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Laprade Basse dam car park (D101)
(S/E) Go straight down to the dam itself. Before crossing the dyke, note the 'stele' on the right commemorating the inauguration by F. Mitterand in 1985 and the dam surveillance buildings on the left. At the end of the jetty, cross the Dure spillway via a bridge. Turn right onto the discovery trail for a few metres, passing over a concrete marker (levelling marker)
Yellow rectangle markings (discreet but more visible in the opposite direction)
(1) Turn left and climb (south-west) into the Bois Grand. Pass a crossroads to go straight ahead.
(2) At the next intersection, turn right and continue on thePR® "Entre Forêts et Tourbières" trail in the Bois de l'Aiguille forest, heading north for 2 km. You will reach the northern tip of the Loubatière National Forest near the Laprade road (a place called Heath Haute).
No markings
(3) Leave the marked route when you reach the road, then turn left onto the Croix de la Serre forest track.
(4) At the bend in the track, head straight ahead and descend towards the Col du Fangas Haut on the D203.
(5) 20 metres before the road, look for a path on the left (majestic beech tree) heading south-east, which runs alongside the D203.
(6) Cross the road at a bend to reach a track opposite. Leave this immediately and take a path on the right, below the road. Blue markings on the trees indicate an underground water pipe, but the path is not marked on the IGN map. After the wet hollow of the Fangas stream (mine entrance), go uphill, then head south-east to reach a crossroads.
(7) Go straight ahead between plots 13 and 10 and turn south-west. At the next intersection, ignore the two paths on the right and head further south towards Bombadou along a forest path (blue markings still visible on the trees) which is not marked on the IGN map. Then turn west (right), leaving the "water markings" behind for a few metres before finding them again. Pass close to a small structure with a spring captured in a basin, formerly fenced off.
(8) Continue west
(Change of route)
Join the Fangas Haut track. Take it to the left and, after Rec des Agnels, pass by the town's water tower and a GSM pylon. Come out at a small pass on the Loubatière road.
(9) Descend to the left into the hamlet of Cals Haut, passing by a communal market hall. Arrive at Place de l'Aubépine (two-hundred-year-old tree). Turn left in front of a fountain on Rue des Lavandières to avoid the bend in the road. Join the road again at Cals Bas and follow it to the exit of the hamlet.
(10) Then leave the tarmac road and take a path on the left, "le sentier des mineurs" (the miners' path), which offers another shortcut (not marked on IGN maps) compared to the road via Travers de la Fonde. Return to the D253. Walk 30 metres along the road on the left.
Yellow rectangle signpost
(11) Turn right onto a gravel path on the right that descends towards the Linon stream, at the edge of the Laprade road. There is a picnic table by the stream.
(12) Cross the stream via a small bridge and you will come out onto the D203. Take the track almost opposite, which climbs up to a clearing used for forestry operations (altitude 715 m).
No markings
(13) Leave the marked trail by turning left and stay on the wide Réserve path (beautiful view of the Loubatière Forest), which winds its way around two bends to one of the four wind turbines located in the commune of Lacombe. Pass by the G6 pylon, take the site's service road and join the Cuxac-Cabardès road. (Alt. 784 m)
(14) Cross the road and head northeast. Turn right in front of a small pond, crossing a stream, and arrive at the Cayrol crossroads. (hut for "Lilliputians").
(15) Descend opposite (north-east). Ignore a path on the right towards Les Forges after a boundary wall. Walk along the Dure river before crossing the canal and arriving below the dam. Go back up the service road to the technical buildings located on the edge of the dyke.
After a few metres, you will reach the car park (S/E)
Visorando member
Easy 
