The Benet Valley

In Albepierre, park in one of the few parking spaces in the centre of the village, near the town hall.

(S/E) Walk past the town hall and down the street lined with flower-filled houses. At the crossroads, you will see several signposts. Take the first street on the right, following the green markings and signs for "Cirque de Chamalière". Follow these markings until you reach (9).

At the next intersection, turn left and continue straight ahead on the grassy path to join another path. Turn right and you will reach the D39. Follow this road to the left for about a hundred metres, then, as the road begins to curve to the right, take the path on the right that climbs straight up through a beautiful moorland. Notice two beautiful stone crosses a few metres to your left. Further up, you will rejoin the D39.

(1) Do not cross the road but turn onto a path on the right. After about 150 metres, ignore the path that descends to the right and continue to the next intersection.

(2) Turn left and continue climbing along the edge of the forest, with a large field on your left, for about 2.3km.

(3) At the end of the field, ignore a path on the right and, shortly afterwards, the path on the left with the red and white GR®® markings^.

(4) About 200 metres further on, ignore the path on the right towards "Col de la Molède", leaving the^GR®®. Continue north-east for about 1.6 km.

(5) Leave the forest by going through a gate and you will find yourself in the pastures, or summer grazing lands, of the Cirque de Chamalière. From May to October, you will encounter cows and their calves here. Head towards the large boulders in the bed of the Benet stream that crosses the summer grazing land and cross it. Continue north-northeast, then turn right to reach the edge of the forest.

(6) Leave the summer pasture through a gate and continue along the path downhill.

(7) Further on, join a track where the red and white^GR®® markings are added to the green "Cirque de Chamalière" markings that you are following. Follow this track on the left for almost 3km.

(8) At Col de la Molède, ignore all the wide paths and continue straight ahead on the grass, following the^GR®® markings, to quickly rejoin a path and the yellow markings. Further on, ignore a path that comes up on your right, then a path that branches off to the left, continuing to follow the yellow markings. You will come to a wide path; follow it to the right until you reach the hamlet of La Molède.

(9) At the first crossroads, leave the green markings for the "Cirque de Chamalière" trail and turn left, following the^GR®® and signs for "Bredon par Créponnet". Shortly afterwards, turn left onto the path towards "Grange de Magne", still following the^GR®®.

(10) Join a path and continue on the^{GR®® trail} to the right. About 300 metres further on, at a fork, continue on the^{GR®® trail} to the right.

(11) Please note: shortly before a quarry, you will see that the red and white markings change direction. Leave the path and turn right at the hairpin bend. Follow the winding path down to the D39. Turn right to cross the Benet and continue along the side of the road for about 150 metres.

(12) At the cross, leave the red and white^GR®® markings which go opposite, on the other side of the road, and follow a blue-marked path on the right called "Puy du Bac, retour Albepierre". Cross the Benet again via a footbridge. Shortly afterwards, at the intersection, continue left on a path that runs alongside a meadow on the edge of the Benet. Further on, the path approaches the stream and leads to the D39.

(13) Follow the road to the right, on the hard shoulder, to Albepierre. Take the second street on the left to return to the small car park near the town hall (S/E).

Moderate difficulty hike, standard hiking equipment required.

Dogs, even on a lead, are not allowed on the mountain pastures.

Variation: you can shorten this hike if, at (9), you continue to follow the green markings of the "Cirque de Chamalière" trail. Arrive at (2) and return to Albepierre (S/E) via the same route as on the way there. Total length of this variation: approximately 13 km.

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

The Benet is a short stream, 8.9 km long, which rises in the Cirque de Chamalière and flows into the Alagnon about 1 km north of (12).

Between (2) and (5). The numerous streams you come across on the way to the cirque feed into the Benet, which runs along the bottom of the valley.

Between (5) and (6) The Cirque de Chamalière is a very beautiful place. Feel free to extend your visit to these summer pastures by walking up the stream, for example. But be careful not to disturb the cows. Note the ruins of a buron, evidence of the long history of these summer pastures. At the time, cows were raised for their milk and cheese was made on site.

You will also notice the "royal boundary markers" or "fleur-de-lis boundary markers" along this section. The vast Murat national forest is a former seigneurial forest that was annexed to the French crown by François I in 1531. However, the local population continued to use the forest as they wished, clearing it for grazing livestock. Colbert then ordered that the boundaries of the forest be marked by 284 numbered boundary stones. This meant that the locals could no longer pretend to be unaware of the king's ownership. This demarcation was completed in 1844, bringing the number of boundary stones to 346. Among these markers, large lava stones placed at the edge of the forest, 128 are fleur-de-lis, with a fleur-de-lis, symbol of the kingdom, inscribed in a coat of arms, or three more crudely carved fleurs-de-lis.