Refine your search for walks in Chavanat
Chavanat walks
Banize and Thaurion, the enchanters
Visorando Member
5.02 mi
+348 ft
-318 ft
2h 35
Easy
Departure from Chavanat (Creuse)
The banks of the Banize and Thaurion are truly enchanting! A visual treat that slows down your average speed: it's impossible not to stop repeatedly to contemplate the course of these two rivers, the balanced granite boulders or the mini waterfall that wants to play the big one.
Around Saint-Georges-la-Pouge
6.75 mi
+387 ft
-407 ft
3h 25
Easy
Departure from Saint-Georges-la-Pouge (Creuse)
A gentle, family-friendly walk through flowering meadows, woods and undergrowth, taking a Roman road on the return journey. You pass through hamlets, admire the gardens, and follow footpaths, tracks or small roads. You’ll encounter cows, horses, chickens, and even a few dwarf goats.
Ponsat Dolmen Route
3.84 mi
+295 ft
-292 ft
2h 00
Easy
Departure from Saint-Georges-la-Pouge (Creuse)
Discover the historic sites and points of interest in the commune of Saint-Georges-la-Pouge on this pleasant walk through forests and wetlands. A tour of some of the wonders that abound in the Creuse.
The Poirier Waterfall
6.09 mi
+446 ft
-440 ft
3h 10
Easy
Departure from Saint-Hilaire-le-Château (Creuse)
This is an opportunity to discover a rather secret path leading to the impressive Poirier Waterfall. Here, the Thaurion becomes a bubbling river that bounces off large granite boulders. This walk will also take you across two footbridges over the Thaurion, between twin ponds, along paths through woods and undergrowth, and across meadows.
From the Étang du Moulin to the Champagne wash house via Le Donzeil Sud
5.08 mi
+230 ft
-223 ft
2h 30
Easy
Departure from Le Donzeil (Creuse)
A lovely route allowing you to discover the charming hamlets of Donzeil and the wash house at Champagne, following tracks and paths.
Tour of Donzeil via the Étang du Moulin
6.96 mi
+489 ft
-495 ft
3h 35
Moderate
Departure from Le Donzeil (Creuse)
An easy route, following tracks, paths and short stretches of road, often shaded, allowing you to discover various hamlets in the Donzeil area.
In the footsteps of Martin Nadaud
Tourist office
5.82 mi
+876 ft
-856 ft
3h 25
Moderate
Departure from Soubrebost (Creuse)
Starting from the Martinèche car park, Martin Nadaud, the most famous mason in the Creuse, invites you to follow the paths of his childhood to discover the built and natural heritage of the commune of Soubrebost in half a day.
the Devil’s Channel
1.82 mi
+246 ft
-236 ft
1h 05
Easy
Departure from Royère-de-Vassivière (Creuse)
A fairly family-friendly hike. The outward journey is downhill along a bucolic stream, through a lush, almost tropical deciduous forest. The return is more austere, through a mysterious, moss-covered coniferous forest.
Tournicoti twirled around the hamlet of Masgot
4.42 mi
+407 ft
-410 ft
2h 25
Easy
Departure from Fransèches (Creuse)
Masgot is a hamlet adorned with original sculptures created in the 19th century by a single man, the stonemason François Michaud, but it is also a hamlet surrounded by footpaths and woodland trails that can be explored even in hot weather. A lovely little walk that also takes you through the hamlet of Montgermain, where you can admire its venerable 400-year-old lime tree. The route is almost entirely off-road, so you can let your dog run free.
The Champs de Pierres and Augerolles waterfalls
1.81 mi
+299 ft
-318 ft
1h 05
Moderate
Departure from Saint-Pardoux-Morterolles (Creuse)
At the edge of the Millevaches plateau, set off on a walk, accompanied by information panels, to explore a listed natural site covering 50 hectares.
Here and there through Sous-Parsat
6.49 mi
+646 ft
-630 ft
3h 35
Easy
Departure from Sous-Parsat (Creuse)
Starting from Sous-Parsat, this hike offers the opportunity to admire the amazing frescoes and stained glass windows of the village's Saint-Thomas Church, to stop at Mareilles in front of the "cylindrical" fountain and its pretty basin, and to walk through the undergrowth or across the bocage.
Haute Faye route
5.91 mi
+827 ft
-823 ft
3h 25
Moderate
Departure from Royère-de-Vassivière (Creuse)
Discover the local heritage (crosses, fountains, wells...) and the skills of our ancestors.
The unmissable little Roman bridge at Senoueix
10.73 mi
+512 ft
-515 ft
5h 25
Moderate
Departure from Saint-Marc-à-Loubaud (Creuse)
This tiny Roman bridge features on every postcard of the Creuse’s remarkable sites! The circular route therefore takes you there after a detour via Lake Lavaud Gelade, then back through meadows and young woodland. Although the walk begins with a short stretch of road (with little traffic), it then mainly follows paths and tracks lined with heather in bloom in autumn.
Tour of Lake Vaud-Gelade
14.66 mi
+1,142 ft
-1,142 ft
7h 45
Difficult
Departure from Saint-Marc-à-Loubaud (Creuse)
Located on the Millevaches plateau, Lac de la Vaud-Gelade is an artificial lake, created between 1940 and 1944, with a surface area of 300 hectares. It is fed by the Thaurion and several streams.
