Circular route to Saint-Nicolas from Étueffont via Mont Bonnet and the ponds

Car park on Rue de l’Église, next to Étueffont Church.

(S/E) From the car park, head right opposite the grocery shop onto the Grande Rue until you reach the main roundabout, then turn right, passing the Blacksmith’s Museum and then the town hall, and continue to the^first right-hand bend onto the D2 towards Rougemont-le-Château.

(1) Leave the D2, turn left and head uphill, continuing straight on along the path, signposted with a Yellow Rectangle (GR®532), a Red Ring and a Yellow Ring, until you reach the chapel.

(2) Take the path on the left, then, after about a hundred metres, turn right. After a 90° left-hand bend, you’ll reach a junction with the road.

(3) Follow the road up to the left for just under a hundred metres until you reach the orientation table, then retrace your steps back to the previous junction.

(3) Turn left onto the GR®532 and walk past the Mont Bonnet farm, then continue straight on until you reach the junction of marked paths.

(4) Ignore the Red Ring path branching off to the right; turn left, following the yellow rectangular markings of the GR®532. Then head down into the woods and walk alongside several ponds until you cross the bridge over the Rivière Saint-Nicolas to reach the ‘Stop’ sign at the road junction.

(5) Turn left and head back up along the road and the river (take care). Keep left at the^first Fork in the road; at the^second Fork in the road, just after the access track to Le Plainot (past the quarry), take the road on the left for about sixty metres until you find a path that veers to the right.

(6) Follow this path, marked with the Red Ring, which overlooks the Saint-Nicolas road, then rejoins it some 400 metres further on. 

(7) Walk carefully along the road to the right until you reach the bridge at the entrance to the hamlet of Saint-Nicolas.

(8) Continue straight on to the former convent and the Chapel of Saint-Nicolas.

(9) Turn back towards the bridge over the Saint-Nicolas stream.

(8) Turn right onto the small road towards Étueffont, cross the bridge, then continue for about 300 metres until you find a path on the left, below the road, marked with a Red Ring sign.

(10) Take this path, which descends to the stream below the Bègue farm. Ford the stream and you’ll reach a junction just afterwards.

(11) Take the unmarked path on the right. Just before reaching the road, walk a few dozen metres to the right to cross the pasture fence, then turn left onto the road and continue to the Échancées farm.

(12) Between the farm buildings, take the path on the right marked with Yellow Ring signposts and a fox’s head (discovery trail). Follow it for a good hundred metres.

(13) At the ridge, let the Yellow Ring path branch off to the right and turn left, heading due south, onto the path marked with a fox’s head. It descends for about 500 metres to a multi-way junction. Continue for a few more metres until you reach the Fork in the road.

(14) Take the path on the right as you head downhill. At Champ du Gravier, continue along Rue des Champs du Gravier, which follows on from the path. Walk downhill to the ‘Stop’ sign before Rue de la Chayère. Continue to the right until you reach the ‘Stop’ sign before Rue de la Madeleine.

(15) Turn left, following the river of the same name, until you reach the main junction (roundabout). Continue along the Grande Rue, then turn left before the church to return to the car park (S/E).

CV signposts.

The Blacksmith’s Museum near the main crossroads in Étueffont.

In Saint-Nicolas, the chapel and the adjoining former convent date from the mid-19th century. A garden surrounds the former convent.