Dunières-sur-Eyrieux: the Doulet route

A long and beautiful hike in the heart of the Monts d'Ardèche Regional Nature Park, offering beautiful panoramic views of the Vercors and Diois.
The Dunière Gorges, the Eyrieux Valley, terraced landscapes, a beautiful variety of scenery showcasing the diversity of the Monts d'Ardèche.

Details

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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 18.45 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 7h 20 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Difficult

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 727 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 721 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 563 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 151 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Parking at Place de la Dunière.

(S/E) Turn left for a few metres, then right onto Rue de la Mairie to cross the D120, which you should follow eastwards to the first junction, along the river.

(1) Turn left and follow the small road to Hameau du Pont. Go past Hameau du Pont to the footbridge on the right.

(2) Take this footbridge to cross the Dunière. Go up opposite, on the right, along the path, pass between the houses and join a small road.

(3) After a few metres, take a small path on the left, which crosses the Route de la Planche a little further up.

(4) Continue straight ahead on the rather steep little path, which joins the road. Turn right towards the hamlet of Monteil, which you cross until you reach the steps on the left, which you climb.

(5) At the next crossroads at Mât de Peyrin, turn left towards Vernoux onto a path that joins a tarmac road. Follow this road to the right, which leads to the hamlet of Les Combes.

(6) At a bend above the houses, take a path on the left that crosses through scrubland and descends steeply through the rocks of the climbing school (some tricky passages above the rocks can be slippery in wet weather). Join the D231 and turn right towards the north-west.

(7) At the junction of the D231 and D233, follow the D233 to the left to the Doulet farm: pass above an old livestock farm on the right.

(8) Just after this farm, a path on low walls on the right leads up to Bas-Praly.

(9) Just before this hamlet, which you should leave on your left, continue straight ahead (signs in place, "hiking trails" signs).

(10) Shortly afterwards, at the Bas Praly mast,PR®® crossroads, follow thePR®® on the left towards Saint-Michel-de-Chabrillanoux. Continue along this path uphill through the fields (or terraces) to Boucharnoux (various farms, follow the signs carefully). Turn right twice and you will reach a small road.
(11) Turn right. Follow the markings carefully, walk past the houses in the hamlet of Boucharnoux, continue north between the farm buildings until you reach the road leading to La Suche, which you follow to the right. Cross the hamlet of La Suche.

(12) Turn left onto the forest road for about 500 metres, reaching a pass and the Mât de la Chareyre.

(13) Leave the track that goes around Mont Godin on your right and follow the signs for Saint-Michel de Chabrillanoux. At the next three-way junction, leave the track that goes down to Champ on your left and take the slightly uphill track on the right. Then descend to the Chareyre farm (eco-museum). This track continues along a small road that joins the D233. Follow it to the right for 250m.

(14) At the next junction, turn left, descend and pass under the Buisson farm. Walk alongside another farm on your left. You will reach a three-way junction in a left-hand bend. Ignore the two tracks leading off to the right and start the bend. Continue along this wide path which descends southwards to the hamlet of La Vigne. Leave it on your left and continue through the woods to the Ruisseau de Doulet stream.

Cross it (bridge) and climb up opposite to the hamlet of Vaneilles, staying on this main path. At the entrance to the hamlet, turn right onto the small road climbing for about 500 m. At the next crossroads, leave the path leading to the Arnaud farm on your right and continue on the path on the left. Go through two hairpin bends.

(15) You will reach a crossroads at Mât de la Pièce. Keep to the same path opposite, which climbs up to Saint-Michel-de-Chabrillanoux. Turn left and cross the village on the D2, which leads to Les Ollières, for about 500 m.

(16) Just after a small bridge, take a path on the right (GR®®427) which leads to the hamlet of Les Issarts and then the D2. Follow it for a few metres, then leave it at the hamlet of Les Buffes and turn left, heading south-east, onto the road to Conjols. Follow this road for about 300 m before leaving theGR®® and taking the south-east-facing forest track at the crossroads. Stay on this track for about an hour, ignoring the various paths branching off to the right or left.

