Puy Gros, Cirque d'Encloux and Grandval and return via Niercombe

Parking on the square in Niervèze (fountain).

(S/E) Take a small path opposite, which passes between two thatched houses, then joins a 4x4 track. This winds its way up to a high-altitude meadow with a beautifully restored buron on the right.

(1) Follow the track on the right, which will take you up to the three burons de la Jambe, until you reach the last one (a restored barn).

(2) Approach the foot of Puy Gros and climb diagonally off the trail, skirting the cross at the summit on your right.

(3) Below the cross, enjoy a panoramic view of all the peaks.Then join the GR®400, a little below on the right, which will take you steadily uphill towards the Plomb du Cantal. Reach the Col de Chèvre.

(4) From the pass, head south-east towards a discreet buron (stone hut) below and descend off the trail through peat bogs, a few rocks and small streams until you reach the buron covered with sheet metal.

(5) Turn right onto a track that leads to a magnificent complex with a restored buron dating from 1768 and a large barn surrounded by high walls built with huge stones: the Encloux site.

(6) Go back up to the previous buron.

(5) Head right onto a faint path that crosses small streams, then winds its way through gorse and rocks towards a pass between the two cirques. Stay well above the edge of the large wood on your right and climb gradually eastwards along a track made by animals. Climb up to the pass separating the Cirque d'Encloux from the Cirque de Grandval.

(7) Take the time to admire the magnificent Cirque de Grandval dominated by the ridge of the Puy de la Cède on the left and the Puy Brunet and Plomb du Cantal opposite. Locate the burons (stone huts) of Costejaride Bas, then Haut. You are now in the territory of mouflons, chamois and marmots. There is no clear path, but there are tracks made by herds. Pass close to the very old buron (stone hut) of Costejaride Bas. Then climb gradually, through scree and marmot burrows, barbed wire and small streams, towards the beautiful restored buron of Costejaride Haut.

(8) Immediately afterwards, climb diagonally across the pastures and, after passing several barbed wire fences, continue to the various tracks that join at the Col de la Portoune, where you will find the GR®400, below the summit of the Plomb de Cantal.

(9) Descend to the left towards Puy Gros. You will come to the Col de Chèvre.

(4) Leave the GR®400 and pass under the barbed wire on the right to look for the remains of old watering places and paths below, leading to the Cedous buron.

(10) This beautifully restored buron (shepherd's hut) has a stunning backdrop of Puy Mary on the left, Puy Griou (the closest) and Peyre Arse on the right. From there , follow the poorly marked paths (watering hole at the start) through wet areas (numerous springs) to reach the buron de Niercombe. This well-restored buron and pigsty are located in an astonishing site: various stones planted in the ground, a cliff with strange shapes sculpted by time, and a panoramic view of the Cère valley below.

(11). Head left from the "sculpted" cliff, then locate and take the 4x4 track that leads you through the Tête woods to the junction with the Jambe buron.

(1) Follow the track to Niervèze (S/E).

Fountain at Niervèze (S/E), at Encloux (6), to the left of Costejaride Haut, then left down the GR®400 after the Col de la Pourtoune, then springs between Sedous and Niercombe.