Remiremont - Méloménil

(S) From Place Henri Utard, in front of the Abbey Church, turn your back on the church gate and head right across to Place Kennedy, arriving at the Fontaine des Dauphins. Turn left onto Place de Lattre de Tassigny and continue along Rue de la Courtine. Take the^2nd street on the right, then the^1st on the left, Rue Catherine de Lorraine. Continue to the^3rd street on the right, Rue des Jonquilles.

(1) Turn right and follow Rue des Jonquilles. Then take the^second left, Rue des frères Bexon. When the street turns right, turn left opposite onto Rue du Tir. Pass the first street on the right (a dead end) and continue to the^second street on the right.

(2) Leave the^GR®®, turn right onto Rue des Fougères and continue for about 200 m until you reach a passage on the right blocked by green and white bollards. Enter the passage on the right. At the end of it, turn left into Rue des Myrtilles until you reach the^first right. See Practical Information.

(3) Head up to the right into Impasse des Brimbelles. Just before the end of the cul-de-sac, take the fork to the right and follow it beyond the tarmac section. Immediately after, before the car park of a property, head down to the right onto the grassy path. Turn left, keeping the wire-mesh fence of the properties on your left.

The path leads to a small square with a wash house at the end of Impasse des Bluets. Turn right and rejoin Rue des Myrtilles and the GR®®^trail.

(4) Cross the street and take the passage opposite, which is blocked by a red and white metal barrier. At the end of the passage, continue straight ahead to join Rue du Rond Pré.

(5) Follow Rue du Rond Pré to the left. Pass a car park on your right and keep to the right until you reach a junction with a road on the left, level with the technical offices of the public works department.

(6) Turn left onto Route de Sainte-Anne. Go under the four-lane road. At the next junction, stay on the road which turns left and runs parallel to the four-lane road. Pass through the village of Sainte-Anne and, before entering the hamlet of Rouveroye, continue to a junction marked on the left by a fire hydrant and on the right by a small street, Chemin de Criolé.

(7) Turn right onto the small, sunken, one-way road. It joins a bend in the road. Cross the bridge on the right then take the^first left, Chemin de la Prairie; the signposting is there but barely visible beneath the vegetation. Continue to the top of the road, at a timber yard in the hamlet known as La Prairie.

(8) Take the path that climbs to the right towards the forest. At the edge of a clearing, keep left and join a tarmac track. Cross the track and take the stony path opposite on the left, which continues the climb.
At Haut des Feignes, continue along the tarmac track which joins a road. Turn right and continue to the next junction, at the Chalet du Haut des Feignes.

(9) Take the road on the left, then the^first track on the right. Stay on this track and go round the Étang de la Plaine on your left. After the pond, continue to the^second path on the left and take it. It leads onto a tarmac track, passes through a group of houses and joins a road at Pusieux near a small pond.

(10) Turn right onto the road, follow it to the end, then continue along the path that extends from it. At the first junction, keep right. At the next junction, turn left.

(11) Cross a footbridge and take the path opposite. It continues as a track and joins a road at Mailleronfaing.

(12) Take the road to the left, then at the T-junction, turn right. Cross the village and join the D26. Follow it in the same direction for about 200 m until you reach a junction near a wayside shrine.

(13) Leave the D26, which turns left. Continue straight on along a small road and immediately leave it for the track that branches off to the right (no signposting). Join a road at La Grand Croix and follow it to the right until the next junction.

(14) Turn left. Follow the road to the end. When it ends in front of a house, continue along the path that goes round it to the right. Further on, keep to the right and at the next crossroads, turn right, cross the Cône and join a track at Pransieux.

(15) Take the track on the left. Further on, keep left and continue along the Cône. Pass the Basse Mangin shelter, which has a picnic area and a fountain on the opposite bank of the Cône. Continue for a few metres until you reach a path on the right.

(16) Take this path which climbs to the right; it continues as a track. Pass a path, then a track on the left. The track descends, turning first right then left until you reach a path on the left.

(17) Take the path on the left. A little further on, keep to the right. Continue straight on at the next three junctions and join the D12. Cross the D12 and take the road opposite, which passes by the Eaux et Forêt chalet, a picnic area, a fountain and the start of a fitness trail, and arrive at a junction with a road to the right and a track opposite to the left.

(18) Continue in the same direction along the track, the Route Forestière du Girombois. It joins the D434. Cross the road ( take care) and continue in the same direction along the track opposite. Cross the Pont Napoléon over a railway line and continue to a junction with two tracks coming from the left.

(19) Keep to the right. 100 m further on, take a track on the left. Continue to the next junction.

(20) Turn left. Follow this new track for over 2 km in a south-westerly direction. After a wide left-hand bend, the track turns east and reaches a junction with a track joining from the right, near La Rochère.

(21) Head west again, taking a hairpin bend, along the track on the right. In a left-hand bend, ignore a path joining from the right. Continue for 50 m until you reach a path joining from the right just before crossing the Cône (no signposting).

(22) Do not cross the Cône; take the path joining from the right. On the ascent, pass a first path on the left, follow a clearing with a hunting lookout on the left, cross a footpath and re-enter the forest where the path soon joins a track.

(23) Take the track on the left. It turns right, then left, then right. About 300 m after this last bend, you’ll reach a sloping clearing on the left, with no real path; look out for the signpost indicating the change of direction uphill on the right.

(24) Leave the track and take the gully on the left. At the end of this, cross through the vegetation and join the D39. Cross the road and take the path going up on the right opposite. At the next junction, continue straight on along the track and arrive at a crossroads of tracks near a sewage treatment plant.

(25) Turn left. 500 m further on, take the path leading down to the right to join a road.

(26) Continue downhill to the right. Leave the^GR®® on your left. Enter Uzemain and turn left. Join the^GR®® again at the next junction. Continue straight on until the junction with Impasse de La Hetrelle. Turn right, pass the silo on your left and, after a small bridge, join the D44.

(27) Take the D44 to the left. At the left-hand bend, continue straight on along the road opposite. Cross the D51. Enter Méloménil and head down the main street to a junction just after the left-hand bend.

(28) Turn right into Rue des Roches. Return to the main road and follow it to the right for a few dozen metres until you reach the next junction and the Auberge des 7 Pêcheurs (E).

The route follows the^GR®®7except in Remiremont between (2) and (4)^, where I chose a shortcut that follows the old GR®® route^. This route was still shown on the IGN map when I walked this route, but it is no longer there. It is possible that there is no longer a path between (3) and (4). In that case, at (3), continue straight on and follow Rue des Myrtilles to (4).

Signposting is missing or not visible in several places, with a risk of serious errors at the following points:
- Crossing Mailleronfaing between (12) and (13)
- At the wayside shrine (13)
- At Pré du Moulin (22)

Difficulty according to the Hiking Federation:

• Effort = 4
• Technical difficulty = 2
• Risk = 2

Water supply:

• Chalet des Eaux et Forêts (18)
• There is a sheltered fountain at Basse Mangin (16) but it is indicated that the water is not drinkable.

Accommodation:

• List of accommodation on the Uzemain municipal website. The Auberge des 7 Pêcheurs is located on the outskirts of Méloménil (E)
• A lovely spot for a camp on the Chemin des Malnavets after (25). There may also be options on the short section of the^GR®® that I overlooked after (26)

- Traditional Lorraine villages and farms: Criolé (7), Puisieux (10), Mailleronfaing (12). Le Calvaire (13), Le Void de Cône (14) and Uzemain between (26) and (27).
- Wayside crosses at Mailleronfaing (12) and Le Calvaire (13).
- View of Uzemain (25).