, the location served to set an example.
(10) Take the path on the right to begin a climb through the woods. A lovely gallop awaits you here.
(11) Turn left at the fork and continue to a small road.
(12) Turn right onto it and ride to the hamlet of Oternaud, cross through it and continue on to Pourchat.
(13) There is a place to water the horses (a spring in a wash house, though dry in summer).
The view stretches to the left over the Daronne valley at the village of Pailharès. A little further on, on the other side, the entire Alpine range comes into view in the distance, from Mont Blanc to Mont Ventoux.
Follow the forest track – good galloping is possible.
This track allows you to discover all sorts of tree species (birch, Douglas fir, wild cherry, oak, etc.)
(14) You eventually join the GR®42, which descends to the Col de Juvenet. Here you move from two wind directions (Val d’Ay and Annonay) to three (the St Félicien area and the ‘far south’).
(15) Cross the pass with care and continue along the GR®42, which climbs up a fairly stony path to the hamlet of Montplot.
(16) Joannès Dufaud (in *Parlarem en Vivarés*, 2004 edition) tells us that this is the ‘mountain of the PLOT’ or ‘mountain of the logs’; more simply, the mountain where trees are cut into logs of about three-quarters of a metre, for use as sawmill timber.
A local resident told me that they only really discovered their northern view over the Annonay basin after the 1999 storm. When a natural disaster clears your view...
Continue along the GR®42 (the only access route for residents). You pass above the Vignet farm, where a south-southeast view opens up, and you reach the road.
(17) At a bend, take the yellow and white marked path to the right. The path is stony; you may need to dismount. It leads to another picturesque hamlet: Le Vernet.
(17) Continue along the marked path which runs along the top of a field of heifers. This path joins the Route de Maisonneuve.
(19) Turn right onto it and head for the Col de Fontaye, passing behind the Rian cheese dairy.
(2) At the pass, go straight on to reach Montpeyroux, where you can admire the view over Saint Félicien.
(1) Take a signposted path to the left, towards Le Balayn, between the cherry and apricot trees. In the hamlet there are sun masks listed as historic monuments: in a courtyard you can clearly see a sun in bas-relief on a pillar (S/E).
Visorando Member
Difficult 
