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At the Vulcania roundabout, take the D559 towards Chanat-la-Mouteyre and you will find the hikers' car park 200 m further on, on the left (be careful, it fills up quickly).
(S/E) With your back to the road, take the wide path marked with GR® (red and white) markings at the end of the car park. Ignore the path on the right. You will come to a crossroads at the Puy de Chaumont signpost. Continue straight ahead towards Puy des Gouttes. Shortly afterwards, ignore the path on the right.
(1) Immediately afterwards, leave the wide path and take a trail on the left, still on the GR®. Cross a stile and climb through the magnificent beech forest that covers the slopes of Puy de Gouttes, following the markings. The Visorando app may be useful here as the GR® is mainly marked in the opposite direction. Reach the summit of Puy des Gouttes and exit the beech forest.
(2) Continue along the only path downhill, passing a small bog and then a footbridge. You will arrive at an intersection at the Puy Chopine signpost.
(3) Leave the GR® and turn right, reaching a T-junction with a wide path.
(4) Follow it to the right. At the fork in the road 100 m further on, keep left on a small road.
(5) At the next fork, shortly afterwards, ignore the path leading off to the right. Further on, pass under a power line and you will come to an intersection with a path leading off to the left.
(6) Take this road, which curves to the right further on.
(7) Ignore a path on the left as you approach the hamlet of Les Fontètes. At the junction, take the second street on the left (Rue de la Chapelle). At the next junction, near the small chapel, turn left and you will come to a square with a circular fountain. Turn right and take the first street on the right, Rue de la Croix. Ignore the streets on the left and at the T-junction with a cross, turn right onto Rue derrière les Granges. Ignore a street on the left and then two streets on the right and you will arrive at an intersection with a blacksmith's shop serving as a shelter for a picnic table (recycling container on the left).
(8) Continue straight ahead on the small road and leave the hamlet. Further on, ignore a path on the right.
(9) At the four-way crossroads, continue along the path opposite. Pass under a power line and keep left at the edge of the woods.
(10) At the intersection with a wide path, find the GR® markings and follow them to the right. Stay on this path until you reach the intersection with the path you took on the way there.
(5) Continue straight ahead, ignoring the path that turns sharply to the left.
(4) Ignore the path you took on the way there on your left and continue straight ahead. Walk for about 600 metres, then ignore a path on your right and watch out for a footbridge on your left shortly afterwards.
(11) Enter the meadow and follow a vague path straight ahead for a few metres, then another path that branches off to the left to reach the series of drinking troughs at the Fontaine des Pères. Some of the drinking troughs have been renovated, others have not. They are still used by sheep, but also attract insects and amphibians. (Do not remove the sticks that allow toads and frogs to climb out of the troughs.) Then return to the path.
(11) Continue to the left.
(12) At the intersection near the Vulcania roundabout, keep left on the GR® trail, which runs alongside a large meadow on the left, and return to the car park (S/E).
Visorando member
Easy 
