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In Laschamps, park in the car park at the picnic area/hiking trailhead on the edge of the Beaune le Chaud road. You will easily spot the yellow directional signs for "Laschamps" at the side of the road.
(S/E) Turn your back to the road and take the path furthest to your left, marked in red and white for theGR®®4/441. Walk past the riding school's horse paddocks. At the crossroads, continue straight ahead. Walk along the paddocks again, then enter the pine forest.
(1) At the crossroads, continue straight ahead on the wide path that climbs gently uphill.
(2) You will arrive at the foot of Puy de Mercœur (in August 2017, this area was being cleared). Cross this area, continuing in the same direction to find the yellow directional signs. Continue straight ahead towards Montlosier.
(3) At the crossroads, leave theGR®® and turn left towards Beaune-le-Chaud, indicated by a yellow sign. The path climbs through the undergrowth, sometimes quite steeply, to the pass between the Puy de Mercœur and Puy de Lassolas, where you will find a small sign (elevation 1112).
Continue along the path towards the east. Immediately afterwards, ignore a false start to the path on the right. The path descends, still through the woods. Further down, it widens to become a flat path.
(4) Ignore a path on the right, which is part of a fitness trail. You will see an exercise sign a few metres further on. Continue straight ahead on this wide path and leave the woods to find yourself in an almost idyllic countryside setting. Still following the yellow markings, ignore another path on the right (again, the fitness trail).
(5) At a fork, continue left. Ignore a path on the left, then a path on the right. Ignore another wider path on the left as the path you are following veers slightly to the right. Further on, the path becomes tarmac as you approach the first houses of Beaune le Chaud.
(6) At the crossroads, ignore the small road on the left and continue to the right. Ignore the first path on the right, then a second one as you pass between a fountain and a pond. At a second fountain, take the road on the right (remember that you are still following the yellow markings). Follow the road, noting a wash house on your right and another fountain on your left, and ignoring the streets on your right and left. Our small road curves to the right. Immediately after, at the fork, continue to the left.
(7) When you reach the bottom of the church, you will see two small yellow signs. Do not head towards the church, in the direction of Puy de Mercœur, but continue straight on towards "autour de Chatrat". You are now on the Chemin de la Croix de Beaune, which climbs gently towards the cross. Located on the right-hand side of the path, it is a simple iron cross set on a small dolmen. Continue along the wide path. Ignore a path on the right, then a small road on the left at the first houses of Chatrat, to reach a road in the centre of the hamlet.
(8) Leave the yellow markings and follow the road to the left. Pass to the left of the cross and continue straight ahead until you reach an intersection with a small road coming from the left. You will then find yellow markings again and follow them straight ahead. At the fork 50 metres further on, turn left onto the path. Stay on this wide path, ignoring a few small paths on the left, for about 900 metres.
(9) At a beautiful beech tree with several markings, including a yellow cross, turn left onto a path. If you turn around, you will see a yellow marking on the trunk of the beech tree on this side, indicating a change of direction. About 50 metres further on, ignore a path on the left and then, another 50 metres further on, turn right onto the path, despite the yellow cross. Immediately afterwards, walk along a row of beautiful pine trees. Continue straight ahead on this path, which has no real markings. At one point, ignore a path that branches off to the right (yellow cross).
(10) When the path turns right (not visible on the map), leave it and continue straight ahead on the grassy path. Shortly afterwards, ignore the path on the right and continue between the pine forest and the meadows. From this path, you have a beautiful view of the pastures you crossed earlier, as well as the puys that border this plateau.
(11) When you reach the end of the woods, with a small road in sight, turn right to arrive at a wood storage area. Do not join the road, but take the pink gravel path. You will have the Puy de Dôme in front of you. Turn right onto the pink path to walk along the pine forest on your right. Further on, ignore the paths on your right.
(12) At the T-junction, turn left and follow the sign for "Route du Puy de Mercœur". Once again, follow the yellow markings. The path descends towards Laschamps. Further on, at an intersection with a path coming from the left, which you should ignore, you will find an information board about the village of Laschamps.
(13) On the road at the entrance to the village, turn right, then take Chemin du Coudert on the right to reach the village and visit the Romanesque church, an interesting building with a single nave and a slate roof. Then take the main street of the village towards the south-west and turn onto a small path which, after about 50 metres, cuts across the bend in the road and takes you back to the car park (S/E).
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