Saint-Christo-en-Jarez - Marcenod - L'Hôpital

A very nice walk on a Saturday afternoon in December. Not very busy, very bucolic, no difficulties. I didn't pay much attention to the signs as I was following the track.

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Very hilly walk, a little too much tarmac road

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The numerous signposts make it difficult to find your way around.
A very pleasant walk, however.

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It's a shame there are so many tarmac roads.

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I'm proposing a variant of this walk which, on a clear day, will reveal the 4 mountain ranges surrounding us: the Alps (from Mont Blanc to Vercors), the Pilat massif, the Velay mountains and the Forez mountains.
The route starts at La Thomassiere (point no. 8). Instead of crossing the hamlet, turn left onto the path opposite the cross.
At the top of the hill, turn right and ignore all the left-hand paths. You'll start to see the Alps.
This path comes to a crossroads where you cross the D23,
At the first crossroads, turn right (signposted Grange Gauthier) and follow this path as far as the post marked "les 4 vents".
Turn right onto the GR7, which takes you to the Bicouri cross, where you cross the D23 to rejoin the route described at point 10.
Follow the signs to point 11.
Instead of taking the road to Fontagneux, join the D23, which you follow to the right for around 100 metres, leaving it at the bend to take the first path to the left (you are still on the GR7).
When you reach a road, turn right to reach "La Flache du plein". You can reach the start either by taking the small road opposite or by following the D23.
It's on the GR7 that you get these magnificent views.

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Hello,

it's very, very, very slow, it's always slow after 5 minutes and that's not the end of it.

Are you on 3G or 4G?

One solution, use wifi to download the hikes and maps so you can use the application without a data connection. (This way you are autonomous, so the display speed depends solely on your device).

Make a background map available offline

https://www.visorando.com/article-rendre-...

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Henri

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Thank you, but my son abandoned the visorando application because it was so slow. I've just installed it and it's very, very, very slow, it's still slow after 5 minutes and that's not the end of it.

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Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

Otherwise, to prepare for my next hike, I had decided to take more precautions and to check the itinerary on Mappy, note the names of the paths etc...

When hiking, you need to have several strings to your bow:

1. The description
2. The map-description/terrain relationship with the Visorando map (IGN 1/25000).
3. Check your position using the Visorando GPS Application or your GPS.

because it's disappointing to choose a hike, print out the information sheets, and when you get there, you're disappointed.

I advise you to use the Visorando GPS application in addition to the description and the map.

The aim is not to be glued to your smartphone, but to have a tool that can be used to validate waypoints and remove any doubts about orientation.

How to use the Visorando application

https://www.visorando.com/article-mode-d-...

Is the Visorando application free or chargeable?

https://www.visorando.com/article-l-appli...

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Thank you for taking my opinion into account.
In reply, I would have preferred it if it said, for example: go along the cemetery then take chemin des mitanes then chemin des flaches du plein then route marcenod,
If there are signposts, it's better to take them into account to be sure, and then if there aren't any, to give permanent landmarks of course, such as: a farm, a river, a dirt track, a tarmac surface, etc...
Otherwise, to prepare for my next hike, I'd decided to take more precautions and check out the itinerary on Mappy, note down the names of the paths etc.... because it's disappointing to choose a hike, print out the information sheets, and when you get there, you're disappointed... We started at 12.30pm and finished at 6.30pm, although we had planned to spend 4 hours as indicated on your site.

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Hello,

Right from the start, we couldn't find our way, at stage 1, five possible directions when there are only 4, then it says, when you get to the Mitanes cross, take the path opposite, the path opposite what? the cross? us? it's not precise enough.

What information have you missed? How can we reword this sentence? Can you make any suggestions?

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Hello,
Right from the start, we couldn't find our way, at stage 1, five possible directions when there are only 4, then it says, when you get to the Mitanes cross, take the path opposite, the path opposite what? the cross? us? it's not precise enough. After going round in circles for three quarters of an hour, we opted for a signposted "sabot blanc" hike without following the Visorando directions, because they weren't precise enough.
And yet it's simple, there are lots of signs that would reassure us if we added "follow the farm" or "take the path", there were lots of signs with the names of the paths.

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A pleasant walk, fairly easy as there's not much difference in altitude.
Perhaps a little too much on tarmac local roads for my taste: I think there is an equal split between paths and roads.
Beautiful countryside around St Christo and Marcenod.
If you're lucky (which I was), you'll be able to see the sun-drenched and snow-covered Alps from certain parts of the route...

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very pleasant route, but it's still difficult to find your way around, thanks to the IGN map.....!

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Lovely sunny walk! superb views

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Thank you damrando.
Interesting information. We'll leave it to the author of this hike to adapt his description.

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