(17) At the crossroads of tracks at Mât de Combovert, continue straight ahead towards Dunières and join the tarmac road.

(18) Turn right and follow this small road overlooking the Eyrieux to the hamlet of La Traverse. At the exit of this hamlet, take a small road uphill to the left at Maison de Mastenac. Follow it to Mât de Mastenac.

(19) At this mast, turn right, then right again at the next crossroads; follow the road to the D120, which you must cross to reach Place de la Dunière (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 160 m - Parking at Place de la Dunière. Close to the - Eyrieux (rivière) à finaliser
  2. 1 : km 0.24 - alt. 156 m - On the left, riverbank
  3. 2 : km 0.6 - alt. 153 m - On the right, take the footbridge over the - Dunière (rivière) à finaliser -Affluent de l'Eyrieux (rivière)
  4. 3 : km 0.92 - alt. 169 m - On the left, a small path
  5. 4 : km 0.99 - alt. 179 m - Opposite, a small path continues.
  6. 5 : km 1.21 - alt. 212 m - Mât de Peyrin, on the left
  7. 6 : km 1.76 - alt. 302 m - Hameau des Combes, on the left
  8. 7 : km 3.41 - alt. 254 m - Crossroads D231 and D233, on the left
  9. 8 : km 4.24 - alt. 216 m - Ferme du Doulet, take the path on the right.
  10. 9 : km 4.97 - alt. 334 m - Crossroads, straight ahead
  11. 10 : km 5.03 - alt. 352 m - PR junction, follow PR to the left.
  12. 11 : km 5.77 - alt. 479 m - At the road on the right, then head north.
  13. 12 : km 6.53 - alt. 520 m - La Suche, forest track on the left
  14. 13 : km 6.99 - alt. 552 m - Mât de la Chareyre, take the opposite route.
  15. 14 : km 8.22 - alt. 531 m - Le Buisson, road on the left south-east
  16. 15 : km 10.51 - alt. 506 m - Mât de la Pièce, straight ahead
  17. 16 : km 11.76 - alt. 526 m - Trail starts on the right, downhill.
  18. 17 : km 14.87 - alt. 463 m - Combovert mast, opposite Dunière
  19. 18 : km 15.83 - alt. 404 m - Junction with tarmac road, on the right
  20. 19 : km 18.13 - alt. 175 m - Mastenac mast, on the right
  21. S/E : km 18.45 - alt. 160 m - Parking at Place de la Dunière

Notes

Although pleasant, crossing the steep and sloping climbing site between the rocks requires a great deal of caution.
There is a way to avoid it by following this easy route, which is accessible to all:

Starting from the car park at Place de la Dunière, turn right onto the small road leading to the town hall, join the D120 and follow it on the right for a few metres; at the next crossroads, turn left onto the small road that leads to Hameau du Pont, following the Dunière river. At the next junction, turn left onto a path that climbs for 200 metres to the Mastenac mast (19). Take the "route des Jargnes" (old Vernoux road), classified as a Natura 2000 site, and follow it to the Pont de Doulet bridge (8). The rest of the route is identical to the previous one.

This beautiful alternative route runs alongside the Dunière gorges. There is an old silk mill at the end of this track.

Note: Recent modifications and detours around houses, several markings, and also no markings at all coexist! From the very old blue markings to the old yellow ones, the relatively recent yellow and white ones, the most recent red and yellow ones, and of course theGR®®, true to form, red and white and clearly visible wherever it should be.
IGN map ESSENTIAL or Visorando map.

Worth a visit

Visit the Ecomuseum of the terraces at the Hamlet of La Chareyre.

Échamps - French: Echamp (m) - Occitan: Escamp (m)

Despite appearances, this term has nothing to do with "champ" (field): it is simply the French equivalent or French version of the Occitan escamp, given by Alibert's dictionary as meaning "space" or "interval between two rows of stumps". The meaning of "terrace" that it is supposed to have in the upper Vivarais and Boutières regions is not noted by the lexicographer.
On sloping ground, the plural expression "les échamps" refers to a succession of strips of land, planks, or superimposed levels, separated by an embankment or a wall (échamps sur talus or échamps sur mur).
According to ethnologist François Juston, this diminutive form of échamp used in the Boutières region refers less to the short length of the plank on the slope than to its narrowness.
Synonyms: terrace, restanque, baou, bancel, faïsse, etc.

