Circular route from Saint-Clair via Charézy

Park in the unpaved car park next to the small cemetery at Saint-Clair.

(S/E) With your back to the cemetery, head left along the road due west until you reach the first junction.

(1) Pass the return route on your right and continue straight on along a dirt track running alongside the high walls of Château de Mars. At the next junction, carry on straight ahead, following the white and yellow markings, until you reach the outskirts of Saint-Clair.

(2) Carry on straight ahead on the C7, enter Boulieu-lès-Annonay and follow the road to the junction with Impasse du Chemin des Promeneurs.

(3) Turn right towards the Ravin de Combe Noire, down a steep slope and then onto a footpath (still following the white and yellow markings). This leads onto a small road, the Chemin de la Madone. Follow it to the right, rounding a long bend to the left until you reach a hairpin bend to the left.

(4) At this bend, after passing beneath the Madone, leave the road and head straight on along a forest track which, about 200 m further on, joins the hairpin bend of another track.

(5) Continue left onto the track heading uphill, due north. At the next junction (IGN elevation 605), take the track on the right and, after about a hundred metres, you’ll reach another junction.

(6) Ignore the track branching off to the right; take the left-hand track downhill to the hamlet of Samoyas. At the end of the descent, above a farm shed, turn right until you reach the higher part of the hamlet at a sharp bend to the left. Take great care on the right-hand side of a villa.

(7) Take the path on the right; the climb is steep and rutted. You’ll reach a track (Chemin du Plateau) and follow it to the right. The slope levels out. Pass a cross and begin a descent. Ignore all turn-offs to the right or left and head for the next crossroads with signposts.

(8) Head straight on down a fairly steep descent until you reach a small tarmac road at the entrance to a housing estate in the hamlet of Charézy. At the next junction, turn left and cross through the hamlet. At the northern end of the hamlet, about fifty metres past Impasse de la Fontaine (on your right), you’ll see a wooden cross and a post with signposts on your right.

(9) Turn right downhill towards Savas. After crossing the Ruisseau de Châlon via a small bridge, ignore the path leading uphill to the left and head right until you reach the crossroads by the cemetery.

(10) Head right until you reach the Ruisseau du Châlon and a crossroads. Turn left for about a hundred metres to reach another crossroads with the D342. Watch out for traffic – please take care.

(11) Turn right along the D342, then, shortly afterwards, turn onto the track on the right. Continue straight on until you reach the first housing estates in Saint-Clair.

(12) Head up Rue des Cèdres to the right, pass the last house to reach a small path leading up into the woods, then a junction of paths.

(13) Turn left until you reach a small road, then another junction. Carry on straight ahead along Rue de la Fontaine, passing the statue of the Virgin Mary, patron saint of the inhabitants of Saint-Clair. The street slopes down and becomes very narrow. Pass through the pretty hamletof Les Combes, turn left twice and arrive at Rue du Centre.

(14) Turn left, then, after the car park, turn right onto the Montée des Séquoias and continue straight on, leaving the path along the castle wall – which you passed on the way out – on your right, until you reach the cemetery car park (S/E).