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The starting point is in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, at the Champs de la Chatte car park, at the end of the street of the same name.
The path starts a few metres further on at a red metal chicane.
Red Disc Markings
(S/E) Follow the Red Disc marked path, which climbs quite steeply into the forest. (You will follow this marking until you reach the Col de Sainte-Marie). After a few hundred metres, you will arrive in front of the magnificent Sainte-Marie water tower.
(1) Go around it on the right and continue on a wider path, then on a narrower path along the Champs de la Chatte until you reach a junction with a forest road at a small pass.
(2) Take this road to the right. Follow it for about two hundred metres until you find the start of a barely visible path.
(3) Take this path on the left. Be careful, the signpost arrow is on a tree on the right, opposite the start of the path.
You will then arrive at a paved road.
(4) Follow it to the left until you reach the hairpin bend.
(5) Continue uphill to the right. After a left-hand bend, you will arrive at a hamlet with a large house covered in Virginia creeper, after which you will reach a crossroads.
(6) Take the wide path on the far right, while on the left you can see the path you will take to return at the end of the hike.
(7) At a hairpin bend to the right, take the path opposite you (red disc) to join a wide forest track.
(8) This takes you on a gentle climb to the Col de Sainte-Marie, a crossroads of many paths. See Practical Information.
Blue rectangle markings forthe GR®531
(9) At the pass, take the path that climbs steeply into the forest, marked with a red ring and blue rectangle. See Practical Information.
Continue along this path, which heads south and takes you to the Labyrinth and then to the Tête du Violu.
(10) Continue downhill, heading south, towards the Arbre de la Liberté (Tree of Liberty) where you will find a shelter where you can enjoy a comfortable picnic.
Blue rectangle with white stripe markings
(11) Take the path on the left before you reach the shelter. This is the Chemin des Abris, marked with a blue rectangle crossed out in white (a variant ofthe GR®531). It heads north-east, passing the remains of numerous blockhouses, evidence of the fighting that took place here. Continue down the Chemin des Abris to reach the crossroads near the house with the Virginia creeper that you passed on the way up.
(6) From there, follow the path in the opposite direction to the one you took on the way up, which will take you back to the Champs de la Chatte car park (S/E).
Visorando member
Difficult 
Easy 
