Heritage circular through Ternand, Sainte-Paule and Saint-Laurent d'Oingt

Park in the Ternand visitor car park: coming from Lyon, turn left into Rue de la Gare (towards Ternand town hall) and then immediately right. Coming from Chambost-Allières, turn right, then right again.

(S/E) Exit the car park via the entrance, turn left onto Rue de la Gare and join the D385. Cross it carefully and take the^GR®76trail, just opposite, between two houses. Continue to a tarmac road, which you should take straight ahead to reach the hamlet of Ronzières: castle and chapel on the right.

(1) Continue along the road that follows the^GR®76.

(2) About 200 m after the last houses in the hamlet, leave the Ronzières route on your right and continue on the GTR (Grande Traversée du Rhône -^GR®76), ignoring all side paths. You will reach a crossroads in the vineyards.

(3) Continue straight ahead, staying on the^GR®, and join the tarmac road called Route des Vieux Chênes.

(4) Turn right onto it, heading towards Sainte-Paule. Pass Lachassagne on your left and Route du Favrot on your right. Once in Sainte-Paule, follow Grande Rue towards the village centre.

(5) You may wish to stop at the church square to see the ornamental cross dating from 1596. Visit the church, or enjoy a picnic on the square. Then continue to the cemetery and note the rooster on the war memorial. Next to it, at the signposts, follow the signs for Saint-Laurent-d'Oingt and Vervuis, and turn right down a small tarmac road which quickly becomes a very slippery stony path. Continue downhill until you reach a crossroads. Leave the path leading to the hamlet of Vervuis on your left and continue straight ahead until you reach the junction with a tarmac road coming from the left.

(6) Continue straight ahead along the path, even though there is a yellow and red cross. At the Vervuis stream, choose between the ford or the footbridge! At the next crossroads, turn right and follow the dirt track until you reach a tarmac road.

(7) At the signposts, take the second tarmac road on the right (Rue du Cimetière), towards the village. Further on, leave Rue du Cimetière and follow Chemin de la Croix on the left. In Saint-Laurent-d'Oingt, walk down the main street, noting the bar-restaurant on your left and, further on, still on your left, the Recyclerie créative. Continue to the church.

(8) At the church, visit the interior and exterior; go down the stairs to see the chevet, then go back up. With your back to the church entrance, cross at the pedestrian crossing and take the Grapillon. Cross the street and take the chapel stairs, which continue along the Montée de la Chapelle. Walk around the chapel, take a look at the war memorial and the cemetery: picnic area available.

Facing the cemetery, continue along its right-hand wall. Take the road on the left and then, immediately afterwards, the path that descends to the right between the vineyards to the Route du Vernier. Follow it for a few metres, then at the pond, turn right onto a small, unpaved road that runs alongside a large house. After the house, turn right onto a wide grassy path that branches off at a 90° angle between the vineyards. Turn around to take a look at the back of the large house. Descend between the vineyards to a crossroads of paths, and turn sharply right to make a hairpin bend, leaving a poorly maintained path in front of you. Enjoy a pleasant walk through the undergrowth, descend to the Ruisseau de Vervuis stream, and cross it on a wooden plank: I cannot guarantee that you will stay dry if there has been a heavy storm the day before!

Continue along the path that turns sharply to the left. Cross the Ruisseau des Saignes stream and you will soon reach a crossroads. Leave the path that branches off to the left and climb towards the hamlet of Les Brotteaux, where the path is tarmac. When you reach the D31, turn left: take a look at the Ronzières chapel you saw at the start.

(10) Immediately afterwards, on the right, there is a pond with water lilies and a picnic table. After the pond, take the D31 again, then look for a path that branches off to the right to avoid staying on the road. Come out onto Allée des Lilas and join the busy D385. Turn right, cross the road at the pedestrian crossing and return to the visitor car park (S/E).

This hike has no shade for much of the route.

For this hike, it is best to use the Visorando app.

(1) Ronzière Castle and its chapel. Built in the 19th century, it was a hunting lodge belonging to the Ronzière Estate. It then housed a summer camp for half a century. After that, it welcomed groups of young people, families and companies. Today, the renovated part has been converted into guest rooms and lodges.

(5) Sainte-Paule: Romanesque church from the 11th-12th centuries. In the 15th century, the bell tower was rebuilt and the nave extended in the Flamboyant Gothic style. In 1936, in order to install a clock, the bell tower was raised and its flat roof became pointed.

In front of the church is a beautiful carved cross from 1596, depicting the coronation of the Virgin Mary facing the church, and on the opposite side, Christ (probably damaged during the Revolution), beneath which is a statue of Saint James blessing a pilgrim.

The cockerel on the War Memorial: in 1922, it was defeating a German eagle, but in 1940, during the armistice, it flew away, no doubt for fear of possible German reprisals. The monument was therefore left without its crown. When I visited in 2019, a new, resplendent French cockerel was once again slaying the German eagle.

(8) Saint-Laurent-d'Oingt: in 2022, a very nice shop opened: "La Recyclerie créative" (The Creative Recycling Centre), where beautiful things are made from fabric scraps and factory waste. Well worth a visit.

The church, mainly dating from the 15th century (nave and aisles) and the 18th century for the choir, is built on a steep slope, giving it an original silhouette, with a choir that seems immense compared to the entrance. Go down the steps alongside the church to appreciate the size of the chevet in relation to the façade. To enter the church, you first have to go down the steps of the galonnière (the entrance canopy), then the steps inside the church!

The neo-Gothic chapel of Notre-Dame de Saint-Laurent, dating from 1861, is perched on the highest point of the village, in the cemetery. It can be reached by steps from the village.

(10) A poetic pond with water lilies, which offers us a picnic table overlooking the water.