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Leave your car in the hikers’ car park, above the museum car park. You will then enter the quiet zone of the Chartreuse Desert.
(S/E) Follow the road northwards, keeping the museum on your right.
(1) Head up to the right along the road closed to traffic to the monastery, which is still occupied by Carthusian monks and is not open to visitors.
(2) Shortly after the buildings, at the sign for ‘la Scierie’, leave the road leading up to Habert de Billon on your left and continue northwards for 1 km along a good path that leads to a reservoir, the ‘Réservoir’.
(3) Turn left onto Chemin du Pavé. The climb through the forest is quite steep. Then take the road on the right and head towards Habert de Billon.
(4) Continue straight on, then turn right to climb north-east across the Prairie de la Folie, then continue across the terrain to the Col de la Ruchère (elevation 1418m).
(5) Descend to the right into the meadow, then turn left towards the south-east and enter the forest. The path passes through Bourdoire and reaches the Chapel of Notre-Dame de Casalibus. About a hundred metres to the north, on the left bank of the stream, a rocky outcrop is home to the Chapel of Saint Bruno, the sole remnant of the first convent destroyed by an avalanche in 1132.
(6) Turn left and continue the descent.
(7) Turn right and head back to the ‘Réservoir’ to rejoin the starting path.
(3) Go straight on and follow the route back in the opposite direction to return to the car park (S/E).
Visorando member
Very difficult 
Difficult 
