Tour of Mont Chanzet starting from Panossas

Car park at Panossas, at the junction of Route de Bourgoin and Route de Veyssilieu.

(S/E) Leave the car park by taking the Route de Veyssilieu to the left, with the bar-tobacconist’s opposite you. Follow this road to the junction before the village cemetery.

(1) Take the path on the left, which runs past the cemetery and then gradually climbs to the left. Once on a plateau, the path crosses large cultivated clearings. Ignore the secondary paths and tracks branching off to the left and right. The path, marked GR® red and white, branches off to the right and runs alongside the forest

(2) Ignore a path on the left – this will be your return route. Continue along the GR® to the main road, still ignoring any paths branching off to the left towards the forest.

(3) When you reach the main road, turn left. After 100 metres, take the road that climbs up to the left, leaving the rubbish bins on your right. Continue along this road which, after about 500 metres, turns into a track that winds its way between a lovely meadow on the left and hedgerows on the right.

(4) The track, still signposted GR®422, enters a lovely forest. After just over a kilometre, you’ll pass a clearing on your left.

(5) Immediately afterwards, leave the GR® as it turns to the right, and take the path straight ahead, which leads downhill. Two hundred metres further on, you’ll reach a wide track suitable for vehicles. Cross it and take the path leading downhill straight ahead. The path soon turns left, skirting some thickets, with a large meadow on your right. When you reach a house, carry on straight ahead along the Chemin du Château. When you reach a road, turn left onto it.

(6) After less than 50 metres, as the road bends to the left, take the track on the right, with a beautiful dry-stone wall to its right.

(7) At the junction with another track, turn left. Shortly afterwards, ignore the path leading down to your left and carry on straight ahead.

(8) You’ll walk alongside a magnificent dry-stone wall, which forms part of the enclosure of Poizieu Castle. With the castle on your left, you’ll head down into the village.

(9) At the crossroads, take the road straight ahead, with the courtyard of a beautiful farmhouse on your right. Continue along this road for about 500 metres. At the bend, ignore the path branching off to the left and carry on along the road. Take care, as the verge on this short stretch is, unfortunately, quite narrow. When you reach an open area, on your left, a path branches off between the woodland and a large tree.

(10) Follow it. It runs alongside the woodland and leads you to the Chozeau cemetery.

(11) Walk alongside the cemetery, then take the path on your left which climbs into the woods. After 20 metres, ignore the path – a dead end – on your left. The path climbs quite steeply and leads you to a junction.

(12) Take the path on your left, which continues to climb, still quite steeply. It turns to the right, becomes less steep, then relatively flat before joining another path. Turn right and continue along this pleasant, level path, almost at the summit of Mont Chanzet. After 500 metres, you’ll come to a wide, straight path.

(13) Take this wide, downhill path to the right. You will then reach the GR®422 route you took on the way there.

(2) Turn right, then follow the path you took on the way there, but in the opposite direction. After crossing the wide clearings – which you’ve already crossed in the other direction – the path descends to the cemetery. From there, take the road directly ahead, which will quickly bring you back to your car park (S/E).

(S/E) You can park your car in the Panossas car park, at the junction of Route de Bourgoin and Route de Veyssilieu. Directly opposite is a bar-tobacconist’s, which was open on the Sunday we visited.

(9): Poizieu Castle – Private property; not open to the public.