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Park at the Martinette car park on the edge of the D525a before reaching Fond de France.
This is a car park specially designed for hikers heading to Combe Madame or the Sept Laux massif.
There is actually parking a little further up, but during busy periods the car parks fill up quickly.
(S) Cross the car park and quickly join the road that leads to the hamlet of La Martinette, near the bridge over the Bréda.
(1) Follow this road uphill to a small car park.
Then take the path on the left.
It will gradually enter the forest and arrive at the intersection with Grange de Naime (a barely visible ruined building).
(2) Turn left, leaving the route that leads to the Cascade du Pissou waterfall on your right. This route is an alternative for the return journey.
Now there is no real alternative but to continue along the path, which sometimes has sections with a steeper slope. In the forest, a staircase has been built to bypass the landslide that washed away the path.
In fact, you are climbing the Combe Madame torrent, keeping it on your right.
Leave the forest and cross a small meadow dominated by a chalet, then re-enter the forest and emerge into a very rocky landscape.
The trail continues to wind its way up, crossing a ridge behind which the Combe Madame refuge (1,784 m) stands out.
The refuge is a building dating from 1992. It is in good condition and clean, apart from some graffiti.
The refuge is open all year round and manned from 15 June. It is a stopover for hikers who want to tackle higher peaks.
In the first half of June, there are still snow-covered slopes where chamois are easy to spot.
(3) Descend to the intersection with Grange de Naime.
(2) Go and discover the Cascade du Pissou. The trail starts off gently flat and gradually climbs towards the waterfall, crossing the torrent on a wooden footbridge.
(4) Continue to the waterfall.
(5) After visiting the waterfall, descend and turn left towards Fond de France, crossing another footbridge.
(6) A series of steep slopes leads to the intersection of the trail that approaches the Sept Laux massif.
(7) Begin the descent, pass over a penstock, cross another footbridge and then return to Fond de France and follow the road back to the car park (E).
! The same goes for the Pissou waterfall, which is not accessible from the bottom (at the start of the hike after Point 2) because there were wires to prevent you from going over. Maybe it's just temporary because of the recent bad weather.
We had a problem on the last kilometre back to the car park: the route mapped out on the app takes you along a private path that is not fenced off, so the owner must have had enough and is no longer very accommodating.
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