The route to the Pasques sites

Head to Pasques via the D 104 – Coming from Prenois or Plombières-lès-Dijon, drive straight through the village and continue on the D 10 towards Panges. Park in the Levêque car park next to the cemetery, on the left as you leave the town.

(S/E) From the cemetery car park, head back towards Pasques along the road to Dijon on the right, using the footpath. After 100 m, turn left, crossing the road _carefully_ to head down towards the wash house. Continue along Rue de l’Abreuvoir then Chemin du Val Courbe to the crossroads at the edge of the village.

(1) Keep to the right to take the stony path towards the Gouffre du Creux Percé. After following it continuously for just over 1.5 km, when you reach a road sign prohibiting cars and motorbikes, turn right towards the Abîme du Creux Percé. After passing through a barrier, reach the site by turning off to the right.

(2) Walk around the site following the fence (shelter, information board, views down into the abyss). Retrace your steps to the junction before the site, then continue straight ahead along a path. At the next crossroads, turn right towards Prenois. At the following crossroads, turn left – despite the Yellow Cross and Blue Cross markings – onto a path that climbs slightly. When you reach a fork in open ground, keep to the right. The path is marked but barely visible due to tall grass. Further on, just before veering right, head down the first path on the far right, through the woods. After 130 m, you will find on the left, by a large tree, a rock large enough to catch your eye.

(3) Go round it to read what is engraved on the back, relating to an unusual accident dating from 1892. From this rock, go back 2 m and then turn right. Follow a visible path where you sometimes have to duck your head, skirting the cliff (on your right) from the ridge line. Cut across another path after 160 m. After a stretch in the open, you’ll arrive in front of the ruins of Hurpot Castle.

(4) An abandoned settlement with exposed foundations and the outlines of walls. Cross the ruins straight ahead to reach, a little further on, what was once a bread oven (outlines visible) and then, shortly afterwards, descend a few metres down a promontory overlooking the Combe de Vaux de Roche. Retrace your steps back up to the level of the oven and take the path on the right. Follow it along the ridge until you reach the end of the valley. Then turn right and climb slightly. Immediately, at^{the first} crossroads of tracks, keep right onto a grassy path. When you reach the end at the next crossroads, turn left. You’ll come out onto a grassy track suitable for vehicles. Further on, at a crossroads of tracks, turn left onto “le Chemin du Moulin”, which links Pasques to the Moulin de Val Courbe in the Val Suzon. A little further on, after a gentle climb, you’ll reach a large five-way junction.

(5) Take the second grassy track on the right. Turn onto the first track on the right just before a clearing (line 31/28). Pass at the foot of the remains of an old enclosure wall. Arrival at the hamlet known as “Les Issarts Barodet”.

(6) To the right of the track, the ruins of an abandoned farm with the outlines of walls here and there (possibly the former village of Pasques). Explore the area through the scree. The visible outline of an old bread oven.
Continue along the same path until you come to another cross-path. Turn left. Follow it for a long way before turning off onto the fifth track on the left (track 11/13 – woodland clearing opposite). Arrival at the hamlet known as "Les Grands Charmeaux".

(7) About 80 m after turning, on the left you will find an old, filled-in well, a boundary wall, and the remains of abandoned dwellings on either side of the path (raised walls are sometimes visible). Explore the area through the scree slopes.
Continue along the same path until you come to another crossroads. Turn right. Take the second path on the left to reach the hamlet known as "Le Bas du Fourneau" (via line 14/16).

(8) At the three-way junction, take the first fairly wide path on the left, which leads to a small hill (directly ahead but not very visible from a distance). You can walk around it. There is an abandoned dwelling and the ruins of what may have been a tower attached to a farm.
Retrace your steps to rejoin the path you came along and continue to the left before immediately turning right onto the best-defined path. At the junction with a field, turn left and cross the fields, skirting the local sports ground.

(1). Return via the reverse route to the cemetery car park (S/E).

Picnic table at the Pasques drinking trough (Rue de l'Abreuvoir).
(2) Wooden shelter at the Abîme du Creux Percé.
Tall, damp grass in wet weather and at springtime, requiring the wearing of gaiters (ticks possible).
Rocks protruding from the ground, slippery in wet weather.
Abandoned dwellings are now piles of stones – walking is more difficult in these areas.
Walking sticks are useful in wet weather, on ascents and descents.

