The Saint-Martinien region

Place du Prénat in the centre of the hamlet of Les Boueix.

(S/E) With your back to the houses, head south along the small, ascending tarmac road which becomes a stony track after the cowshed and continue for 1 km until you reach a crossroads.

(1) At the end of the track, take the path on the left (be careful to ignore the one that also branches off to the left 30 metres before).
Continue along the track, which takes a sharp right-hand bend, level with a small pine plantation.

(2) Magnificent view of the town of Montluçon and the church at Quinssaines; continue along the path.

(3) Cross the tarmac road D242 and continue straight ahead on a wide path, ignoring the small tracks branching off to the right and left.

(4) At the end of the path, at the foot of the wind turbine, turn right, walking alongside the wind turbines and ignoring the tracks branching off to the right and left.

(5) At the crossroads, continue straight ahead and pass a motocross track on your left.

(6) At the clearly marked crossroads (mountain bike signpost), continue for about 200m until you reach a small tarmac road. Turn sharply right, enter the hamlet of Les Montées and cross through it.

(7) On leaving the hamlet, continue along the tarmac road.

(8) At the end of the road (calvary), turn right and cross the bridge over the Bartillatte stream. Continue along the tarmac road into the village of Saint-Martinien.

(9) At the crossroads, continue straight ahead, pass in front of the church, then go round the roundabout keeping the lake on your right. Continue along the small, ascending tarmac road until you reach a sharp left-hand bend.

(10) Leave the tarmac road by taking the stony track on the right (ignore the one heading due south, also on the right).

(11) Continue straight on along a small, descending track (one of the last sunken lanes in the region). At the end of the track, wade across the small stream “Le Savernat”, and return to the start via the track heading off to the right (S/E).

Magnificent view of the town of Montluçon and the typical church of Quinssaines, perched on its rock. To the east beyond Montluçon: the Tronçais Forest. To the south (in fine weather), the Chaîne des Puys and the Puy de Dôme (with its distinctive summit). Behind, right on the edge of the fir plantation, the Peu des Molles (the highest peak in the commune of Saint-Martinien).

Between (4) and (5), look south (to your left) to see the Chaîne des Puys once again.

(9) Saint-Martinien Church. The church, dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, was rebuilt on the site of an earlier Romanesque church. It comprises two vaulted seigneurial chapels, one with a barrel vault and the other with a ribbed vault. A 19th-century cast-iron cross, next to the church and set on a stone plinth, features a floral design. Not far away, a 16th-century granite calvary originally supported an ancient cross. Placed at the roadside, it served as a resting place and landmark for travellers. It features a small altar on one of its sides

(11) Start of the sunken lane known as ‘La Rouette de la Chaux’. Sunken lanes are characteristic of the Bourbonnais bocage. Flanked by embankments or low stone walls, they are no wider than a cart or a tipper (the fact that they are impassable to tractors and impossible (financially) to widen saves them). At the start on the right, there is still a small spring gushing into a basin. Further down, imagine the hay or straw carts descending this path, with the "brake" (the mechanical one) clamped down hard, so that the load does not drag the horse. The wheels no longer turned; they skidded over the rocks, and if you look closely, you will see the grooves they have carved out over the years.