La Ramade

Guidebook with maps/step-by-step

Step 1 : From the start sign, go down rue de l’Hôtel de Ville, then Grand rue (dir. Pontaumur) below the square. At the fork, turn left (dir. Aubusson) into rue de la Fontaine. Go past Place Saint-Barthélémy (fountain), turn left then right to the church. Go left up the Motte Feodale path, then up the stairs to the summit (11th-century motte castrale) (view of Giat village). Go back down and, as soon as you leave chemin de la Motte féodale, turn right and walk up rue de la Fontaine for a few metres before turning left into rue de la Clinique. At Place du Crau, continue straight on Chemin de Ganobert until you reach the road (cross). Turn right. At a bend in the road, leave a track on the right (cross) and continue for 20 m to a track on the left.

Step 2 : Take this and branch off onto the first tarmac track on the right. At a shed on the outskirts of Le Mascornet village, continue along the track opposite. At the D13, turn right until 100 m after the “département change” sign (in Creuse, the road is known as the D30).

Step 3 : Take the first road on the right (dir. Étang de la Ramade) for 200 m. Turn left towards the parking lot and drive down to the edge of the pond. Follow the bank to the left as far as the dike (in the event of flooding, return to point 2 and take the D30 to the right as far as the dike). Cross the dike and immediately turn left to reach Coulignat by road. In the hamlet, take the first track on the left. Go past Les Planches (a potentially flooded passage shortly before the bridge). When the road becomes tarmac, continue uphill to a crossroads (Villevergne).

Step 4 : Opposite Chemin des Besses, turn left (impasse des Noisetiers) then, after 50 m, fork right onto the first track. At the crossroads, cross the road and continue straight ahead. At the fork, keep right. Cross the stream (path often flooded), leave a track on the left, climb up and continue to the intersection with a wide track.