Circular route from Blanot via Culey, Lys and Varanges

Park in the village car park near Le Coing, formerly known as L’Étape.

(S/E) Leave the car park on the right. Walk past the book exchange. Go past the washhouse and then the fountain, then head straight up the Chemin Jean de Blanot, which continues as the Rue de l’Église Saint-Martin before splitting into two.
Then turn into the first path on the left.

(1) At the ‘Chemin du Verne’ signpost, continue towards: Crue – Azé.

(2) Join the^GR®®76A(marked in red and white) and follow it uphill.

(3) At the junction, turn left to continue on this^GR®®. Carry on along this path to the Col de la Croix. Cross the D446 and head up the opposite slope towards ‘Mont St-Romain’. The path leads onto a wider track (the Chemin du Faîtral).

(4) Take this path to the right as you climb. Stay on the GR®^®.

(5) Just before the signpost for Mont-St-Romain, leave the^GR®®76route and take the path on the left which descends towards Blanot and is signposted in blue on a white background.

(6) At the next junction, leave this blue-on-white signposting and turn right onto a wide, relatively flat grassy path. Stay on this path until you come across the blue-on-white signposting again much further down.

(7) Continue downhill, following these markings, to Le Voisinet, a hamlet in Nouville.

(8) At the joinery’s, turn right towards Chissey-les-Mâcon. The path runs alongside a timber shed.

(9) Stay on this wide path until you reach the leat of the Moulin de la Chaussée de Culey.
Turn left to join the D146 or Route de Blanot. Follow it to the right until you reach the ‘Moulin de Culey’ signpost.

(10) Head up Rue du Petit Mont on the left. Pass the wash house and the castle to reach Place du Carge. Turn immediately left onto Rue des Tannières, which climbs towards the woods.
Go past the last house. The tarmac soon gives way to a grassy path.
Ignore the first path branching off to the left and stay on this path, which runs between two fields.
Ignore a second path branching off to the left.
At the junction, continue to the right.
Then turn right again when the path splits in two. Stay on this path until you emerge into open country. The path begins a gentle descent and, as it curves, crosses a wide grassy track on the left at the edge of the forest,

(11) Turn onto it, keeping well to the main track until you reach a four-way junction.

(12) There, take the third path from the right (counting the one by the observation post). The path is clearly marked and climbs slightly. Follow it, ignoring the various tracks that branch off from it.

(13) Pass the first, fairly large junction by going straight on.

(14) At the second junction, marked by the oak tree standing in the middle and bearing a brown symbol__/__, turn left onto the path that curves. At the crossroads, continue uphill to the left, then straight on along the same path.

(15) 5 metres before emerging from the woodland (do not go as far as the sign for the Circuit des Lavoirs), turn left and head uphill.
Stay on this well-marked path, which continues to climb. Ignore the first path on the left, then another on the right, until you reach a new V-shaped junction.

(16) Take the path on the right and head uphill. Stay on this wide path. If in doubt, always choose the one that goes uphill. Pass a stone painted fluorescent pink on your right.
Walk past plots 54 and 53, staying on this path.
Pass plot 52.

(17) At the next V-shaped fork, continue to the right, still on the main path.
Pass plot 51.

(18) At the signpost marked ‘Bois des Grands Buissons’, leave the path and turn left, continuing to the end of the track which opens out onto a wider path at elevation 387, between two low walls, leading to a field near a concrete track which you follow uphill to the right.

For explorers, it is possible to go in search of a cadole (a stone shelter once used by winegrowers). In this case, do not go all the way to the concrete track but follow the woodland to the right of the field as you head uphill. A cairn marked ‘R’ indicates the entrance to the site. Turn at a right angle. Continue to the end of the pile of stone gathered from fields. Go round it to see the entrance to the cadole.

For everyone else, carry on along the path. Walk past the hunters’ hut.
Continue along the main path until you reach a junction and the signpost: Les Replats.

(19) Head straight on towards Bourg de Bray, which descends to join the road at Monterin.

(20) Head up the Route de la Moutonnerie on the left.

(21) When the road forms a V-shape (one of the branches leading to a courtyard), turn at a right angle onto the path that descends to the right through the vineyards. Turn onto the path on the left, at the foot of the first vineyard plot.
Turn right at the standing stone and right again at the next stone. Keep to the left and rejoin the road.

(22) Head down to the left, past the large building.