It is used for electricity production. Its earthen dam with a granulite foundation holds 21 million cubic metres of water, which feeds Lac de Vassivière, depending on its water needs, through a 4km-long underground tunnel.
Through the Thaurion Gorges
4.27 mi
+577 ft
-577 ft
2h 30
Easy
Departure from Thauron (Creuse)
Starting from Thauron, this is an easy walk that takes you along a small section of the magnificent Thaurion Gorges, then into the countryside.
Circular loop from Saint-Pardoux-Morterolles to the Augerolles waterfalls
10.06 mi
+1,453 ft
-1,470 ft
5h 55
Moderate
Departure from Saint-Pardoux-Morterolles (Creuse)
A circular route starting from Saint-Pardoux-Morterolles that also allows you to discover the Cascades d'Augerolles site. This hike passes through meadows, woods, forests and the areas around the waterfalls. A few panoramic views, streams and a plank bridge complete the picture. It should be noted that the roads, where there are any, are forest roads, some paved and some unpaved, but in any case very little used.
Maquis of the Bois du Thouraud in Maisonnisses
5.95 mi
+630 ft
-650 ft
3h 15
Easy
Departure from Maisonnisses (Creuse)
A pleasant little commemorative walk starting from Les Châtres or Maisonnisses, exploring the Bois du Thouraud and the site of the first Creuse maquis, in memory of the maquisards who fell on 7 September 1943, and the upper reaches of the Gartempe near its source, the Pierre Fade.
Route des 7 Peux
7.98 mi
+538 ft
-538 ft
4h 10
Moderate
Departure from Royère-de-Vassivière (Creuse)
The village of Royère-de-Vassivière was established on a strategic pass on the Millevaches plateau, at the crossing point of a prehistoric ridge path. The ridge paths (or pouges) allowed people to travel long distances. They favoured the granite peaks of the rounded hills, called Puy or Peux, and avoided the damp, peaty valley bottoms that only cattle frequented.
Mont de Transet and La Chaise à Thauron
3.22 mi
+305 ft
-299 ft
1h 45
Easy
Departure from Thauron (Creuse)
This 5 km route, which links two villages, mainly follows very old rural paths, cleaned by volunteers from the Pierres et Nature de Thauron association: two recent forest tracks, created for the exploitation of conifer plantations, and a tarmaced communal road, which has a long history.
Route des Tourbières - Vassivière
8.83 mi
+837 ft
-843 ft
4h 45
Moderate
Departure from Royère-de-Vassivière (Creuse)
Peat bogs develop in granite basins called alveoli, where the acidic, poor soil provides favourable conditions for their growth. These fragile environments are home to a specific flora composed of very particular primitive plants: sphagnum mosses. The different stages are visible here: low marshes covered with quaking bogs, active raised bogs, and peat heaths bordered by willows and birches.
The Chassagnas Peninsula on Lake Vassivière
4.49 mi
+364 ft
-371 ft
2h 25
Easy
Departure from Royère-de-Vassivière (Creuse)
Chassagnas, of Latin origin, Cassania or Gallic Cassanus, refers to the oak tree. Chassagnas consists of a wooded slope down to the edge of Lake Vassivière and a partially cleared summit offering a 180° view of the lake.The Chassagnas peninsula, jutting out into the heart of Lake Vassivière, forms the boundary between Creuse and Haute-Vienne. Together with its twin, the Puy du Rocher, which overlooks Vauveix, it acts as a barrier between the lake's two main bays.
Route of the two dykes at Vassivière
4.35 mi
+417 ft
-413 ft
2h 20
Easy
Departure from Royère-de-Vassivière (Creuse)
The dam is complemented by the Auchaise dyke, which seals off a depression in the ground on the right bank about 400m from the main structure. This reservoir also receives water diverted from the upper basins of the Taurion (La Vaud-Gelade), Vienne, Dorat and Chandouille (Faux-la-Montagne) rivers.
Route around Lake Vassivière
23.57 mi
+1,280 ft
-1,286 ft
2 days
Moderate
Departure from Royère-de-Vassivière (Creuse)
This two-stage route of 2 x 18 km will take you on a journey of discovery around one of the largest artificial lakes in France.
You can expect to see mid-mountain landscapes, varied vegetation including fir forests, moors and peat bogs, and wild flora and fauna on this tour of Lake Vassivière, commonly known as "Little Canada".
The highlight of the route: a stopover at the Pourvoirie du Lac stopover lodge (accommodation, breakfast and dinner with a panoramic view of the lake).
From the Vassivière Dam to Nergout
11.99 mi
+614 ft
-551 ft
6h 05
Moderate
Departure from Royère-de-Vassivière (Creuse)
This first stage takes you through unspoilt countryside, with a route that is both wild and surprising.
Montfranc Circular Loop
4.41 mi
+285 ft
-305 ft
2h 15
Easy
Departure from La Nouaille (Creuse)
This lovely walk takes you to the southernmost village in the commune of La Nouaille (Creuse).Walkers will discover a ‘travail’ (a workshop used for shoeing cattle) that has been completely cleared. The walk alternates between passages through conifer plantations and beautiful open spaces. You can discover other walks in the commune of La Nouaille