To get to the start of the hike:
From Eyzin-Pinet, take the D38 towards Cours-et-Buis. Pass the hamlet of Pinet and, at the top of the hill, take the only small road on the left called Chemin des Blaches. At the end of this small road, there are a few places to park. (See below in the practical information section for the possibility of shifting the starting point slightly).
(S/E) At the end of the tarmac road, take the wide, fairly straight track on the right (les combes), which is rather stony. After a little over 600 m, at the fork in the track, take the left fork. After 2.3 km of track through the forest, you will see a clearing on the right with two houses and a wide path coming in from the right. Continue along the track, keeping slightly to the left.
(1) 300 m further on, 100 m after a third house, the track splits in two; take the left fork.
Continue along the track until you reach the yellowPR® signpost marked La Piencière.
(2) At this sign, turn left onto Chemin de la Piencière, a wide grassy path with large ruts at the beginning, towards the Pinet tower and Le Paviot. After 500 m on this grassy and often wet path, offering a very clear view, you will arrive at the yellow Le Paviot sign. Continue straight ahead towards the Pinet tower.
(3) The path becomes a small tarmac road that descends straight ahead. Towards the end of this descent, you will see tuff and moraine outcrops on the left (photo 2).
After a little over 500 m of descent, the road makes a hairpin bend to the left.
(4) 150 m after this hairpin bend, you will arrive in front of a large renovated house. This is the start of the Combe de Vau nature reserve. Take the very small road, Chemin de Charpenet, which is marked in yellow (sign prohibiting vehicles over 19 tonnes) and continues straight ahead, passing to the left of the house. At the start of this small road, you will see a small spring on the left (photo 3), then the chapel (photo 4) in the grounds of the large house.
Continue along this small road, passing in front of the goat farm, where you can see the beautiful rolling meadows of Combe de Vaux on the right.
Continue along the poorly maintained small road until you pass a first house, then 120 m further on, a second house. At the second house, the small road turns into a wide stony path; follow it. The path remains on the edge of the forest for a long time and offers beautiful views of the pastures of the combe.
Then the path enters the forest. After a small water source on the left, you will reach a third house. Continue along the same path, almost straight ahead.
About 50 metres after the third house, you will see a somewhat naive art brut wall on the left (photo 5), with an explanatory panel. The path returns to the edge of the forest, with a meadow on the right. There is an unobstructed view of the Gère plain.
(5) Just before the end of the meadow on the right, when the path begins to descend, at a crossroads, leave the main path (marked with a yellow cross) and take the wide stony path slightly to the left (Chemin de Saint-Marcel).
This path climbs, then turns left and offers a view of the village of Eyzin on the right. At the top, at the crossroads, continue almost straight ahead. You will then leave the sensitive natural area of the Combe de Vaux. Continue along the main path for about a kilometre until you reach a small tarmac road.
(6) Follow this tarmac road for almost 400 metres. During these 400 metres, you will walk alongside a forest on your left.
(7) When the forest ends and a field appears (about 60 metres before a house with a round tower), turn right at a right angle onto a wide grassy path that runs alongside the forest. This path turns into a trail that crosses wetlands, then later becomes a wide gravel path again. You will have a view of the rear of Pinet Castle (photo 6) and the Pinet tower. The path climbs to reach the road (D 38).
(8) When you reach the D 38 in the hamlet of Pinet, turn left onto the road that climbs for about 100 metres, running alongside the rocky wall of Pinet Castle. Be careful of traffic on this road.
(9) At the end of the castle wall, turn left onto Impasse de la Tour. You will see some beautifully renovated houses on your left, then take the path on the right that climbs uphill. After 150 metres, you will see the Pinet tower (photo 7) on your right, covered with bricks.
(10) At the crossroads called La Tour de Pinet, take the path on the left towards the Forêt des Blaches and Meyssiez. At the next crossroads called Les Crêtes, continue straight on towards the Forêt des Blaches. After about 20 metres, you will return to the starting point (S/E).