(23) Turn left onto the path that climbs uphill. Stay on this well-marked path until you reach a wayside cross at Chaudenas. Walk down Rue de la Carrière to the right towards Massilly. At the Stop sign, turn left onto Route de Toury. Walk past the GAEC de Carrette et Pocheron.

(24) At the junction, leave the main road and head down Chemin des Beunons opposite, which is bordered by a house with a rounded façade. At the next junction, head up to the left. When you reach the road, head down to the right.

(25) On the bend, turn left to follow the yellow markings between the houses.
Follow this path without turning off until you reach the concrete track leading up to a wayside cross.
Head up this path. Pass a large conifer and continue uphill. The path soon joins a wide cross-path. Take this to the left, passing beneath the high forest.

(26) At the signpost, take the path that climbs to the right, away from Toury, and continues – overlooking the vineyards – along a track that enters the woods

(27) At the signpost marked ‘Sous la Roche’, turn left towards Blanot. At the ‘Bois de la Roche’ signpost, follow the signs for Blanot.
At the junction marked ‘la Roche’, carry on straight ahead towards ‘Mollard Gros Jacques’ to join the^GR®®76.

(28) Turn right onto it, for less than 50 metres, towards Notre-Dame des Roches.

(29) At the signpost: Notre-Dame des Roches, follow signs for Cluny and head down the Chemin du Ban Sacré towards Varanges.
Cross the D117 and take the path opposite. Join the road at ‘Les Sarilles’ and follow it down to the left.

(30) Leave the road to the left at the bend, signpost: ‘Le Replat’, to take the Ban Sacré towards the Col des 4 Vents. Immediately leave the Ban Sacré on your left and continue straight on between the fields.
Cross the stream and take the path on the left. Leave this path via a track on the right, marked by a new brown symbol__/__.

(31) At the crossroads, carry on straight ahead. When you reach a wide track, signposted ‘Bois Galland’, turn left towards the Col des 4 Vents. When you reach the signpost: ‘Sous la Roche’, head up the track on the left leading to L’Alleu.

(32) At l’Alleu, join the^GR®®76. Follow it towards Mont St-Romain. At the Col de la Percée, head up the D117 to the left, still heading towards Mont St-Romain.
Pass the first track on the right and take the second one, which heads towards Notre-Dame des Roches.
Stay on the^GR®®. At ‘Mollard gros Jacques’, continue towards ‘Mont Saint-Romain’. At ‘Poirier du Prêtre’, cross the D146 and take the Chemin des Moines on the left, which passes in front of a large shed.

(33) At the Péluzot junction, leave the^GR®® and head back to the starting point of this walk by turning left downhill (S/E).

Revised on 29/10/2026

Toilets are available in the car park in the village of Blanot and at the caves.

Walking shoes are essential.
Don’t forget to bring water bottles.
Refreshments available at the bar: Le Coing or at the refreshment kiosk by the caves in summer.
Shelter available at the Culey washhouse on the climb up to Les Molards.
Picnic area and shelter at Le Poirier du Prêtre

There are several options available to you:
- a visit to the caves in summer.
- a visit to the village of Blanot with its Merovingian tombs, church, priory, wash houses, communal oven and pottery.
- A tasting session in the cellar of the Domaine du Grison or at the cheese dairies.
- A walk to the Mont-St-Romain orientation point, situated on the highest peak in the Clunisois region.

(S) Note the communal oven, restored in 2000 and still in regular use today.
On the left, you can see Saint-Martin’s Church: an 11th-century Romanesque church adjoining a 15th-century building, incorrectly referred to as a priory, but which undoubtedly housed the lay administrators of the Cluniac estate; and for those curious enough to take a detour, they will discover, round the bend, three Merovingian tombs covered by slabs.

(9) This watermill was in operation until 1960, when it was used to grind grain for livestock.
Information derived from research by Rolf Hoberg, compiled in: *Les Moulins du Grison de Blanot jusqu’à La Ferté*, a self-published document from 2019.

(10) Note the presence on the right of another watermill, older than the previous one: the Moulin Gabon or Moulin de Culey. Its 3.70-metre wheel is the largest of all those on the Grison.
Same source as in point (9)

(22) The village of Bray, which you may wish to visit by turning right, offers not only an exceptional view but also an 11th-century Romanesque church with a number of curiosities, including monolithic columns with Carolingian-style capitals supporting its triumphal arch.