The Pic circular route from Saint-Pardoux-la-Rivière

Car park behind the market hall in Saint-Pardoux (Place Henri Brives).

No signposting

(S/E) Follow the embankment of the greenway (former railway line) to the right and head uphill past the houses. Turn right onto Avenue de la Gare, then left onto Rue Syreyjol, towards Nontron. Walk alongside the supermarket car park. After the next junction, opposite the cemetery, take the street on the left, which quickly turns into a grassy track.

Signposted “Circular route of the PNR”

(1) At the junction, take the path on the right which passes a few houses and leads to the D707. Cross carefully and follow the road to the left until you reach the bend. Take the dirt track which branches off to the right at the bend.

No signposting

(2) At the top of the hill, turn right and continue along this track until you reach a road. Turn left and continue to the hamlet of Le Pic (no place-name sign).

(3) At the fork in the road, turn left into the houses. At the last house, turn right onto a dirt track that descends through the fields. Continue along this track across the meadows.

Signposted “Circular route of the PNR”

(4) At the junction in the woods, turn left and carry on to a crossroads.

(5) Take the “Roman road” on the left, which leads into the forest. In the valley, you’ll reach a junction after crossing a stream (Roman bridge).

Yellow markings

(6) Follow the path to the right until you reach the D707.

(7) Cross carefully and take the Route de Puypelat opposite. Continue straight on until you reach the hamlet. At the junction, after the wash house, continue straight on, then turn left and follow the lane until you reach a road.

(8) To return to Saint-Pardoux across the fields, turn right until you reach the next house. Just before this house, take the path branching off to the left. Turn right, then left onto the path coming from the bottom of the valley. Walk past the recycling centre, then follow the road which continues from the path.

(9) At the end of the Route des Châtaigniers, turn left, then right at the next ‘Stop’ sign. Follow the signs for Nontron, pass under the greenway and turn right to reach the starting car park behind the market hall (S/E).

There are no particular difficulties on this walk, apart from the first climb, which is a bit long. The route runs entirely through the countryside, between woods and fields, and passes through a few hamlets.

Starting from Saint-Pardoux-la-Rivière, the route follows the course of a thousand-year-old trade route, used since the Gallic (“Roman”) era and later as the “Postal Route” between Saintonge and Limousin. It follows a section of the 200 km of paths that encircle the Périgord Limousin Regional Nature Park.