Partial resumption, following agreement, of research into abandoned dwellings and traditional uses of the Pasques forest – eight years of research, 2012–2019. Document available at Pasques Town Hall, published by the Foyer Rural and the municipality of Pasques – February 2021.
Warm thanks to Mr Jean-Yves Dupont, the initiator, Ms Céline Vialet, the current Mayor, and Mr Alain Duthu, the former Mayor, who authorised and brought this unique walk to life

(2) The Abîme du Creux Percé: a chasm that served as an ice house. The first known explorer was Mr Quantin de Pasques in 1882 (who was decorated for having rescued two people who had fallen in). The chasm was then visited in 1892, before the current karstic cave network was mapped out in 1910 by Messrs Malard and Piot. Explorations in 1942–1943 led to the discovery of the Guillemin network, the lowest point of the karstic cave. The entrance measures 35 x 25 m and the sinkhole is 63 m deep.

(3) The President’s Post and the rock engraved on its back.
"Here President Regnier, whilst hunting wild boar, fell from this treacherous rock. But Saint Hubert, through his aid to his friends, spared his life. May thanks be given to him forever. The members of the Easter hunt. Édouard Blondel, Adrien Clerc, Paul Court, Paul Dodoz, Raoul Fabvier, Léon Ibled, Augustin Japiot, Henri Roussin, Alexandre Roux, Antoine Troubat. Gadeski, gamekeeper – 21 January 1892."

(4) Château Hurpot: a fortified site from the 11th–12th centuries. The complex occupies a promontory of the cliff overlooking La Combe de Vaux de Roche to the west. A moat separates the tip of the plateau, cut into the rock, 4 metres wide and at least 2 metres deep. The embankment of the fortification above the moat (the escarpment) was topped by a thick wall running the full width and, in the centre, by a rectangular building most likely extending over one or two storeys above the blind ground floor. Behind it, wall foundations indicate enclosures, buildings and a bread oven. For a long time, the site was thought to date from prehistoric or protohistoric times, but excavations carried out in 2015 showed that it was founded, occupied and abandoned during the feudal period, in the 11th–12th centuries. It is not known which lord it was under, nor even what its functions were.
A beautiful view from the Château Hurpot promontory over the Vaux de Roche valley and its surroundings.

(6) The abandoned settlements of Issarts Barodet: during the 2015 excavations, a roughly quadrangular pile of stones, several metres across, was found strewn with fragments of Roman tiles. Artefacts were discovered on the surface, brought up by badgers. Estimated to date from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.
Subsequently, the site served as a sheepfold, founded, occupied and abandoned during the 14th century, a fact confirmed by the pottery, coins, clothing ornaments and carbon dating of the charcoal found within the structures.

(7) The abandoned settlement of Les Grands Charmeaux: A 14th-century sheepfold, just like the previous site. Coins discovered, some dating from 1295–1303 (Philip VI) and between 1342 and 1353 (a type of gold florin from Buda in Hungary).

(8) The abandoned settlements of Bas du Fourneau: Dating based on carbon-14 analysis suggests occupation around the 8th–9th centuries; however, construction techniques and pottery place them in the 11th–12th centuries. Immediately south of a small settlement dating from the 14th century, the corner of a building constructed from large, roughly hewn stones bound with clay was discovered beneath a substantial quadrangular mound of rubble. Possible presence of a multi-storey building.
The site served as a sheepfold during the same period as Les Issarts and Les Grands Charmeaux. The same conclusions apply.

In the 14th century, there was a remarkable intensification of the exploitation of the wooded areas of the Dijon mountains. These last three settlements certainly have distinctive features, particularly in their layouts, but also many similarities. All are linked to Pasques and consist of no more than one or two farmsteads. All consist of large farmsteads comprising a dwelling and farm buildings, systematically surrounded by livestock enclosures. Many have an external water source and are extended by paths lined with low walls (to facilitate the herding of livestock). None are accompanied by surrounding fields. These are the dwellings of herders, not farmers.
The structures are built to last and, all things considered, are comfortable by the standards of the time. The walls are stone, the roofs made of lava or thatch; the floors often blend into the flattened rock surface. Bread ovens, domestic hearths, wall niches and thresholds are carefully finished.
Although living deep in the woods, the inhabitants of these ‘bordes’ were by no means destitute: the dressers they used, like the finery of their clothing, were every bit as good as those of the inhabitants of the villages and even the castles and towns of the time.
Their speciality was sheep farming. This activity was driven by the urban market for meat, milk, cheese and parchment skins, but also by the large-scale international trade in wool.