Les Planchettes walks

A superb hike around Lake Moron, culminating in the Saut du Doubs and its 27-metre waterfall.

This walk is a marvellous way to explore the beautiful Saut du Doubs.

The Saut du Doubs is a major tourist attraction in the region. This hike will allow you to discover it and also enjoy the surrounding landscapes, continuing on to the Chatelot dam.

Are you only going to do one of these hikes? Then choose to explore this valley, a pure marvel! To start with, the Gorges du Doubs, which are full of sunny green beauty here. Then there are the light-filled forests towards Roche Guillaume and the mountain pastures, which overlook the valley. And the highlight: the Gorges de la Ronde, wild, lush and tropical in appearance, framed by high rocks, a world of stones, moss and ferns.

From the picturesque village of Bizot, with its farms, courthouse and 16th-century church, the route takes you up a superb steep ridge path to the ruins of Réaumont Castle. You return via the peat bogs, skirting piles of stones gathered from fields and the Étang des Belles Seignes lake.

Beautiful views, a lovely setting and an unusual part of the hike, crossing the death ladders.

The ladders will probably be closed until autumn. There are no danger points on these ladders. This historic site bears witness to the fear once inspired by these legendary places, the scene of many fatal accidents during the "bricotte" smuggling era, when the ladders were nothing more than tree trunks crossed by pieces of wood. Today, these comfortable family staircases, which you can climb safely, allow you to discover the Doubs Gorges from a number of viewpoints.

From Bonnétage church, you will quickly climb up to the viewpoint on the plateau and, in the distance, the snow-capped peaks of the Bernese Alps. You will cross pastures lined with murgers, charming dry stone walls, and fir forests typical of the Haut-Doubs, walk along deep sinkholes, descend into the hollow of the peat bog and finally, from a rocky ridge, overlook the vast Etang du Moulin lake.

A wild, 350-metre-deep valley, the Cirque de Consolation, framed by magnificent cliffs, is a paradise for hikers and nature lovers. You can discover it from two viewpoints, Chauve Roche at the bottom of the valley and Sainte-Catherine downstream and the old seminary. After a visit to the old priory of Laval, you will climb back up to the plateau, along the aptly named Pissoux, through a superb wild and mossy valley.

From the top of the Roche du Miroir, at the viewing point, you can admire the Dessoubre valley, which is overlooked in places by high cliffs, home to chamois and peregrine falcons then, along a charming path winding and weaving between superbly carved rocks, you will cross sunny meadows to reach the Montbéliardot arboretum and its sculptures. Return via La Vie au Loup, skirting the edge of the cliffs with a panoramic view of the entire plateau.

A walk around the Cirque de Consolation with a thrilling variety of views and valleys. Beautiful panoramic views and bodies of water on way.

Hike from Chambrelien, passing through Champ du Moulin and following the Gorges de l'Areuse trail, with several views of Lake Neuchâtel. You will follow the blue trail, where you may spot chamois, then the gorge trail to admire the waterfalls.

A picnic area with tables overlooks the Dessoubre valley at an altitude of nearly 750 metres. Old farms dating back to the 1960s cling to the mountainside. A wild valley where, perhaps, our Comtois Gauls performed their druidic rituals in sacred clearings. A natural rock known as the Devil's Castle overlooks the Waroly waterfall. Finally, caves carved out over centuries.

Starting from the charming little village of Vaucluse, Val Clos, this hike offers superb views of the Dessoubre valley, starting with the Baron's viewpoint, then the Cul de Vau valley and finally Vaucluse and its former priory, not to mention the various balconies overlooking the valley that you will pass along the way.

During this first stage, after the tedious climb up the 14 contours, you will be rewarded by the local geological curiosity, the Creux du Van. This Swiss version of the "Grand Canyon" is a large rocky cirque 1.5 km long and 200 m high. At Soliat, you will enjoy a splendid panorama of Lake Neuchâtel.

This magnificent route passes through peaceful forests, along long ridges and steep cliffs. Every day offers panoramic views of the peaks of the Alps, the lakes of Neuchâtel, Geneva and Joux, and curiosities such as the great Cirque du Creux du Van.

Passing through beautiful pine forests, you will walk along a small gorge, home to waterfalls where the rotation of pebbles has carved the soft rock over thousands of years, forming basins known as chaudières in our Haut-Doubs region. Then, passing isolated farms nestled in the hollows of the pastures and surrounded by our good old Montbéliard cows, you will reach a panorama stretching south-west over the Chasseron, the Suchet, the Gras topped by the Rochers du Cerf, Switzerland to the south and, in fine weather, Mont Blanc.

After visiting the source, you will climb to the Dard viewpoint, located at an altitude of 600 metres above Sancey-le-Grand, overlooking the valley with the Château de Belvoir and the Lomont mountain range crowned by fifteen wind turbines in the background. Then, from this magnificent rocky amphitheatre, a sunny valley will lead you to the wild cliffs of the Cul de Voye.

"In the shade" is a misnomer for this route, which takes you along beautiful sunny forest paths, bordering pastures and woods, to the fortified castle of Belvoir, overlooking the Val de Sancey. Don't forget to visit the old village, centred around its 14th-century market halls, but beware of the irreverent Madge-Fâ as you pass underneath. Finally, you will descend into the valley via the Chemin de la Vie à la Mort (Path of Life and Death), no doubt invigorated by this country walk.

Rousseau once wrote «I have, opposite my windows, a beautiful waterfall which from the mountain top, plunges from a rocky escarpment into the valley, with a sound heard for miles around, especially when waters are high». From waterfall to waterfall, alongside these impressively steep gorges which once inspired fear (poëta from the latin putidus meaning "altered, fetid"), this trail will lead you through a delightful hike through rocks and water.