 Always be cautious and plan ahead when you're outdoors. Visorando and the author of this route cannot be held responsible for any accidents occurring on this route.

The GR® and PR® markings are the intellectual property of the Fédération Française de Randonnée Pédestre.

Reviews and comments

4.4 / 5
Based on 13 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.5 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.3 / 5
Route interest
4.5 / 5
monile
monile

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 02, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A beautiful hike, very hot weather but lots of undergrowth, which is perfect.
The views are magnificent, the elevation gain isn't too difficult, the paved roads are quiet, with practically no cars.
Thank you very much for the route.

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marcheurs07
marcheurs07

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 13, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

I think the signposting is good. Perhaps it has been redone. Lovely view of the Vercors with some mountains still covered in snow. It's a shame that there's quite a bit of road at the end.

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guilh
guilh

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 22, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

First part well marked. After St Michel de Chabrillanoux and the end of the GR, no markings and last part only on the road. Not very pleasant.

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helene.bernaldez
helene.bernaldez

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 14, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

There are often no markings, particularly after the hamlet of La Suche. When you reach a Y-junction, there are no signs at all.
Fortunately, we are not novices when it comes to hiking! In many other places, it is the same.
On the other hand, the route is very pleasant, with beautiful views and, at this time of year, lots of flowers.
We really enjoyed this outing. We'll be back with other people.

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Lalie974
Lalie974

Overall rating : 3 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 25, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

We must have got lost for at least 30 minutes at the Buissons farm.

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gpg
gpg

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 30, 2019
Reliability of the description : Not used / Not applicable
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

To avoid unimportant sections of road, we chose to take the right bank of the Dunière. (It may be less steep, but it offers magnificent views of the gorges.
We had lunch in Saint Michel de Chabrillanoux, in the village square, where there are tables and benches. On leaving the village, we chose to take the small path heading south-east, which passes through Le Chambon, Les Fontettes and La Vignasse, where we rejoined the original route shortly afterwards.
There are beautiful views of the Saou syncline (three peaks...), the Vercors and the Veymont.

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Adryan
Adryan

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 02, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

The section near the climbing site is nice, but as indicated, you do need to be careful. It's the only difficult section we encountered.

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visobourg
visobourg

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 13, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

The Dunière Gorges are magnificent. I also cycled through them on my racing bike along the D231: simply magnificent and a great complement to the hike. For the hike, I was lucky to have the excellent description from Visorando!

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Saniel Marie
Saniel Marie

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 19, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : Not used / Not applicable

Route completed without any problems, well-maintained paths
Beautiful view Too much tarmac at the end A shame

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soleil07
soleil07

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 26, 2017
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

Hello
The route is quite difficult at the climbing site.
Stage 8: we couldn't find the Bas Praly mast and were told that the route had changed.
Stage 13: the path on the left is more of a track and there are no vineyards. The area is very poorly signposted.
There is a lot of tarmac from stage 17 onwards, which is a shame.

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gazok54
gazok54 ★

Thank you for this very fruitful exchange.

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ardechom
ardechom

That's it: description and itinerary updated.
This will enhance the appeal of the hike.
Especially since, according to other messages, improvements have been made to this route, such as picnic tables...
Thank you all for your very helpful comments.

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gazok54
gazok54 ★

Response from the author within a minute. Great minds think alike
ardechom, will you adapt your description?

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ardechom
ardechom

Thanks to gaygei for this excellent news.
It is indeed much more pleasant than driving.

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gazok54
gazok54 ★

Thank you, gaygei, for this information about the footbridge, as the author clearly states that it is impassable at the time of writing his description.
Indeed, using the footbridge avoids having to walk along the D120 road.
Let's wait for the author's response.

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