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Parking at Place de Châtillon.
(S/E) With your back to the Eau Noire, take the alleyway that starts between numbers 3 and 5. When you reach a white house, turn left and climb a few steps to pass in front of a house. Join a stony path that climbs into the forest and continues along the hillside (Nismes arboretum route). You will reach a crossroads.
(1) Continue straight ahead and you will soon reach a bench. The path takes a sharp right turn, climbs and joins a wide forest path. Follow it to the left and you will reach a gravel path on the right. Continue straight ahead until you reach a road, Rue du Calvaire, and follow it to the left and downhill.
(2) At the intersection, turn sharply right. At the end of the tarmac road, continue along a path that soon becomes a trail. Walk along the Eau Noire on your left.
(3) You will come to a road; follow it to the left and cross the Eau Noire river via the Pont du Bâti bridge. Follow the main street, Place du Bâti. You will reach the N99; follow it to the left to reach a pedestrian crossing. Cross the N99carefully and follow a small street opposite, between numbers 122 and 124. You will come out onto Place Saint-Victor.
(4) Head left and walk past the church entrance porch. Continue along Rue Chéreulle. At the fork after about 100 metres, turn right onto a small sloping street. After about 50 metres, turn left onto a path. Go uphill, passing a path on the left and then three paths on the right.
(5) At the T-junction, turn left (do not go downhill). At the next junctions, keep left. The path gives way to a stony track, which then gives way to a street. At the end, turn right onto Rue des Roches. Continue straight ahead and enter the woods via a clearly marked uphill path. Stay on the main path and pass a boundary marker. Follow a path through a cutting and you will reach an intersection.
(6) Then turn onto the path on the left. You will come to a road, Rue des Genêts, and follow it to the left and downhill. After about 150 m, take a path on the right. After a steep descent and a marked ascent, you will come to a T-junction.
(7) Turn right and climb. At the next junction, turn left. Continue straight ahead, descend slightly, cross a stream and climb up the other side. Continue straight ahead to the Roche Trouée bivouac site.
(8) Turn left and, at the fork that appears immediately, keep left. Join a wide path and follow it to the left. Continue straight ahead (north-west) and pass in front of a chapel. When you reach a gravel path, keep left and continue downhill. Join Rue Regniessart, follow it to the right, cross Rue des Genêts on the left-hand side and continue to No. 99.
(9) Cross the road carefully and follow it to the right on a parallel grassy strip. At the "Roche Trouée" sign, turn left, go through a gate and immediately follow a steep path to the right. Walk along a fence, leave a path on the right and descend to a new gate. Continue straight ahead and reach the bottom of the valley. Then follow a path on the right and reach a gate in the fence that marks the boundary of the Fondrys des Chiens site.
(10) Follow the path to the left and walk across a dry meadow (also known as a calcicolous meadow, formerly grazed by sheep). The path climbs twice and reaches another gate: go through it and continue to the left. Join a path and follow it uphill to the right.
(11) Before the top of the hill, turn left onto a path that leads into the woods (look carefully for this turn-off). Walk through a sort of tunnel of vegetation. You will come out at a circular turning loop for the Nismes tourist train. Immediately after, take a road that climbs to the right, Rue Roche-Nanette. Follow it to the end (ignore a road on the right).
(12) At the end of the tarmac road, turn left onto a path that goes around an isolated house. After several bends, the path leads to Rue Orgeveau. Follow this road to the right and climb up towards Fondry des Chiens. At the next intersection, take the road that climbs up to the left. Pass a path on the right and you will soon reach a crossroads.
(13) Take thefirst path on the left, which runs alongside a wood on the left and a wooded meadow on the right. Further on, enter the wood and descend. At the end of the path, go down a staircase, which leads to Rue des Juifs. Follow this road to the right. Walk past the imposing Maison Communale de Nismes on your left.
(14) Then take a path on the left that descends towards the Jardin d'O. You will soon reach a wider path and follow it to the right until you reach the cemetery. Then turn sharply left and descend towards the edge of the lake, passing by the waterfalls. Go around the lake on the left and then walk along a river on your right. Pass the mini golf course and exit the park. Turn right to cross the Eau Noire. At the end of the bridge (church on the right), turn left into Rue de la Vieille Église. Just after the Tourist Office, turn left into an alleyway, cross a branch of the river and head for the car park at Place de Châtillon (S/E).
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