The Pic du Lizieux via the Mounier

A variation on the climb up Lizieux that takes you to Mounier, a little-known peak overlooking Freycenet and the menhir above Monbuzat-La Chieze.

Details

2021146
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 12.61 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 4h 40 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 379 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 383 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 1,384 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 1,065 m

Description of the walk

Park in the car park above Les Changeas, at the edge of the forest, accessible from the RD18 near Saint-Jeures, signposted Le Lizieux-Les Changeas.

(S/E) Take the road downhill towards the south-east to reach the crossroads before the hamlet of La Besseat.
.
(1) Take the path uphill on the right. After two hairpin bends to the left and then to the right, you will reach the crossroads leading to the knoll de Mounier.

(2) Be careful here: take the path on the left, which is not very visible. A small cairn and my pink markers indicate the way.
Reach the summit of knoll de Mounier.

(3) Descend on the west side via a small path that leads to the path you took earlier before climbing to the summit. Keep left on this path until you reach the forest road.

(4) Take the path on the left heading south-east. After a few metres, you will rejoin the forest road. After the crossroads at the hamlet of La Vialette, you will come to another crossroads.

(5) Turn left onto the path, ignore the Milandon crossroads, and continue straight ahead to reach the car park providing access to the Pic du Lizieux from the east. This is the Bataille car park.

(6) Follow the signs on the right for the summit.

(7) Begin the descent down the western slope. You will soon come to a Y-junction.

(8) Leave the yellow signs and keep left on the direct track. Continue to thePR® junction marked in yellow. Take this path opposite and follow it to the car park near Chièze.

(9) Head north and quickly leavethe PR® on yourleft to enter the woods. Stay on the path, ignoring the paths branching off to the right and left. Follow a large loop to reach a four-way intersection.

(10) Take the fairly steep descent along the path opposite until you reach the forest road and first turn left then right to rejoin a wide path. Cross it and continue until you reach a new crossroads with several paths at a spring.

(11) Turn slightly left, then a few metres further on, turn left again, heading north downhill. Keep to this path, staying as straight as possible to return to the starting point (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 1,110 m - Small car park at the edge of the forest
  2. 1 : km 0.91 - alt. 1,065 m - La Besséat crossroads
  3. 2 : km 1.54 - alt. 1,136 m - Crossroads towards knoll de Mounier.
  4. 3 : km 1.84 - alt. 1,191 m - Knoll du Mounier
  5. 4 : km 2.8 - alt. 1,144 m - Forest road
  6. 5 : km 3.86 - alt. 1,169 m - Crossroads
  7. 6 : km 4.96 - alt. 1,175 m - La Bataille car park
  8. 7 : km 6.22 - alt. 1,384 m - Pic du Lizieux (1388m)
  9. 8 : km 6.56 - alt. 1,315 m - End of the yellow-marked trail
  10. 9 : km 7.69 - alt. 1,291 m - Chièze car park
  11. 10 : km 9.62 - alt. 1,255 m - Descent to the forest road
  12. 11 : km 10.9 - alt. 1,146 m - Near the springs
  13. S/E : km 12.61 - alt. 1,110 m - Small car park at the edge of the forest

Always be cautious and plan ahead when you're outdoors. Visorando and the author of this route cannot be held responsible for any accidents occurring on this route.

The GR® and PR® markings are the intellectual property of the Fédération Française de Randonnée Pédestre.

Reviews and comments

4.6 / 5
Based on 23 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.6 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.3 / 5
Route interest
4.8 / 5
hmduperray
hmduperray

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 07, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely hike in the sunshine, 22°C, perfect! Lots of shaded sections. It's best to have a GPS. We strayed a little from the route coming down from knoll du Mounier but we were able to find our way back fairly quickly. No one on the first knoll, a few hikers on knoll du Lizieux.

