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Start from the Étang d'Auberive.
(S/E) Follow theGR®®7(red and white markings) southwards, towards Vivey. Leave the road just before the waste collection centre. Pass in front of the Val de la Coudre Forest House.
Follow the valley floor, then head up the valley, continuing to follow theGR®®7markings. Shortly after the Source du Gorgeot, theGR®®7turns right uphill; leave this path halfway up and head back down to the left along a path not marked on the IGN map. Continue to the Sources de Latreue and then to a farm.
(1) Take a small road to the right for a good hundred metres and turn left after a hunting lodge to reach Vivey.
(2) In the village, take the first left, then turn right to pass in front of Vivey Castle. Continue along the Croix au Loup path (you can walk to the cross and back). Stay on theGR®®7route.
(3) Once at the top of the valley (elevation 466m), turn right onto the forest track. Join another forest track and turn right until you reach the old station.
(4) Leave theGR®®7route and take the road on the left, then the first forest track on the left. Follow this for 1,200 metres; it leads to the edge of the Chalmessin nature reserve.
The path becomes difficult or even impassable due to the stones, so turn right. Ignore the first path on the left (even though this may also lead you to the old railway building).
Instead, take the second path on the left to descend a very steep and difficult slope.
(5) Halfway down the slope, turn left onto an old forest road which gradually climbs up the hillside to return to the plateau and rejoin the northern boundary of the reserve. Head left to the old railway building (an unusual structure in the middle of this forest), which you go round via a path not shown on the IGN map. Take the forest road (the old railway line) to the right for 100m.
(6) Leave the forest road via the first path on the left, descending a slope above Cabane Forquot. At the end of the forest track, turn right, then go straight on (slightly right-left) at the first junction. At the second junction, turn left to cross the main path running alongside the Bois de la Montagne.
(7) Cross this track and, a few metres further on, head down to the right towards the Marais de Vau, which you should go round by taking the new forestry tracks on the left; these slightly alter the routes shown on the IGN map.
After a wetland area, you’ll come to a good path that climbs up the other side of the Combe de Farge, running alongside fields. Follow this path, which then descends via a gravel road towards Pralay.
(8) Leave this track just before reaching the village and head up to the left, at a wayside cross, up the Combe Rey via a tarmac road to the plateau, ignoring the track on the right.
(9) On the descent, take the second path on the right, which gradually winds down the hillside before joining, via the Combe Geoffrot, the bottom of the valley leading to the D129, which you should take to the right.
(10) Leave this road and take the Route Forestière des Charbonnières, which climbs up to the plateau.
Once on the plateau, turn left onto a diagonal track running alongside a young plantation, cross a wide ditch to reach another forest road, which you follow to the right.
When this forest road turns 90° to the right, leave it and follow a path westwards (to the left) until you reach another forest road.
(11) Turn right for 250m then turn left at the next junction (before the junction with another forest road) to reach a hunting lodge.
(12) Continue straight on, going uphill and then downhill along the hillside before turning right (1,200m after the hut) to reach a small pass, beyond which you’ll find the Route Forestière des Charbonnières. Turn left to reach Auberive, then the pond on the left (S/E).
