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Departure from the Rieutord church car park.
(S/E) From the church car park, head towards the crossroads before the bridge and turn left onto the road towards Prat Sauvage. Follow the white/red markings of theGR®7variant.
Pass Prat Sauvage and then the Tardieu sawmill.
(1) 150 metres after the right-hand bend, leave the markings and follow the poorly paved and little-used road for 250 metres until you rejoin the white/red markings forthe GR®7. Pass the Prat Sauvage stream and ignore the first unmarked path on the right (not shown on the map).
(2) Leave the road and take the white/red and mountain bike marked forest path on the right, which is slightly uphill and then climbs steeply after the second passage under the high-voltage power line before arriving at Cros du Loup.
(3) At the hiking pole, take the flat road on the left towards Les Oulettes. Follow the white/yellow markings.
After a little over 500 metres, follow the marked trail on the right to cut across a large circular loop of the road that you will join. Walk about a hundred metres along this road to reach the Oulettes hiking post.
(4) Turn right onto the forest path that climbs through the beech trees at the edge of the meadow. At elevation 1309 on the map, continue straight ahead, following the white/yellow markings. You will be overlooking the Chambon crater, which you can see when the path descends.
Shortly before reaching the Croix du Pal (150m), leave the path that branches off to the left towards Le Chambon.
(5) At Croix du Pal, continue along the path on the right towards Le Pal and the Fontaulière spring. Join the tarmac road to the hamlet of Le Pal (right-hand side, commune of Montpezat, left-hand side, commune of Le Roux). Join the D536, which you leave before the bridge for the Route des Oulettes, which crosses the Vestide du Pal (one of the largest maar craters in Europe).
(6). Take the white/red marked trail (GR®7) on the left, which climbs up through volcanic scree. Leave the paths on the right and then on the left to reach Lac Ferrand (probably also a maar crater), which is private property and off-limits.
Continue along the path, following the markings, and pass above a beautiful building with a slate roof.
(7) Leave theGR®7via the path climbing to the right and follow the yellow/red markings ofthe GRP® Tour de la Montagne Ardéchoise for 40 metres to the 1294 metre contour line.
There, follow the forest path up to the right for 40 metres. The path turns right and then, after another 200 metres on the flat, splits.
(8) Take the path ascending to the left (orange cross on sign) to its end.
On the left, at the end of the path, you will find a very steep trail, marked for snowshoes, which leads to the path to the summit of knoll de Bauzon.
(9) Turn left to make a round trip of less than a kilometre to the summit.
(10) Beautiful view with a landscape interpretation table.
(9) On your return, continue straight ahead, following the white/yellow markings.
After about 50 metres, leave the well-marked paths on the left and continue straight ahead on the path up the slope.
At the sign for the "bal des sorcières" (witches' ball), continue along the path on the right, still following the white/yellow markings.
(11) Do not take the first path on the left marked Rieutord, continue straight ahead on the forest road.
At the next crossroads, turn left, passing in front of a relief map of France explaining the watersheds.
Follow the signs for "Rieutord, ligne de partage des eaux" (Rieutord, watershed), marked in white and red (GR®7variant).
Continue straight ahead on the path, passing a trail on the left, then the path on the right, then another on the left under the EDF THT power line.
(12). Continue for a little over 500 metres before reaching the Rieutord fork.
(13) Take the path on the left that goes downhill, marked by various works by local artists.
Join theGRP® Tour de la Montagne Ardéchoise. At the departmental road, turn right towards the village. Cross the bridge and return to the church car park (S/E).
. Excluding the time we spent picnicking near the "Vestide du Pal", we completed the hike in the time indicated. However, the distance is longer than stated; it is 19 km rather than 16 km (distance measured using a Polar watch vs. Visorando).
Thank you all.
Visorando member
Easy 
Difficult 
