Gorce Valley and Pourcharet Tower via Recoleine

In the centre of Nébouzat, leave your vehicle in the car park along Rue Charles de Gaulle, opposite the fire station.

(S/E) Opposite the fire station, turn left, passing in front of the bakery and a restaurant, and cross the bridge over the Ruisseau de la Gigeole.

Green markings, lines or small^PR®® signs

At the roundabout, keep left and pass under the D2089. On the other side, turn left and then immediately right. Shortly afterwards, turn onto a path on the left. Take the first path on the right and you will come to a T-junction with another path.

(1) Turn left. After a wide left-hand bend, the path runs alongside the Gorce valley, with the river flowing a little below. At a fork in the path, keep left (the right-hand path leads to the river, but there is no easy access to the water) and continue until the path bends to the left.

(2) Turn onto the path leading off to the right and continue to an intersection at a signpost. (On the right is a bridge over the Gorce.)

No signposts

Turn left, leaving the green markings, then immediately turn onto a path that branches off to the right. Shortly afterwards, ignore the path that branches off to the left and look for a small cross on a high stone pedestal on the right. At a fork in the path, not shown on the map, keep left. You will come to a small road at an altitude of 918 m.

^GR®®® red and whitemarkings

(3) Look for the^GR®® markings, walk a few metres to the left along the road, then immediately turn onto the path on the right. Cross the Ruisseau de la Gigeole stream, ignore the path on the right, and you will arrive in front of a house near the D2089.

(4) Ignore the path that turns sharply left and go around the house on the left. Continue along Chemin du Pré Feneix, ignoring the access to the road on the left. Further on, take the tunnel on the left that passes under the D2089 to reach the village of Recoleine.

No signposts

On the other side, follow the street to the left, then turn right at the first street, at a small wrought iron cross. Pass a drinking fountain on your right and join Rue des Trois Bergers. Follow it to the right to reach Place de la Fontaine, with a drinking fountain and oven, and head towards the Recoleine signpost near the oven. You will find GR®® markings^again.

Red and white^GR®®®markings

(5) Follow the signs for Laschamps, climbing up the grassy path through the broom. You will come to a street; follow it to the right. It immediately turns left. Leave it immediately afterwards and take a small road on the right. The tarmac disappears further on. Continue along the path, ignoring all the side paths. The path reaches the foot of Puy de Pourcharet on the left.

(6) At the Puy de Montjuger marker, slightly off the path, ignore the path that branches off to the right and continue around Puy de Pourcharet. Continue to the next crossroads, at the 1044 m marker.

No signposting

(7) Leave the^GR®® and turn left to continue around Puy de Pourcharet. You will come to a grassy path on the left and find green markings again.

Green markings

Follow this path, which leads to the woods covering the slopes of Puy de Pourcharet on this side.

(8) As soon as you enter the forest, turn left onto the path. Ignore a few paths on the right (old logging roads that lead to clearings) and you will come to a fork in the path.

No markings

(9) Leave the green markings that lead to the right and continue straight ahead, still in the undergrowth. Ignore the more recent (2023) forestry tracks on either side and you will come to a fork in the path. Keep to the right and soon leave the forest to continue across moorland, then between meadows. You will come to a T-junction with a path, next to an orientation table and a small chapel.

(10) Follow the path to the right and arrive at a T-junction with a path marked with green markings.

Green markings

Continue left and head towards Recoleine. At the junction, near the first houses, you will find the GR®® markings^again.

Red and white^GR®®®markings and green markings

(11) Follow the Route du Deveix to the right, then quickly turn onto a path on the right. Join a path.

(12) Follow it to the left, then turn left at the T-junction just after, before turning right onto another path. At the next T-junction, turn left. The path is covered with tarmac and leads to the cemetery in Nébouzat.

^GR®®® Red and Whitemarkings

(13) Leave the green markings that go to the right and follow the road and the^GR®® to the left. Immediately pass in front of the Chapelle de la Croze and then the remarkable carved cross of the same name. At the intersection of streets, go right and then turn onto the first street on the left. Then take the street on the right, towards the church.

No markings

Before reaching the church, follow Rue de la Chanvrière to the left until you reach the oven and a drinking fountain. Turn right at this point, then keep right to pass in front of the church and reach Rue Charles de Gaulle. Follow it to the left to return to the car park (S/E).

Difficulty: Moderate to easy. Standard hiking equipment.

Discover more hikes in this area with a description or the Visorando app here

Photo album here

The Croze Cross. The cross itself is very small and not particularly interesting, but take a look at its pedestal! Made of black volcanic stone, it is carved with rather mysterious figures, one resembling a knight, others holding hands, and there is also an animal and Christ on the cross. This pedestal is thought to have come from another monument and been reused as a base. The date 1729 engraved on it corresponds more to this "recycling" than to the creation of the carved stone, which experts believe to be older.