Through vineyards and cadoles, starting from Les Riceys

A walk through one of the most beautiful landscapes in Champagne, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Vineyards, woodland paths and cadoles.
Provisional route pending the opening of the official Cadoles de la Côte des Bar trail.

Details

3584751
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 6.56 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 2h 05 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Easy

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 62 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 61 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 338 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 282 m
  • ⚐ Country: France
  • ⚐ City: Les Riceys (10340)
  • ⚑
    Start/End: N 47.976211° / E 4.395317°
  • ❏
    IGN map(s): Ref. 2919SB
  • Hour-by-hour weather

Description of the walk

Park at the viewpoint known as the Route de Mussy on the D17 road east of Les Riceys.

(S/E) Head south into the woods following the yellow markings and, at the edge, keep left along the boundary of the woods and the vineyard to make a long left-hand circular loop. Join the D17 road at the huge telecommunications mast.

(1) Follow the road to the right for a few metres, then leave it to take the path running alongside the vineyards, slightly into the undergrowth.

(2) When the track emerges from the woods, at a place called Tirefort, head down to the right through the vineyards. Turn left and head for thefirst cadole, skilfully restored by the Bonnet Champagne House (picnic table).

(3) Continue through the woods until you reach theGR®703. Cross theGR® to enter the forest and reach thesecond cadole with its picnic table.

(4) Turn sharply left (180°), continue through the forest and rejoin a track at a three-way junction (GR®).

(5) Take the right-hand branch, then ignore a path branching off to the left and easily reach thethird cadole, known as ‘en Hardi’, at the side of the path.

(6) Continue along this path to reach the multi-way junction at the Fontaine du Pré Bouchon.

(7) Turn left, then after about a hundred metres, turn right. The yellow-marked tracks join the D17 and then the car park on the Route de Mussy (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 325 m - Car park known as the Route de Mussy
  2. 1 : km 1.2 - alt. 332 m - Viewpoint on the Route de Mussy
  3. 2 : km 2.51 - alt. 314 m - Path through the vineyards on the right
  4. 3 : km 2.87 - alt. 297 m - Cadole 1
  5. 4 : km 3.69 - alt. 282 m - Cadole 2
  6. 5 : km 4.06 - alt. 301 m - Three-way junction
  7. 6 : km 4.62 - alt. 289 m - Cadole 3
  8. 7 : km 5.28 - alt. 295 m - Fontaine du Pré Bouchon
  9. S/E : km 6.56 - alt. 325 m - Car park known as the Route de Mussy

Notes

Wear sturdy shoes.

Worth a visit

(S/E) Take the time to admire our Champagne hillsides, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Landscape category.
Don’t miss the charming village of Les Riceys, the commune with the largest vineyard area in Champagne, 3 AOCs, 3 churches, wash houses and chapels.
For information on the cadoles, see here.

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

4.1 / 5
Based on 5 reviews

Reliability of the description
4 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.2 / 5
Route interest
4.2 / 5
Fanfan94
Fanfan94

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 28, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A lovely little walk, which I did in the spring when the vines were just sprouting. It’s certainly worth doing in October to see the beautiful autumn colours. The cadoles are well worth a look.

Machine-translated

cath_tq
cath_tq

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 13, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

You absolutely must follow the route using the GPX track, which you should import into a tracking app, as the directions provided in the PDF file are not detailed enough! I took the wrong path several times between the start and stage 3/4! The GPX track follows the path fairly closely (with a small margin of error of 10 metres in the undergrowth).

The Cadoles section is clearly the most interesting (stages 3 to 5/6).

I would also have preferred to start directly from Les Riceys, but it must be said that this route has the advantage of saving a few kilometres by starting from the car park at the Route de Mussy viewpoint. I returned to Les Riceys via the GR703 from point 7.

Machine-translated

Danic
Danic

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : May 29, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Finding our way through the vineyards to the first cadole wasn’t easy; we missed it. We managed to reach it by heading to the edge of the forest and turning right onto the path leading down between the forest and the vineyards. That’s when things got complicated. The path from this cadole leads straight into a forestry site that’s currently under construction! After some hesitation and a bit of common sense (my GPS had, of course, stopped working), we found a lovely little path, lined with wild orchids at this time of year, which might well have led somewhere, but after walking for several minutes we decided to turn back to the previous crossroads, follow the signposts and continue without any further trouble.

Machine-translated

Marivel
Marivel

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 01, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely walk, in rather rainy and chilly weather.
But that didn’t stop us from exploring the beautiful countryside around Les Riceys (having tasted the Rosé de Saignée Champagne the night before) and showing my grandson Colin a lovely cadole where a bat was hibernating – we didn’t wake it up.

Machine-translated

Citron10
Citron10

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 17, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

This is a short route that gives you the chance to explore three of the region’s many cadoles and enjoy a view over the vineyards of Les Riceys.

Please note, the text needs amending: “at the hamlet of Tirefort, turn right onto the first path and cross the vineyards.”
There may once have been a path leading down from the hamlet of Tirefort, but it has disappeared. It has been ‘swallowed up’ by the planting of new vines. The ground between the rows of vines is still particularly loose and the soil sticks to your shoes.
It is advisable to walk down between two rows of vines about thirty metres beforehand.

Thanks to Guy and David Lazzarotti for so skilfully restoring the cadole, owned by Champagne Alexandre Bonnet.

Machine-translated

virgule
virgule

Hello,

Les Riceys is a wonderful village. Don’t forget to try the famous Rosé des Riceys.

Machine-translated

Other walks in the area

For more walks, use our search engine .

The GPS track and description are the property of this route's author. Please do not copy them without permission.