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ECULLOIS
ECULLOIS

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 02, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A beautiful area for a spring hike, with numerous knolls giving a mid-mountain feel to this lovely part of the Hte Loire. We only hiked a small part of the route because the storm was threatening (from point 10 via point 11 to the hamlet of La Bruyère). We're looking forward to doing the full route soon.

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SYLDELOLME
SYLDELOLME

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 14, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Hike completed on Saturday, 12 April 2025 with friends. The route map is extremely helpful for navigation, much more so than the comments.
The knoll du Mounier is worth doing, the view is already very good.
For the Pic du Lizieux, if you are lucky enough to have good weather, the 360-degree panorama is truly superb!

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Marievirginie
Marievirginie

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 02, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Great route, but it's important to have GPS tracking as all the paths through Lizieux are very important
The view is magnificent and the paths are very shaded
Except on the peaks! Thank you for this beautiful hike

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Manigan
Manigan

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 14, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Good evening,
A lovely route, mostly through pleasant woodland, which was nice as it was hot. Two good climbs to the summits, but be careful on the last 70 metres of elevation gain to reach the summit of Lizieux, which is quite tough going over scree.
When giving your opinion, be careful not to underestimate the difficulty. We found ourselves at the summit with a group of older people who had read on Visorando and on another route that it was an easy walk accessible to all, but in my opinion this is not the case.

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Sanpaloune
Sanpaloune

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 26, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A beautiful alternative to the more popular trails around Pic du Lizieux.

This route is almost entirely shaded, varied, away from the busiest paths and offers superb 360° views around the massif.
It's ideal for a day's hiking with family or friends, with a picnic near the peak (which is what we did with friends).
I highly recommend it!

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le dd
le dd

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 04, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A very pretty hike through the woods and up to the peak of Lisieux, which offers a 360° view on a clear day: the Alps (Ecrins), Mont Blanc, Mézenc, the Cantal and Sancy mountains. A magnificent orientation table allows you to easily identify the main peaks.
Thank you

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pascalbigot
pascalbigot

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 08, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Great walk: the best part is in the shade of the woods!
Magnificent 360° view when you reach the summit.
The climb is gradual and gentle.
The GPS tracking with the app is very useful: you have to pay close attention to the markings (pink) because some of the turns are not obvious!

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Rando01
Rando01

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 09, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

We thoroughly enjoyed this hike, particularly the view from Pic de Lisieux and the beautiful scenery we encountered along the way. The trail was mostly shaded, through the forest, with lovely grassy paths.

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azdep
azdep

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 17, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Great outing! The purple/pink dots are very useful, thank you Picotel!

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helenefq
helenefq

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 20, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful walk. I appreciated the pink markers in certain places, they helped me avoid mistakes. It was interesting to take a little detour via knoll Mounier, which is too often overlooked. The walk is easy but seems to be around 14 km long.

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picotel
picotel

thanks,
i need to redo the markings... in blue!

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Jean-Paul KERENFORT
Jean-Paul KERENFORT

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 06, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful hike that is highly recommended, but be careful at Suc de Mounier: do not go straight ahead, but take the path on the right that goes around the knoll to reach the summit.
A group of hikers from Alboussière on holiday in the Haute-Loire.
Thank you for creating this route.

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Tata4356
Tata4356

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : May 04, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful hike with the little-known knoll du Mounier offering magnificent views, not to mention the superb Pic du Lisieux. The hike is not very difficult and is very well described. However, in two or three places, the path described is not quite the right one to take, but it is easy to find your way if you keep going in the right direction. I loved this hike. Be sure to bring water. There are no places to refill your water bottles! A beautiful hike.

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Patrick Gallone
Patrick Gallone
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 12, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A beautiful route with magnificent and varied sections: pleasant woodland trails, two climbs and splendid peaks: knoll du Mounier and Pic du Lizieux. A few wild paths, mostly off the beaten track.
The GPS track is sufficient to easily follow this beautiful route.
Worth doing again and again.

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