Les Promenis and the Grand Marais de Cervens

Park in the car park at Cervens cemetery, near the village centre, on Route des Méliès.

No signposting

(S/E) Head back towards the village and, when the lane turns right at No. 14, take a short path straight ahead. At the end, turn left onto Rue de l’Église. Immediately take the^first left onto Rue du Cercle. At the end, turn left, cross the road at the pedestrian crossing and continue straight ahead, slightly to the left, along a dead-end street. Walk past a barn on your left, then ignore the entrance to a private residence on your left.

Signposted Miroir des Eaux (white-painted wooden signs)

(1) At No. 198, turn left onto Chemin du Bouchet. After the last house (No. 66), this stony path gives way to a grassy track between two fences. Turn left with the path, cross a damp patch and climb up between fenced meadows dotted with walnut and chestnut trees. Enter a wood and, at a fork (not shown on the IGN map), take the path on the right towards Chez Bolley, which climbs gently. Leave the wood and continue on level ground between meadows. After a right-hand bend, you’ll reach the tarmac: continue straight on and walk past a large house on your left (small sundial on the wall).

(2) At the corner, turn left and you will soon reach a drinking trough (photos and a quotation from Aragon’s poetry). Continue straight on for a few dozen metres and turn left onto the Chemin des Huches. After about 25 m, leave the road and turn sharply right onto a path that descends steeply, first along the edge of a meadow and then through the undergrowth. Return to the tarmac and, at the three-way junction that appears immediately, keep left. At the Stop sign, go straight on downhill.

(3) At the crossroads (with a fountain on the right-hand side), turn left. Immediately afterwards, turn left again onto a very narrow road with a badly worn tarmac surface, running between gardens and orchards. After the last house, continue along a gravel path between fenced-off meadows. Pass a small campsite and emerge onto the D35. Follow the road to the right, along a parallel tarmac path, for about 25 metres.

(4) At a metal gate on the opposite side, cross the road (take care, as it is a fairly busy road with no pedestrian crossing). On the other side, follow a gravel path to the left between the safety barrier on the left and the fence of a business on the right. At the corner of the fence, turn right. Stay on the path and walk alongside a stream on your left and the buildings of an industrial estate on your right (this is certainly not the most picturesque part of the walk). You’ll come out onto a road and follow it to the right for about twenty metres.

(5) At the junction, turn left onto Chemin de la Boulangerie. The tarmac quickly gives way to a stony track. At the T-junction, turn right and go round a cattle shed on the right. Cross two cattle grids in succession and continue straight on. Cross another cattle grid to reach a T-junction immediately. Then turn left (another cattle grid). At the end of the path, follow the D125 to the left (take care, as it is a fairly busy road). Just before a small bridge, turn right onto a small road. When this turns right, continue straight on along a path, passing a large building on your right that is not shown on the map (a cheese-making company).

(6) Cross a footbridge over a stream and turn immediately right. Follow a gravel track and go round a group of ponds and marshes in an anti-clockwise direction (information boards). Ignore a turn-off on the right, turn left then right onto the main path, ignore a turn-off on the left and continue along a wider path. Then take the^first path on the left, which is initially dirt then grassy. Walk through meadows and orchards then along the gardens of houses on the right-hand side.

No signposting

(7) Return to the D125 and follow it to the right along its right-hand verge. After about fifty metres, turn right onto Allée de Brénalin. At the stop sign, turn left. Ignore a small lane on the right, then one on the left. Then climb a flight of steps on the left (Chemin de Ronde). Continue climbing along a gravel path. At the top, facing the war memorial, turn left and walk past the foot of the church. Continue straight ahead and cross Rue du Cercle on the right-hand side. Shortly afterwards, turn right onto the path taken on the way there and head for the cemetery car park (S/E).

Good walking shoes are sufficient for this short hike, which takes place on well-maintained paths or quiet country lanes.

No drinking water sources were spotted along the route.

A detailed map is useful (at the very least the one accompanying this description).

Hike undertaken by the author on 24 August 2020.

- A very pleasant walk through meadows and woods, between (1) and (2). It is on this section that you can also enjoy the most expansive views, particularly of Lake Geneva.
- Several beautiful houses, notably in the hamlets of Chez Garin (1) and Terrotet (5).
- Grand Marais, further on (6).

For the most part, this walk follows the Miroir des Eaux nature trail, designed and created by the Syndicat Mixte des Affluents du Sud-Ouest Lémanique (SYMASOL).