Charminelle Circuit (trail no. 6 of the “Sentiers de Chartreuse Occidentale”)

From Voreppe, drive to Pommiers-la-Placette, taking the road towards Saint-Laurent-du-Pont.

Park in the car park opposite the church in Pommiers-la-Placette (in the commune of La Sure-en-Chartreuse)

Follow the directional signs featuring a yellow square with the number 6 and the yellow markings.

(S/E) Walk past the church and take the road on the left. At the crossroads, carry on straight ahead, first along a stretch of road and then along a path that climbs steeply and joins the road leading to the right;

(1) You’ll arrive at the hamlet of Pallachère.

The road turns into a track; follow it to the left. As you climb, you’ll come to a ruined barn to the left of the path, known as ‘Maquis Palace’ during the^Second World War.

Carry on until you reach a crossroads of paths; at the signpost, turn right

until you reach another junction (there is a wooden sign on a 2-pied post).

(2) This is the locality known as Cota-Bois. Take the path on the left, which climbs steeply until it reaches the cliffs of the Pas de l’Aronde.

(3) Carefully follow the path along the cliff and its sheer drops to reach the edge of the Charminelle plateau.

(4) Take a detour to the Charminelle viewpoint for a welcome break and to admire the panoramic view over the Col de la Placette and the Grand Ratz plateau. Continue up a gentler slope, ignoring the forest track, to reach the Charminelle plateau.

Turn left onto a grassy path that starts in the forest and then opens out onto the Charminelle meadow

(5) to reach a crossroads of paths at the highest point of the walk (signpost).

Take the path down to the right, which leads to a small spring known as Charminelle.

(6) Continue down to a beautiful waterfall before arriving at Les Gourhauts, the Roize Gorges.

(7) Cross the Roize and climb back up along a cliff face fitted with cables, with the Roize below.
The path continues its ascent through a beautiful forest...

(8) … to reach the Roize forest shelter (unmanned shelter, with a kitchen on the ground floor and sleeping quarters upstairs).

Do not take the forest track, but turn right onto the path that leads into the forest at the boundary between the state-owned and communal woodlands, eventually rejoining a forest track.

(9) Follow this until you reach the statue of Lacordaire, near Chalais Monastery.

At the signpost, head straight down, cross the road and take the path which will cross the road again. Follow the path that led to Chalais before the road was built in the 1960s.

(10) Continue to the Bouzonnière junction (signpost).

Turn right towards Gerboudière, then at the next junction (signpost) …

(11) ... turn right towards Fond de Roize. Ford the Roize to reach Préfanton. Follow the road which passes through the hamlets of l’Ancienne Église and Le Buissert and leads back to the church car park (S/E).

(5) Spring 200 m below
(8) Roize shelter open, overnight accommodation
(9) Water, toilets and biscuits available at Chalais Monastery

You hike at your own risk.

Before setting off:

Check the weather forecast. Do not go hiking in bad weather, nor the day after such conditions (wind, rain, snow);

bear in mind that higher up, some sections will be snow-covered, so do not go there.

Know when to turn back

Emergency services: 112

The ‘Maquis Palace’, a camp set up by André Demirleau, which in the spring of 1943 took in STO draft dodgers sent to him by Abbé Grouès (the future Abbé Pierre), who would later join resistance groups.
The Charminelle meadow, formerly a grazing area, covered with flowers in season (aster, martagon lily, etc.)
(7) Les Gourhauts, gorges framed by the Cirque de la Roize, the torrent’s catchment area. This is an area subject to torrential erosion. Upstream, stone dams were built as early as the 19th century to mitigate erosion.
(9) Statue of Father Lacordaire, erected in 1939, a Dominican prior at the monastery of Chalais in the^mid-19th century.

Visit the Corepha association’s website to find out more about the heritage and history of the commune of Voreppe.