The Plat de l’Aiguille viewpoint, starting from Saint-Jean

Park in the dirt car park between the church and the cemetery at Saint-Jean.

(S/E) Turn right onto the D90 road and you will soon reach the hairpin bend at Les Bosquis.

(1) Continue left on this road until you reach another hairpin bend. Leave the road here and take the forest track opposite, signposted Les Berthes. Walk almost level to reach the Chalet des Berthes.

(2) Stay on the track until you reach the Charamaille crossroads. Leave the ascending track on your right and take the short descent on the left, which leads to the developed site.

(3) Leave the track and turn right to take the yellow-marked path. Begin the pleasant climb through the larch woods of the Forêt du Pouzenc. Follow the Canal des Orres to Baratier, then leave it to begin the final climb, which ends at the Plat de l'Aiguille.

(4) Cross over to the wide Grande Rocade track, which forms part of the^GRP® Tour du Lac de Serre-Ponçon. Follow it to the right; it is marked with red and yellow signposts. You will soon reach the junction with the track coming from Charamaille.

(5) Ignore this track on the right and continue along the Grande Rocade track. Further on, you’ll pass a large picnic area. A few metres further on, you’ll come to another junction.

(6) Keep left on the track and the^GRP® to reach the Refuge de la Draye further on. Here, the track turns into a tarmac road. Turn slightly left for a few metres to see the hundred-year-old larch tree.

(7) Turn left back onto the road; at the hamlet of Les Thozans, turn right onto the D90 for a few hundred metres to reach another junction.

(8) Leave the road here and start the descent to the left along the^GRP®. Follow this path downhill and, after crossing the road several times, you will reach the Coste Aussel junction (wooden ‘Costosel’ sign).

(9) Leave the^GRP® here and turn right onto the dirt track which joins the RD90 at the junction you passed on the way out.

(1) Follow the original route back to the car park where you started (S/E).

Water sources are present along the route, all marked: Unmonitored water.

Possible shortcuts:
(5) Turn right onto the wide track leading to Charamaille, then turn left onto the route taken on the way out.
(6) Turn right onto the wide track leading to (8).

(S/E) Take a moment to notice the three hearse carriages, now sheltered under a magnificent arbour built by volunteers from the ASPEC (Association for the Preservation of Heritage and the Environment of Crots)

(4) At Plat de l'Aiguille, the signposts in the form of an orientation table provide details of the surrounding views.
(7) Here, on the left-hand side of the road, another arbour shelters the remains of a hundred-year-old larch tree.