La Narse and Le Labadeau

In Saulzet-le-Froid, park in the car park in front of the fire station, east of the village (towards the cemetery).

(S/E) Set off along the road, heading away from the village towards the east, and immediately turn right onto another road. At the fork a few metres further on, keep left to pass behind the cemetery. Follow this road, which curves sharply to the right, bypassing the hamlet of Souverand. Ignore a street on the right and, at the intersection with a path coming from the left, note the fountain, wash house and old bread oven a few metres on your right. Take the path on the left, which further on crosses the Labadeau at the Moulin de Souverand. A hundred metres further on, you will come to an intersection with another path.

(1) Turn left and continue until you reach a road. On your left, a bridge crosses the Labadeau. Follow the road to the right.

(2) Turn onto the first path on the left, then at the next intersection, turn right to come back onto the road (D74) at a small iron cross. Follow it to the left towards the hamlet of Zanières. Pass another small iron cross and you will come to a crossroads with a street on the left and a path on the right.

(3) Take the path on the right and immediately pass a "Puy de Monténard" hiking sign. This local hike, which you will follow in part, is marked in blue, but only in the opposite direction to your progress. You will therefore not benefit from all of these markings, only the crosses that indicate the directions not to take. Take the first path on the left, between two properties.

(4) At the intersection with another path, turn right. Further on, the path begins to run alongside a wood on the right. Shortly afterwards, you will arrive at a timber yard. Ignore a path on the right (blue cross).

(5) A few metres further on, take another path on the right to enter the forest. Follow this winding but well-marked path. Further on, as the path turns right, ignore a poorly marked path on the left. Continue climbing up the slopes of Puy de Monténard. You will come to an intersection with a path that climbs to the left, marked by a small blue^PR®® sign and a yellow directional sign indicating the direction of the summit of the puy.

(6) Turn left to reach the summit and enjoy a beautiful view of the Labadeau valley. At the summit (1,173 metres) is an IGN geodetic marker. Descend from the summit to the yellow sign.

(6) Continue left on the path, despite the blue cross. Further on, ignore a path on the right (blue cross) and, a hundred metres further on, look out for a blue cross (on a tree) indicating that you should not continue straight ahead but take a path that branches off to the right. You will come to a crossroads with a path on the right (blue cross), a very busy path opposite (blue cross) and a path on the left. Turn left.

(7) About a hundred metres further on, at an intersection, turn right (blue cross on the path on the left). At the bottom of the hill, you will come to a wide path at the edge of the woods. Turn left, ignoring the blue cross (you are now leaving this trail). Further on, you will come to a crossroads with four paths.

(8) Turn right to descend into the Labadeau valley. Cross the stream and ignore the path that branches off to the left. Head uphill, veering to the right, towards the village of Saulzet-le-Froid. Further up, ignore a path on the right and then, just after some farm buildings, you will come to a crossroads marked with yellow directional signs and red and white^GR®® markings.

(9) Continue straight ahead on the road (towards Col de la Ventouse), following the^GR®® markings, to quickly reach the village of Saulzet. At the first intersection, at a fountain on the left, continue straight ahead. Ignore a private road on the left as the street curves to the right and you come to a crossroads with a fountain-wash house leaning against a high stone wall. Continue to the right of the fountain, along the wall and still following the^GR®® markings^. Ignore the stairs on the left that lead up to the church^.

(10) At the next crossroads, continue left on the D74 (see the alternative route in the Practical Information section to shorten this route). Ignore two roads on the right as the road makes a long left turn, pass to the right of a large cross, the Croix Saint-Roch. Immediately after, take the small road that descends to the right into the Narse valley.

(11) Before crossing the Narse stream, leave the road and take a path on the right that runs alongside it. Further on, you will come to a road; follow it to the left. Cross the Narse and then climb back up towards Espinasse via a long right-hand bend.

(12) At the first intersection, at the entrance to the hamlet, you will see a cross a few metres to your left and a sign for the Chabot farm, which sells Saint-Nectaire cheese. Take the path on the right that leads to the farm. A little further on, ignore the path on the left that leads to the farm and continue straight ahead. At a fork, keep left and, after a right-hand bend, you will see the Narse d'Espinasse, a small marsh that formed after a maar was filled in and is now a protected biotope. Shortly afterwards, you will come to a crossroads marked with yellow directional signs (see the Practical Information section for an alternative route to explore the Narse in more detail)..

(13) Take the path on the right, following the red and white^GR®® markings^. Ignore a path on the right and, further on, you will come to a crossroads at the Suc Plana marker and yellow signs.

(14) Continue straight ahead towards Pessade. Ignore the paths on the left and right until you reach the entrance to Saulzet-le-Froid, at the crossroads with the D74.

(10) Follow the D74 to the left to return to the car park in front of the fire station (S/E).

Moderate difficulty hike, standard hiking equipment required.

Short variant "le Labadeau":

(10) Turn right onto the D74 to go directly to the car park in front of the fire station (S/E).

"Discovering the Narse" variant:

(13) Follow the^GR®® for a few metres to the left, then at the fork in the road, take the left-hand path to go around the narse (round trip) and/or take the middle path to climb the slopes of Puy de l'Enfer and enjoy a panoramic view of the narse (round trip).

Discover more hikes in this area with a description or the Visorando app here

The Narse and Labadeau streams converge about 500 metres east of the Narse d'Espinasse (the small marsh) to form the Veyre. This feeds into Lake Aydat before flowing into the Allier.

The Narse d'Espinasse, together with the Puy de l'Enfer, forms an exceptional volcanic complex. The narse (which gives its name to the stream that runs through it) is a term used to describe a peat bog (peat marsh) formed in a maar, a vast volcanic explosion crater. Around 11,000 years ago, this maar was formed when magma encountered the Veyre river.
This collision caused volcanic explosions that led to the creation of Puy de l'Enfer. The maar filled with water and formed a lake before becoming a marsh (narse) a few millennia later.
The Puy de l'Enfer erupted at the same time as the narse. The southern part of the volcano was swept away by the explosions of the Espinasse maar.
The Espinasse marsh formed during the Ice Age and has retained part of its original biotope.
It is home to the largest population of Siberian Ligularia in France. This yellow plant, found in cold areas of the globe, flowers in August. It is now threatened by global warming.
A Prefectural Biotope Protection Order (APPB) has been filed to protect this glacial plant at the local level, and it also benefits from another protection measure at the national level.