The Poucey Cave

A nice little walk featuring the farms of the watchmaking region, the Poucey Cave and a beautiful viewpoint called "La Roche aux Corbeaux" (Raven Rock), perfect for families!

Details

27963
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 4.98 mi
  • ◔
    Average duration: 3h 15 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Easy

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 1,129 ft
  • ↘
    Descent: - 1,102 ft

  • ▲
    Highest point: 3,117 ft
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 2,503 ft

Description of the walk

Departure from the farm museum car park in Grand'Combe-Châteleu.

(S/E) Head uphill towards the church, just before which you turn right onto a small road that climbs, passing beautiful farms and continuing uphill to the right on a path.

(1) Turn left and continue climbing, passing a path on your left, until you reach another crossroads.

(2) Continue straight ahead (the path on the right will be the return route) and you will soon reach a small road. Turn right, continue to the top, where there are two roads. Take the one on the right and descend for about 300 metres until you see a path on the right signposted Roche aux Corbeaux.

(3) Leave it, as this will be for the return journey. Continue straight ahead on the road until you reach a hairpin bend.

(4) Take the path on the left. When you reach a small intersection, take the path on the right that descends and continue to the Grotte du Poucey.

(5) Then retrace your steps back to the hairpin bend.

(4) Go back up the road you came down to the path on the left where it says "Roche aux Corbeaux".

(3) Leave the road and turn left, then right to the viewpoint.

(6) Continue along the small path. When you reach the intersection with another path, go down to the right and you will be retracing your steps from the outward journey.

(2) Continue left along the same route as on the way there to return to the car park (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : mi 0 - alt. 2,503 ft - Car park at the farm museums in Grand'Combe-Châteleu
  2. 1 : mi 0.38 - alt. 2,612 ft - On the left
  3. 2 : mi 0.65 - alt. 2,854 ft - Crossroads of the circular
  4. 3 : mi 1.6 - alt. 2,966 ft - Crossroads of the circular. Viewpoint over the - Doubs (rivière)
  5. 4 : mi 1.95 - alt. 2,815 ft - Turn left at the hairpin bend.
  6. 5 : mi 2.46 - alt. 2,841 ft - Poucey Cave
  7. 6 : mi 4.02 - alt. 2,858 ft - Belvedere
  8. S/E : mi 4.98 - alt. 2,503 ft - Car park at the farm museums in Grand'Combe-Châteleu

Notes

Bring torches for the cave!
There is a fountain at the start of the walk.

Worth a visit

The farm museums are worth visiting for their displays of traditional crafts and art exhibitions.

Reviews and comments

4.1 / 5
Based on 11 reviews

Reliability of the description
3.6 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.3 / 5
Route interest
4.5 / 5
encore1matin
encore1matin

Overall rating : 2.3 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 26, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A hike with a small group of five people – not exactly hikers, but walkers nonetheless. 8 km, 344 m of elevation gain – OK, let’s go.
A day-long hike planned to take it easy on the little group, with our picnic.
No trouble finding the starting point.
It was well past point 3 that the problems began...
Right, help us Maps, we’re lost!
No signposts to be seen.
All morning, not a soul on the trails.
Early in the afternoon, finally some hikers showed us the way.
There’s no point looking for ‘the President’s fir tree’, as we did.
Only a stump remains; it didn’t survive the last storm.
It might be worth mentioning. People we met along the way were looking for it.
Is the Poucey Cave worth the hike?
That’s for you to decide.

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Nathalie25
Nathalie25

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 21, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

An easy and pleasant hike in hot weather, in the shade, to the north. No problem describing the route if you take care not to start at the rock with the crows.

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VieuxScout
VieuxScout

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 20, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

In the description on the return journey in 3, it does not say "Roche aux Corbeaux" but "Grand Combe-Châteleu".

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jm.latsague
jm.latsague

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 02, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Avoid the rock face in strong north winds.
It's a shame that accessing the cave requires descending and then climbing back up half the elevation gain, which can be discouraging.

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Souris25
Souris25

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 23, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Pleasant hike. A bit difficult to find the markings at first.

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laurent.tournier
laurent.tournier

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 04, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A very beautiful walk that is quite strenuous at the beginning (heart failure: aww but it's really worth it.
The Poucey cave, which many people in the region are unaware of, is well worth seeing, and what can we say about La Roche aux Corbeaux.

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momano
momano

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 19, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A very pleasant walk, even with a little snow; it was enjoyable. However, to say that it is an easy walk for families depends on whether you want to bring children along, as there are some unsafe sections and areas, and very narrow paths to return from and leave the Roche aux Corbeaux viewpoint. One other thing: it's listed as 8.02 km, but both my phone app and my connected bracelet recorded 11 km.

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henri57
henri57 ★

Hello,

Thank you, DAHOME,

You rated:

Reliability of the description: Average

Did the description cause any problems? If so, how can this be remedied?

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DAHOME
DAHOME

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 30, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average

You can hear the noise from the road below too much, and there are few places to have a picnic.

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gazok54
gazok54 ★

Thank you, riosquja.
If you have any ideas for improving the description, please let us know.

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riosquja
riosquja

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 03, 2016
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

A pleasant hike with just one small drawback: the description is a little sketchy, and you have to rely heavily on the map to avoid taking the wrong route or hiking backwards, as Rocher aux Corbeaux is marked almost from the start of the trail itself.
Otherwise, I can confirm that the museum farms are well worth a visit!

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Grosperrin
Grosperrin

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : May 06, 2016
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A really enjoyable hike that isn't too difficult for beginners. The Raven Rock offers a beautiful view and there's a cave to explore, complete with bats... with a little something extra. ...the sun.

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Charleusse
Charleusse

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 10, 2016
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

Hello, everyone

I didn't know the area at all, but wow, what a discovery! Great views at La Roche aux Corbeaux, and the Poussey Cave is worth exploring. Enjoy your walk!

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