The Chalets du Mélézin, starting from Villar-Saint-Pancrace

Park in the car park at the Maison de la Montagne in Villar-Saint-Pancrace.

(S/E) Return to the road, then turn right onto the Route des Ayes and follow the red and white markings of^{the GR®5}. When you reach a crossroads, take the left-hand road – this is still the^GR® – and, after a bend, you’ll come to a junction with a footpath.

(1) Leave the^GR® here; please note that on the IGN map it is still shown as the^GR®, but the markings are no longer visible at this point. Continue uphill to reach the junction at the Lauzin clearing.

(2) Carry on to the left, uphill, and, after a few hairpin bends, you’ll reach the tarmac road to Les Ayes.

(3) Cross the road and, opposite (signposted ‘Mélézin’), take the path into the woods. Wind your way along this very pleasant route and, after a final, steeper climb, you’ll reach the Chalets du Mélézin.

(4) Retrace your steps along the route you took on the way there until you reach the crossroads at the Lauzin clearing.

(2) Turn left onto the wide path and rejoin the tarmac road.

(5) Cross it and take the yellow-marked path opposite. Continue until you rejoin the road and follow it for about a hundred metres to a hairpin bend protected by concrete blocks.

(6) Pass between two boulders and continue along the wide, descending path – this is the Botanical Trail. You’ll reach the Anciennes Mines crossroads.

(7) Turn right downhill and, at the rock-climbing site, turn left to reach the car park at the Maison de la Montagne in Villar-Saint-Pancrace (S/E).

(4) Chalets du Mélézin: there are two fountains here.

(7) Old mines: found throughout the Briançon area and particularly here in Villar-Saint-Pancrace, where they are known as ‘mines paysannes’.