The Ravin des Merles and the Demoiselles Décoiffées

Take the Pierre Feu road and park at the corner with Rue de la Fontaine.

(S/E) Take Rue de la Fontaine to reach Place du Lavoir.

(1) Take the path that starts between the houses (sign for Le Goutaud on a fence). The path passes behind the properties and between vegetable gardens. Continue, ignoring the few side paths, until you reach a wider path, which you should take on the left. Just before the hamlet, at the junction with Rue du Goutaud (street sign), turn left and cross the hamlet until you reach the junction of the paths.

(2) Take the path on the right, which runs alongside the closed houses. Pass in front of the pretty Saint-Jean-Baptiste Chapel, restored by the Fondation du Patrimoine. Continue along the main path, ignoring the secondary paths. It winds its way up to Puy-Saint-André. Just before the village, you will arrive at the Sainte-Marie-Madeleine Chapel.

(3) Continue for a few metres until you reach the road. Turn right and, after a few metres, at the bus stop, turn left towards the church, taking the Quartier du Caire. On the left is a house with a pretty sundial.
With your back to the cemetery entrance, take the path opposite. Just before a playground (enclosed tennis and football court), follow the Ruisseau du Goutaud stream upstream. The path is not very well marked and leads to a house after about 100 metres. Pass this house to reach a road. Turn left until you reach a house with a white gable on the right-hand side of the road.

(4) Turn right onto the path, which is paved for the first few metres. It goes around a house and arrives at a fork at the Chapelle Sainte-Anne. Turn left onto the path towards Puy Chalvin (signposted Puy-Chalvin). Follow this road until you reach a road. Turn left towards Puy Chalvin. After about 200 m, at number 339, a road climbs up to the right (signposted Chemin des Chauvines on the left).

(5) Take this road, which leads to the beautiful Saint-Lucie Chapel (with 17th-century frescoes). Pass in front of the chapel to reach the road. Just before you reach the road, you will see a sundial on a house on your right. When you reach the road, turn left (do not take the road opposite) until you reach the junction with the road to Sainte-Lucie that you came across earlier.

(5) Go down to the right onto Chemin des Chauvines, in the middle of meadows. Very pretty views of the peaks. After a few hundred metres, the path meets the GR®50. Cross and continue downhill for about 200 m to reach a crossroads, marked with a yellow sign on the ground. View of the hamlet of Les Sachas on your right.

(6) Turn left until the next fork (signpost).

(7) Turn right towards Pierre Feu. The path descends steeply to Pierre Feu. After a few hundred metres on your left, enjoy the first views of the Demoiselles Décoiffées. The path turns left and approaches them.

(8) It runs alongside the Demoiselles Décoiffées, then crosses a path; continue straight ahead. As you pass, admire some works installed in 2022-2023 as part of the Transhumances Artistiques.
At the bottom of the path, turn left towards Pierre Feu, following the back of the houses. When you reach the road, continue straight ahead to reach the wash house and the car park. There is a pretty sundial on one of the houses (S/E).

The path is marked in yellow, but the markings are sometimes difficult to spot.

The descent from Puy Chalvin can be difficult from Les Demoiselles Décoiffées to Pierre Feu.

Several chapels along this route. Typical hamlet of Goutaud. Sainte-Lucie chapel and its 17th-century frescoes.