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Park in the car park in front of L’Albenc church.
(S/E) Leave the church and head straight ahead, then turn left. Cross the main road to join Rue des Terreaux. Walk up this street and take the first alleyway on your left (Impasse de la Boissière), then follow the yellow-and-red markings ofthe GRP®® Tullins-Vinay. You’ll cross the courtyard of a house, and the slope becomes much steeper. The steep climb isn’t long, but you’ll certainly feel it. You’ll come out onto a wider track, which you’ll take to the right.
(1) You’ll reach the sign for “Plaine de Mayoussière”. Carry straight on along the Chemin du Plateau towards Le Rat. Ignore a path branching off to your left (Impasse du Gante). The track curves naturally to the right. You pass the ‘Mayoussière 1’ transformer. You reach a T-junction; turn left, where you’ll immediately come to a second junction. There, turn right. Your narrow road takes a wide bend to the left.
(2) You’ll see the ‘Chemin du Rat’ sign. Turn right, towards La Madone. You’ll pass a hairpin bend to the right, then the road bends to the left (sign for ‘Chemin de la Bergerandière’). There are no further signposts.
(3) Further on, a road joins from the right; you’ll see the same sign, with “Chemin des Côtes” added. Carry on straight ahead, taking great care not to miss a path that branches off almost immediately to the right. It leads into the forest. Take this path. It climbs up to a bare, flat area. Head down to the left. You’ll very quickly come to a wide track, which you take to the right. You’re back on theGRP®® marked in yellow and red, though the markers are very sparse. At the first Fork in the road, take the right-hand path. At the second, take the left – there are markers here. Keep your eyes peeled: at one point – and only this one – you’ll see the village of Vatilieu on a hill and, most importantly, the Abbey of Notre-Dame-de-l’Ozier down in the valley. You’ll reach the Chapel of Épinouze.
(4) Continue along the same track. You’ll come out onto a small road; take this to the right (there’s an iron cross). Then, fairly soon, you’ll reach a crossroads. Turn left (back onto the ‘Route de Bergerandière’). Shortly afterwards, a green sign directs you to turn right. Go there – it’s a 400-metre round trip to see a splendid panoramic view of the northern slope of the Vercors.
(5) You’ll return to the road and turn right. You’ll reach a new crossroads near a cluster of houses.
(6) Take the Chemin du Trémollet on your right. You’ll leave it fairly quickly, continuing straight on when it turns left; head towards the Jardin des Sauvages, indicated by a wooden sign. Follow this path for a good while, passing the Jardin des Sauvages.
(7) At a hairpin bend to the right, ignore the path branching off to the left. After a short descent, your path opens out onto a track and a flat walnut grove.
(8) You’ll see the sign for “Panissiat – alt. 410 m”, which is, unfortunately, in poor condition. Turn right towards the Combe du Nan, running alongside the walnut grove.
Ignore a narrow path coming in from the left. After a bend to the left, you’ll come to a Fork in the road with a sign reading “La Combe du Nan – alt. 400 m”. Take the left-hand fork towards L’Albenc.
Caution! If you have children, keep a close eye on them – there’s a fairly steep drop-off on the left.
You’ll come to a hairpin bend.
(9) Carry on to the left via a bend of almost 180°. You’ll descend quite steeply and reach the junction with the D1092 at La Croix de l’Étang.
(10) Cross the road carefully and continue straight ahead. Take the first street on the right (Chemin de la Lèze). This turns right to rejoin the departmental road. Take it on the left. Cross the road carefully as soon as possible. You’ll reach the end of the straight stretch.
(11) Take the narrow street on the right: Rue des Terreaux, and follow it until you reach the cul-de-sac you took at the start (Impasse de la Boissière). Just after this, you can take the small passageway leading down to the left. You’ll come out onto Impasse du Palais de Justice, which you take to the right to return to your starting point on the left (S/E).
Very pleasant route, had a snack at the Chapelle de l'Epinouze, nothing else to report, we picked up lots of large chestnuts, nothing to report.
A pleasant hike on very gentle or uneven terrain, but with the trail markers it's no problem. We didn't go to the viewpoint because we got caught in a small storm, which was a shame, but the little chapel is very beautiful. We finished the hike by collecting chestnuts.
Visorando Member
Easy 
