History and prehistory above Rombas

Start from the Fond Saint-Martin car park, Chemin de la Croix Navée, in Rombas.

(S/E) Head south and climb towards the pond. Walk along the left-hand side of the pond, then pass between the playground and the refreshment kiosk.

(1) Behind the refreshment bar, turn right. The path climbs and makes a wide circular loop, passing two path junctions on the right.

(2) Climb a short, steep slope to the right. Join a level path and follow it to the right (south). Above the path lies the Roches site. The path eventually descends and leads to a junction.

(3) Take the wide stony path continuing southwards. Walk for some time, heading south, then south-south-west. Just before a gate and the^first houses of Malancourt-la-Montagne, turn left and head uphill. At the junction that appears immediately, turn right.

(4) At the T-junction, turn left. Note, at the side of the path, the grave of a soldier from the 1870 war. After about a hundred metres, turn sharply right and you will soon come out onto a track.

(5) Follow this track to the left. It is straight and marked with yellow posts (indicating an underground gas pipe); keep heading east-north-east until you join the^GR®®5F.

(6) Follow the^GR®® to the left (red and white markings) as it winds through the forest until you reach a crossroads.

(7) Take the first path on the left (leaving the^GR®®) and immediately let a path branch off to the right. Walk along an earthwork on your right: this marked the fortification of a Celtic oppidum by isolating the end of the plateau (a blocked spur). Pass the Dolmen de la Pierre qui Tourne on your right and arrive at a junction.

(8) Then turn right and cross the earthwork. At the Fork in the road shortly afterwards, veer to the right (north-east). Join a path coming from the right and follow it to the left. Walk north-east to a junction where you rejoin the^GR®®5. Then follow this to the left to reach the Tour de Drince.

(9) Turn right and follow the winding path down below the tower. At the bottom, take a level path to the left (marked with a Blue Ring) and continue along the hillside.

(10) At the end of the path, turn right. After about 150 m, take the first path on the left (Blue Ring and^GR®®5F). Head downhill, staying on the main signposted path and ignoring the side paths.

(11) You’ll come out onto a small road; follow it to the right past a riding centre. Turn left onto this road, below the dual carriageway. Pass the football ground, turn left and you’ll soon reach the car park (S/E).

The route can be very muddy in winter.

(S/E) At the end of Saint-Martin, a refreshment kiosk in the warmer months and a children’s play area.
Les Roches: a site where traces of human habitation dating back to 15,000 BC were discovered; a geological feature; a site developed by the Club Vosgien (commemorative plaque).

(4) Grave of Oberstlieutenant Edmund von Schwernitz, killed on 18 August 1870.

(8) The ‘Pierre qui Tourne’ dolmen and an earthwork from the Celtic oppidum.

(9) The Drince Tower, a 25-metre-high steel tower built by the Club Vosgien in 1932 and renovated in 2000. From the top, there is a sweeping view over the forest and the valleys of the Moselle and the Orne, and on a clear day as far as Belgium, Luxembourg and the Douaumont Ossuary.