The Brévenne Aqueduct from Duerne

This beautiful circular route from Duerne takes you along well-marked paths and tracks, often shaded, to discover the varied landscapes of this little-known part of the Monts du Lyonnais.
A small stele by the side of the road commemorates the sacrifice of the American pilots who crashed there in 1944.
At the end of the route, before heading back up towards Duerne, you can discover the astonishing remains of the Roman Aqueduct on the Brévenne.

Details

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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 13.49 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 5h 25 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 546 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 551 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 923 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 578 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Park in the car park at the entrance to the village from Saint-Martin-en-Haut or Yzeron. An excellent presentation of the Brévenne aqueduct is displayed in the car park.

(S/E) Take the village's main street heading west.

(1) Go past the church on your left, leaving the road on your left, and continue straight on until you reach a junction of four roads. Take the second road on your left, which leads to the cemetery (route de Fourvière). Continue straight on, ignoring the paths to the left and right just before and after the cemetery.

(2) The path climbs slightly through the fields. After about 500 m, it enters a small wood. Ignore the path that climbs to the right.

(3) At the Croisettes crossroads, marked by a beautiful wrought-iron cross, take the path that continues straight ahead, ignoring the path that rises slightly to the right. At the side of the road, you will see the stele erected in memory of the American pilots.
Ignore the two paths that go up to the right that you come across and continue until you come to a junction with a serviced road.

(4) Take the road that climbs to your right towards hill 933, which is wooded and dominated by base stations.

(5) Just before the forest, an orientation table shows you the surrounding peaks (in theory you can see as far as the Ecrins massif).
Follow the path through the forest and gradually descend. Take the path on the left, which runs more or less sideways.

(6)Just before leaving the forest, the path is blocked by large rocks. Go past them and come out of the woods, following the path to the right, across the fields, ignoring the one that goes straight down towards the Courtine farm.

(7) At the crossroads with the D34, you will see a pylon and a sign marking the watershed. Take the road down in front of you, to the right of the roadside farm. Take the path on the right as it bends at right angles to the road and head downhill.

(8) At the crossroads at the end of the forest, turn left. Continue straight ahead on the gravel path that leads to a small tarmac road. Turn right. Shortly after the farm on the right of this road, a footpath curves off to the left towards the Orjolle stream: follow it. After crossing the stream, it takes you to the D489. Follow this to the left for 200 m, then take the road that climbs to the right towards the hamlet of Montfort.

(9) Go straight through the hamlet. At the exit, continue straight on, ignoring the path that descends to the left. Continue along the pastures overlooking the Sainte-Foy l'Argentière valley. Ignore the path that descends to the left towards the valley and continue to the next junction, at the bottom of the valley. Turn right and climb up to the Chervolin farm (you will pass greenhouse crops - strawberries at the time of our visit). At the entrance to the hamlet, ignore the footpath to the right towards Duerne and go down to the road. After the bend, ignore the road that climbs to the right and, about 200 m after it, take the path that climbs fairly steeply to the right. Follow this well-marked path until you come to a path that descends steeply to the left. It is marked by small signs indicating the aqueduct. The path is marked by a rope.

(10) Continue down this very steep path. It takes you left towards a picnic area and right along the aqueduct.

(11) The path takes you to the old Grande Goutte mill.

(12) Cross the stream and climb to the right through the forest. Ignore the path that goes straight ahead at the first right-angled bend in the path. At the next bend, stay on the same path, ignoring the path to the right. The path will go through the forest before coming out along the pastures and taking you to La Forêt farm. Continue left along the road to Duerne. At the first bend, follow a path down to the left. This shortcut will take you back to the road on the left, which leads you into the village. Turn left, then right. You will soon come to the village's main street. Turn right and follow the road for 100 m to the car park (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 790 m - Car park at the eastern entrance to the village of Duerne
  2. 1 : km 0.14 - alt. 796 m - Church of Duerne
  3. 2 : km 0.61 - alt. 822 m - Bifurcation
  4. 3 : km 1.41 - alt. 866 m - Carrefour des Croisettes
  5. 4 : km 2.29 - alt. 902 m - Route
  6. 5 : km 2.63 - alt. 923 m - Orientation table
  7. 6 : km 3.42 - alt. 847 m - Forest exit
  8. 7 : km 3.84 - alt. 804 m - Crossroads on the D34
  9. 8 : km 4.97 - alt. 693 m - Crossing at the end of the forest
  10. 9 : km 6.94 - alt. 743 m - Hamlet of Montfort
  11. 10 : km 10.24 - alt. 659 m - Path with a rope
  12. 11 : km 10.55 - alt. 618 m - Brévenne Roman aqueduct
  13. 12 : km 10.97 - alt. 578 m - Moulin de la Grande Goutte.
  14. S/E : km 13.49 - alt. 790 m - Car park at the eastern entrance to the village of Duerne

Notes

Start
You can park in the large car park at the starting point at the junction of the D34 and D489.

Refreshments
Small mini-market/bakery open on Sunday mornings in the village centre.

