The Devil's Bridge, the Lison spring and waterfall and the Sarrazine Cave

Free parking near the Pont du Diable, at a place called les Auges, in the commune of Crouzet-Migette on the D229.

The start is unmarked.

(S/E) Follow the road downhill towards the Pont du Diable. After about 100 metres, look for a set of stairs on your left.

(1) Take them to see the bridge from below. The vaulted ceiling is impressive and will give you a better view of the Tête du Diable. Be very careful, as the stairs are no longer maintained and there are trees in the way. Then climb back up to the road and cross the bridge. Don' t hesitate to look down from the top, which is 70 m below ground. Continue along this small road until you reach the junction at a right-hand bend.

(2) Do not follow the signs. Turn left onto the track and you will enter the protected nature reserve of the marl pits and stream of the Bois de Château-Renaud. Stay on this downhill and then uphill path. At the tree bearing number 32, leave the path and turn right onto the rising path, which takes you into the undergrowth as far as the next junction.

(3) At the junction of the three paths, take the one on your left. Continue until you reach the road, and then go straight on for a few metres until you reach the crossroads.

(4) Take the forest track on your right as far as the road. Turn left and follow the small road as far as the village of Crouzet-Migette. At the "Pont du Diable" sign, continue downhill until you reach the intersection (shelter on your right).

(5) Go onto the pedestrian crossing and cross the road. Turn right and then left onto Rue des Champs Gognet, which you should follow for approximately 200 m. At the bend in the road, take the grassy path opposite, Chemin du Chazal. You will come to a crossroads.

(6) Turn left onto Chemin du Bonheur to rejoin the road. Turn right and go straight up. The road becomes a forest track a little further on. A few dozen metres after a slight right-hand bend, notice a path that bends 90° to the left (yellow and blue markings).

(7) Take this path as it enters the forest. At the end of the forest, leave the markings and go right up the forest track (crossed out) to the next junction.

(8) Just before the main square, turn left onto the grassy path. Just after the bend in the road, there is a path on your left (tree bearing number 6), take it and continue straight ahead. This is a narrow, slippery path, marked by the Red dots on the trees. At tree number 8, continue downhill. The descent becomes more and more intense, so be very careful.

(9) Reach the road in front of a hunting car park, look for the signs on your right and continue along the road for a few dozen metres. At La Lave, take the downhill path on your left, signposted "Le Gros Chêne". You will come to a crossroads with a downhill path heading towards "Source du Lison". You can download the QRcode "Discover the Boucle des Sources".

(10) Go straight on, towards "Creux Billard" for a round trip of around 400 m (nice series of steps). The path to the spring is forbidden (risk of rock fall). Then return to the previous junction.

(10) Descend to the Cascade du Lison. Then head straight ahead towards the Grotte Sarrazine. The signs are there. Cross the bridge and continue along this beautiful path, crossing another bridge.

(11) At a place called Le Bief Sarrazin, turn left towards the grotto for a round trip of around 500m. You can enter the cave, but you will need a torch (there may be water). Then return before the Bief Sarrazin bridge.

(11) Turn left in the direction of "le Gyps" and follow the river Lison until you reach a crossroads at a place called la Moichâtre.

(12) Go left up this track, which becomes a grassy path, then enter the forest and climb steeply to the next junction. Yellow-blue markings indicate that you should stay on the main path.

(13) Keep to your left on the Parc à Migette forest path. Be careful a little further on (you tend to go straight ahead), turn right onto the grassy path. The markings are there.

(14) Be careful again, and take the path on the left, as far as the next signpost, la Combe. Follow No. 54 to the right, where there is a fallen tree. Go around it and continue up towards the road on this grassy path, then find the crossroads you came to on the outward journey.

(5) A little way from the pedestrian crossing, take the path leading upwards behind the wall, arriving near the church and the Crouzet-Migette town hall. Opposite the town hall, take the downhill path and cross the road carefully (there is no pedestrian crossing). Go straight on, towards the farm with the Vierges, turn left along Rue Sur la Croix as far as the crossroads after Chemin Melisane.

(15) Turn right into Rue des Terrasses (signposted "Ferme équestre"). Continue along this road, which becomes a forest track. You will come to a wide right-hand bend.

(16) Turn left into the passage with the two chains (close them tightly as there are horses), go along the fence on the way down to pass the same passage further on. Continue along this narrow path, which continues downhill until you reach the car park (S/E).

Access to the Source is unfortunately forbidden.

Benches at the Gros Chêne.

At La Source du Lison: several tables.

After the point (12): on the way up, towards the sign for "Le Parc", you can make a return trip to "Le Vieux Château" de Sainte-Anne (1.2 km).

Avoid doing this walk in wet weather, as the descent into La Combe Fagot is intense.

Le Creux Billard: this is a sinkhole dug out by water over thousands of years. A very long time ago, it was a vast underground chamber where several streams joined and dug ever deeper before continuing their flow towards the nearby Source du Lison. Surprising openings in the wall bear witness to these circular movements and tell the story of the chasm's gradual excavation. These are now temporary springs.

La Cascade de la Source du Lison: behind the waterfall is the porch of La Source. There is no trickle of water coming out of the rocks here, as this is a resurgence that is still active. It has been explored on several dives since 1969. The 'ascent' of the spring is a large funnel-shaped basin, which narrows and drops to a depth of 10 m. It is a siphon fed by submerged galleries up to 29 metres deep. One of these galleries comes from the bottom of the Creux Billard chasm.

The Grotte Sarrazine : a temporary overflow spring, located 17 m higher up, is filled when the water level rises inside the massif, during periods of heavy rain or snow melt.

A little history of the Pont du Diable:

The Pont du Diable, which links the communes of Crouzet-Migette and Sainte-Anne, was built in 1875. The stone arch of the bridge, which rises 70 m above the stream, has a very special legend. The inhabitants of the two villages commissioned a contractor from Salins to build the bridge to link them. This man, who went by the name of Babey, had an excellent reputation and promised that the bridge would be ready within a year. After a few months of hard work, the bridge abutments were in place and the arch jutted out into the void. Fate is relentless....
In the days that followed, a deafening noise was heard one night in the two villages, both more than a kilometre from the construction site. In the early hours of the morning, Babey was shocked to discover that the entire construction had fallen to the bottom of the ravine. The contractor did not complain, however, and put all the workers back to work and took on more men to double the teams and meet the deadlines. Construction progressed relatively quickly under Babey's watchful eye. However, he was unable to lay the keystone, as one night the building collapsed again.....Babey did not let up in his efforts and once again began construction.
Fearing malicious intent, he had the bridge guarded at night. Despite all this, the building collapsed for a third time a few days before completion. Discouraged by his workers, Babey proclaimed that he would even give his soul to the devil to finish it. Satan heard him and replied that he could finish the bridge straight away if he agreed to his condition, which was to recover the soul of the first man to cross the bridge. The contractor finally agreed and the bridge took shape again as if by magic. Wracked with remorse, he fell ill. Crouzet's priest set out to cure him and crossed the bridge. The devil rushed to get his due, but dazzled by the brilliance of the ciborium, he stepped over the parapet and fell into the void.