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Park in the car park in front of L'Albenc church.
(S/E) Leave the church and head straight ahead to the left. Cross the main street and take Rue des Terreaux. Walk up this street and take the first alley on your left (Impasse de la Boissière) and follow the yellow and red markings ofthe GRP® Tullins-Vinay. Cross the courtyard of a house and the slope becomes much steeper. The steep climb is not long, but it is challenging. You will come out onto a wider track, which you take to the right.
(1) You will arrive at the sign for "Plaine de Mayoussière". Continue straight ahead along Chemin du Plateau towards Le Rat. Ignore the path that branches off to your left (Impasse du Gante). Your path turns to the right. You pass the "Mayoussière 1" transformer. You arrive at a T-junction, turn left and immediately come to another junction. Here, turn right. Your small road makes a wide turn to the left.
(2) You will see the "Chemin du Rat" sign. Turn right towards La Madone. Go around a hairpin bend to the right, then your road turns left (sign for "Chemin de la Bergerandière"). There are no more signposts.
(3) Further on, a road comes in from the right, and you will see the same sign, with "Chemin des Côtes" added. Continue straight ahead, taking 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 plateau. Descend on the left. You will very quickly come to a wide track, which you take on the right. You are now back on theGRP® marked in yellow and red, but the markings are very sparse. At the first fork, take the right-hand path. At the second fork, take the left-hand path, which is marked. Be careful, at one point, and only one, you will see the village of Vatilieu on a hill, and above all, the Abbey of Notre-Dame-de-l'Ozier in the valley. You will reach the Chapel of Épinouze.
(4) Continue along the same track. You will come to a small road, which you take on the right (there is an iron cross). Then, fairly quickly, you will come to a crossroads. Turn left (again onto "Route de Bergerandière"). Shortly afterwards, a green sign invites you to turn right. Go there, it's a 400m round trip to see a splendid panorama of the northern slope of the Vercors.
(5) Return to the road and turn right. You will come to a group of houses and another crossroads.
(6) Take Chemin du Trémollet on the right. Leave it fairly quickly, continuing straight ahead when it turns left, heading towards the Jardin des Sauvages, which is 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 that branches off to the left. After a short descent, your path leads to a track and a flat alder grove.
(8) You will see the sign for "Panissiat - alt. 410 m", which is unfortunately in poor condition. Turn right towards Combe du Nan, along the walnut grove.
Ignore a small path coming from the left. After a left-hand bend, you will come to a fork with a sign for "La Combe du Nan - alt. 400m". Take the left-hand fork towards Albenc.
Be careful! If you have children, keep an eye on them as there is a fairly steep drop on the left.
You will come to a hairpin bend.
(9) Continue left through a bend of almost 180°. Descend quite steeply and you will reach the junction of the D1092 at Croix de l'Étang.
(10) Cross carefully and continue straight ahead. Take the first street on the right (Chemin de la Lèze). This turns right to return to the main road. Take it on the left. Cross carefully as soon as possible. You will reach the end of the straight road.
(11) Take the lane 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 that, you can take the small passageway that goes down to the left. You will come out onto Impasse du Palais de Justice, which you take on 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 
