The Pérouse rock - The Menéfrier Islands

start from Place de l'Église, Dun-les-Places.

(S/E) With your back to the church, turn right, leaving the route de Mézauguichard on your left. When you reach the town hall, turn right at the corner of this building. The road quickly becomes a well-shaded downhill path until the next crossroads. At the house on the left, turn left.

(1) Turn right onto the track running almost parallel to the road (D6). Leave the side service roads. As soon as you reach a tarmac road (transformer on your right), turn right to rejoin the road (D6). Continue left along the roadside.

(2) At the crossroads, after crossing the Cure, turn left. The route runs alongside the D211, which passes between the chalet-restaurant on the left and the rocks on the right. Pass the first bend in the road, and at the entrance to the next one, turn left before La Scierie.

(3) Turn right and continue. At the crossroads, turn right onto the main road (D211). Follow it without entering the lanes on the left (some of which are private). After the factory on your right, turn onto the second street on the left.

(4) Leave two consecutive streets on your left. At the next crossroads, turn left in the direction of Moulin du Railly. Leave the road leading to Les Croisettes and, after Moulin du Railly, take the left-hand path along the River Cure. After leaving the bridge on the left, forget the path on the right, which becomes lost in the forest. The climb is steep. Stay on the main path.

(5) At the foot of a tree, mountain bike signs point the way. Enter this narrow path on the left, descending at first but rising again in the last section.

When you reach the rock, a small path on the left leads to the orientation table. Retrace your steps and climb to the left to reach the Route Forestière de la Pérouse. Cross the road, then turn left onto a small track that descends and, at a bend, meets the forest road. Continue downhill on this sunken track, reaching the forest road again.

Go downhill to the right. Leave the Cure on your left and continue on asphalt. Pass the picnic area.

(8) Take the path on the left to reach the banks of the Cure. Pass between rocks and cliffs, regularly crossing water in the form of streams or brooks, depending on the season, and always keeping the Cure on your left.

(9) With your back to the gable of the hut used as a picnic shelter, turn left as you leave the banks of the Cure, a fairly steep but short climb. Join the Route Forestière des Îles Menéfrier. Descend to the left. Reach the village and cross it in its entirety. Opposite the monument, turn left towards La Chaume au Renard.

Red and White GR^® markings

(10) Cross the Cure and turn left into the Chemin de la Cure, keeping to the rising tarmac.

(11) Immediately after the last house, where the road ends, go straight ahead (the entrance to the path is unintuitive). Once again, the route rises in altitude. Reach the forest track and go straight ahead.

(12) At the crossroads, go straight on, then, at the fork that immediately follows, turn right. Forget the track on the left. Cross the Ruisseau des Trois Rus and continue along the main path, leaving the trailheads on your left. Pass the Étang des Rollets on your right.

(13) Cross the forest road (barriers on left and right). Keep to this main path. Cross the Ruisseau de Saint-Marc and continue to a small road.

(14) Continue straight on through Le Vieux Dun, leaving the first 2 streets on your right. At the cross on the left, turn right into Impasse Loriot. This soon becomes a path which leads to a lane serving 2 houses via the cul-de-sac.

(15) Take a left/right turn back onto the path. Ignore the start of a path on the left, cross a stream and come out onto a small road. Follow it to the next junction on the left at Bonaré.

(16) Turn left. The tarmac soon gives way to a track. At a crossroads, forget the first turning on the left, then leave the next one on the right, then another on the left. Keep to the path, still marked in red and white, and pass a start on the right.

End of Red and White signposting

(17) Find a wider lane at the turning point. Go right, leaving the left-hand start.

(1) Turn right, overhanging the road. At the house, turn right. Climb up to the town hall, then turn left to reach the car park where you started(S/E).

The paths are stony and in places there are fords, so good shoes are a must.
Route completed with a group in 7 hours, including picnic break.
The over-marked nature of the route detracts from its quality, and apart from one passage marked in red and white (GR^®), the rest is forgettable.
This route is classed as difficult, but should be upgraded to very difficult on foggy or rainy days.

Caution, depending on the height of the Cure, some passages are impossible to manoeuvre, as they are submerged under water. The first risk is at the Moulin du Railly (if this is the case, pass through Les Croisettes and follow the route further upstream on the Cure).
The second is between (8) and (9). In this second case, you can keep to the forest track at (8) and pick up again at the Rocher de la Pérouse car park. Of course, from this car park, a return trip to the viewpoint is essential.
However, these variants take a lot of the charm out of this route.

This spring walk takes in fields of broom, Christmas trees and numerous gardens adorned with rhododendrons and azaleas in magnificent bloom and colour. In other seasons, the charm of the Morvan forest is ever-present, with its stands of beech, oak and Douglas fir.
Morvan is France's leading producer of Christmas trees, and in many places the landscape changes from one year to the next depending on the fir harvest. What is fallow one year may become a field planted with future Christmas trees the next.