Picnic facilities
Three picnic tables in the shade in the forest, just after the orientation table below hill 933.

Worth a visit

American B-24 crash
On 15 August 1944, the B-24J Liberator bomber of the 856th Bombardment Group of the 8th Air Force took off from Harrington airfield in England. Its mission was to drop supplies for the Resistance in the Monts du Lyonnais. At 1 a.m. it arrived over Duerne. It made a first pass to reconnoitre the terrain, followed by a second to drop the containers. The containers were dropped too low and exploded when they hit the ground. The pilot was unable to right his aircraft, which hit the small hill where the stele is located. Only one crew member survived the crash and was taken care of by the maquis. The other 7 crew members were killed.

Brévenne Roman aqueduct
With a total length of 70 km, the Roman aqueduct of the Brévenne supplied water to the springs of the Orjolle valley, where this walk passes. It then followed the Brévenne valley, halfway up the western slopes of the Monts du Lyonnais. Skirting these mountains to the north, it reached Lyon via Saint-Just and Trion.
Buried parts of the aqueduct are clearly visible in the last section of this walk, at the place known as "Thue des Sarrasins".

Reviews and comments

4.5 / 5
Based on 116 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.4 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.5 / 5
Route interest
4.7 / 5
Sanpaloune
Sanpaloune

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 29, 2026
Reliability of the description : Not used / Not applicable
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely hike, which took 4 hours including a break.
Quite a bit of elevation gain for this distance, but nothing too difficult.
Best done on a clear day to enjoy the stunning views, though even in summer you can make the most of the shaded sections.
I recommend it.

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gp goutte@free.fr
gp goutte@free.fr

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 23, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A lovely walk. Just to let you know, the path is currently almost impassable between bridge 11 and point 12 due to timber extraction work; we went through the woods above, following the path.
At point 4, take the path that climbs to your right, not the road.
This route offers some lovely views.

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Mariclor
Mariclor

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 20, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very pleasant route with plenty of stunning views and sections through the forest. Took 4½ hours.
Please note: before point 10, over a stretch of 500m, due to extensive tree felling and logging operations, the path is completely rutted (50cm-deep ruts) and muddy. You’ll need to walk along the unstable edges and step over branches. Perhaps not suitable for groups at the moment.
And I recommend the restaurant in Duerne, ‘De toutes façons’ (good, cheap, friendly).

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MIDOL-MONNET
MIDOL-MONNET

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 11, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Delighted with this loop under a shower of mirabelle plums 😊

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flapflap
flapflap

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 02, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A few difficulties following the route due to frequent changes in direction. Inevitable on this type of terrain. Thanks to the author.

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Jeanclano
Jeanclano

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 25, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Nice hike, some fairly steep climbs ...

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mariejmart
mariejmart

Overall rating : 3 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 26, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

Hello,
I wanted to record the track and instead of following the red line, my track was just a succession of straight lines that had nothing to do with the red line, so it was of no interest, even though I had set the minimum distance between 2 GPS points...
Can you explain how to correct this problem? Thank you
I haven't seen any Roman remains.

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Yamaska
Yamaska

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 26, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A lovely walk, the main attraction of which in winter is the discovery in several places of the buried aqueduct of the Brévenne between points 11 and 12.
Please note that in the description of point 9, the path marked by a rope does not actually appear until point 11, guiding us towards the Roman aqueduct.

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J69
J69

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 27, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A very pleasant walk over hills and valleys, but not the slightest trace of an aqueduct.

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pelounouche
pelounouche

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 24, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

two qualities :
shady (deciduous and sometimes coniferous forest)
beautiful views through the undergrowth

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th.reynaud
th.reynaud

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 24, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A pleasant walk in bright sunshine, but the shady sections are very welcome.
1 or 2 "leg-breakers" on the narrow paths (which are also full of brambles).
The climb towards the Hameau de Monfort is not very pleasant in the heat of the day...
We missed the start of the path with the rope, but you can continue on the path and pick it up again a little further on.
Be careful, there's a small rocky bar in the path, not very cool in the rain.
Otherwise, there are some lovely views and the Roman vertigo is a nice touch.

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Azur42
Azur42

Overall rating : 4.5 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 12, 2022
Reliability of the description : Not used / Not applicable
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

We avoid the paper format and prefer to follow the route on our mobile phone using the IGN 1/25000 map or by downloading the gpx file onto a GPS.
To date, we're completely satisfied with this method. We can only recommend this hike, which is not particularly difficult in the heart of a beautiful region .... Thanks to mablehome.

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tiroune
tiroune

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 04, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

It's a beautiful walk with lots of woodland, which is appreciated in summer. The views are beautiful and varied. We didn't meet many hikers on this first Sunday in September. Thank you for this walk!

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BERNARD GIROUD
BERNARD GIROUD

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jan 22, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A pleasant route at this time of year, when you can enjoy a ray of sunshine on the ridges.
It seems to me that the cumulative difference in altitude is more than 486m.

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Floram
Floram

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jan 16, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely walk in the sunshine, while the mist and pollution spread across the plain.

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