From Marnans to the Étang des Mermes

You will walk through beautiful woodland, with a few quick views of the Pilat, Lyonnais and Vercors mountains
It's a fairly short walk, but at times it goes up and down, so it's quite demanding on the legs.

Details

854961
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 7.84 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 2h 45 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 189 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 181 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 617 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 462 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Park in the car park of Marnans Town Hall.

(S/E) Return to the D156c road to the north. You will cross the Lolagne bridge.
You will see a signpost (Marnans - 464m). Turn left towards Viriville.
100m further on, the yellow markings indicate that you should turn right. Follow them along a grassy path that climbs steeply up the hillside. When it turns left, ignore the path coming from the right.

(1) When you reach the top of the hill, you will see a sign (Les Bonnettes - 533m). Turn right towards Combe Bajat. The stone path becomes asphalted when you cross the municipal boundary. You will arrive at the hamlet of Gros Jean.

(2) At the fork, take the right-hand branch. Then, at the next crossroads, go straight ahead. Ignore the "no exit" sign and take the "Grand Champ" path opposite. A little further on, before a garden, be careful not to miss the path that branches off to the left. Otherwise, you will end up in a farmyard (the owners are lovely, but still...). The path goes around the garden and then passes by the gable end of the farm.

Twice, at a fork, take the right-hand branch. Then you will find the yellow markings indicating that you should take a path that climbs to the left. Follow it. Further on, ignore a path that climbs to the left. At a T-junction, turn left (the yellow markings confirm your choice, even if they are not very visible). Before you reach a small pond, turn right.

(3) You will arrive at a charming little pond with no name. Stay on the same bank and walk along it. Take the time to explore this spot at the "end of the world".
From this point onwards, and for some time, your path will be quite tumultuous: it goes up, down and around... Keep an eye on the yellow markings.

(4) You will cross a small wooden bridge, which will prevent you from getting your feet wet. Further on, turn right (markers).

(5) Then a second wooden bridge (Duteil must have passed this way...).

(6) Then a third. Shortly afterwards, the path levels out, you arrive at a sort of plateau and the path is relatively straight. Follow it, ignoring anything coming from the right or left, until you reach the sign for "Come des Mermes - 612m".

(7) Turn right to arrive immediately at the dam of the Étang Communal des Mermes. If you want to go around it, turn left, otherwise go straight ahead. Whichever you choose, you will find yourself at the communal pond hut at the end of the dam.

Continue along the path, which quickly leads to a small asphalt road that you take on the right. Walk for a while before the road starts to descend steeply and turn left.

(8) Shortly afterwards, take a path on the left. It is not very visible, but in season you will find it among the nettles... It is very short. You will come out onto a small tarmac road. Cross it and take a beautiful grassy path which descends very steeply in places. At the end, it runs alongside the Lolagne and takes you back to Marnans church, next to your starting car park (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 462 m - Marnans Town Hall car park
  2. 1 : km 0.75 - alt. 534 m - Combe Bajat sign, on the right
  3. 2 : km 2.06 - alt. 570 m - Le Gros Jean hamlet
  4. 3 : km 3.61 - alt. 556 m - Pond
  5. 4 : km 4.02 - alt. 564 m - 1st small wooden bridge
  6. 5 : km 4.17 - alt. 567 m - 2nd wooden bridge
  7. 6 : km 4.55 - alt. 576 m - 3rd wooden bridge
  8. 7 : km 5.2 - alt. 613 m - Combe des Mermes sign, on the right
  9. 8 : km 6.51 - alt. 568 m - Path on the left
  10. S/E : km 7.84 - alt. 462 m - Marnans Town Hall car park

Notes

Park in the car park below the town hall of Marnans, a small village in the Isère department, south of Viriville.

There is a water supply and toilets in the car park of Marnans Town Hall.

The town of Marnans consists of just a few houses, the town hall, an inn and a church.

Worth a visit

The very pretty church of Marnans is surprisingly bare inside.

Three ponds mark your route.

There are a few views of the Pilat, Lyonnais and Vercors mountains.

Reviews and comments

4.7 / 5
Based on 14 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.8 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.7 / 5
Route interest
4.6 / 5
Yeti38160
Yeti38160
• Edited:

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 15, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Nice circular. You can add the tour of Lake Mermes.
Be careful, it clearly says to take the path on the left after point 2, but the route continues straight ahead! Having followed it, I found myself in the farmyard where I had a chat with the very welcoming owner 🤣

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Minou38
Minou38

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 23, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A pleasant walk with beautiful scenery and a few challenges, but nothing too difficult. Approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes.

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DAVID  jean luc
DAVID jean luc

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 21, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Beautiful hike, lovely views, but lots of very steep climbs!!!!!!

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bibichon
bibichon

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 20, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A beautiful hike, but my smartphone crashed with the Visorandon app between the start and number 1. I also took the same route as Ingrid38440. I had printed out the route on paper, but that wasn't enough. So we followed the yellow markings, which made the hike longer. What's more, some of the signs were missing. We had to give up on doing the whole route and returned to Marnans by road. A very beautiful walk with views of the Vercors, best done early in the morning and not recommended in hot weather, like yesterday.

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thierry bancel
thierry bancel

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : May 31, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Very enjoyable from start to finish. It's a lovely, uncomplicated ballad.

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DEMON ANDRÉE
DEMON ANDRÉE

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 01, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely walk with varied landscapes and lots of little ups and downs. There are some nice surprises, like arriving at the pond and the little bridges in the forest... I recommend it.

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ingrid38440
ingrid38440

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : May 18, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

a lovely walk (our first) and great fun for the whole family. The children loved the three little bridges, and it gave us the opportunity to introduce them to Yves Duteil's song when we got home that evening.
It's a shame there's no mobile phone reception in the village, so we had to climb up a path to get the description and realise we had to set off on the road, but maybe we'll do better next time.

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Eric Martin
Eric Martin

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 25, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

Lovely walk, varied route. Well shaded, which is nice when it's hot. Beautiful pink water lilies in the last pond

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marcheur de jarcieu
marcheur de jarcieu

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 17, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

A lovely little walk, very pleasant, with lots of undergrowth. A varied route. Very good!

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lezet
lezet

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 01, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A lovely little hike, worth doing again when the vegetation has fully 'woken up'. Watch out for logging tracks that may look like paths.

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chant26le
chant26le

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 25, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A beautiful route with lots of surprises... Not much tarmac, and a nice break at the café opposite the priory at the end. I recommend it.

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hila
hila

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : May 20, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

A pleasant, fairly easy family hike with lovely views and beautiful ponds
Very good description
At the end, we couldn't see the start of the small path (point 8), so we went down the road to the Chemin des Clercs, turned left and, thanks to the yellow arrows on the road, very quickly found the grassy path on the right, which led us to La Lolagne before Marnans

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harp38
harp38

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 22, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A very pleasant and varied route, easily accessible for hiking.
Perfect for a morning workout or a family outing.
Thank you

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michel fougerouze
michel fougerouze

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Dec 13, 2017
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

a pleasant hike today, minus three degrees but good weather.
the directions are good, but beware of the multitude of paths that can lead you astray. Your mobile phone's GPS will get you back on the right track.
There are three small wooden bridges where you can take your child by the hand and listen to the guitar playing.
The walk took 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Make sure you have good footwear and walking sticks are a good idea.

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