From the Source of the Saine to the Belvédère de la Roche Fendue

Parking at Chez Vallet above Foncine-le-Haut.

(S/E) From the small car park along the road, turn right at the exit of the hamlet of Chez Vallet, onto Rue Sur le Bief, which continues along a shaded path lined with low walls. Climb up through the meadow and continue along a pleasant shaded path.

(1) Continuing straight ahead, the Source de la Saine is accessible in 15 minutes there and back (yellow markings, information boards).

(2) Turn around.

(1) On your way back from the spring, the trail climbs to the right and runs alongside a pasture overlooking the Val de Foncine, then follows a wide grassy ridge path towards the Bayard (yellow and red markings).

(3) At Sous-le-Bayard, the stony path branches off to the right (just after a building housing horses) and climbs for 100 m through the meadow. Take the very stony path on the left, which climbs gradually.

(4) Continue straight ahead along the Bayard botanical trail (thirty plant species specific to this dry grassland). Just after the war exhibition panels, turn right, join a small road and follow it to the right for 50 m.

(5) Turn left and walk 500 m through pleasant woodland to reach the Belvédère de la Roche Fendue viewpoint.

(6) Admire the Combe du Paradis and the spectacular erosion of the Ravin des Arboux. Turn around.

(5) Turn left onto the small road for 50 m and turn right to follow another part of the botanical trail, returning to a fork you passed on the way there.

(4) Follow the same route as on the way there to return to the car park (S/E).

The source of the Saine, a karst spring
The Saine rises in a secluded spot at the foot of a rocky amphitheatre beneath the eastern slope of the Croz Mont forest massif. Its waters have travelled a long underground journey through galleries carved out of the limestone over time. Its flow varies, not according to the rainfall of the day or the previous day, but according to the rainfall that fell several days earlier on the massif. In the past, the spring flowed from higher up in the rocky fault. Today, it only returns to its former outlets during periods of high flow. Above Foncine-le-Bas, the torrential and temporary waters of the Creux des Joyaux are thought to be the overflow from the underground waters of the Saine.

Belvédère de la Roche Fendue
On the heights of Foncine-le-Haut, the Belvédère de la Roche fendue overlooks the Combe du Paradis, protected by a biotope protection order for rock-dwelling birds and limestone ledges. It also offers a view of the spectacular erosion of a layer of grey marl in the Ravin des Arboux, which is reactivated with every rainfall.