Le puy de Louchadière

Guidebook with maps/step-by-step :

Étape 1 : Take the staircase next to the start sign and climb the path (at the top, view of the Louchadière, Chopine, Dôme and Côme puys) which, after 100 m, descends to a wide track. Follow this to the left and continue gently uphill for around 1 km. Reach a crossroads just before the end of the climb (on the left, departmental signs indicate that the round trip to the summit takes 1 hour).

Étape 2 : Leave the track and turn left onto a grassy path which soon enters the beech forest. At the first intersection, turn left. Ignore the next two paths (one descending to the right, the other ascending to the left) and continue straight ahead through the beech forest, as far as the geodesic marker marking the summit (puy de Louchadière, alt. 1198 m). 20 m from this point, you’ll have a view of the Puys, the Sancy massif and the Combrailles.

Étape 3 : Turn around and descend by the same route as the ascent. Back on the trail (PC 1), turn left (view of the Puys de Jume, Coquille, Chopine and Dôme) and continue for 300 m to a trail junction.

Étape 4 : Turn left (“Chuchoter”, a land art sculpture) and walk out into the open, then into the forest. At the second fork in the path (where two yellow trails split), fork left into the coniferous forest. When you come to a wider path, follow it to the right for a hundred metres. Turn left into the beech forest, then immediately right. After approx. 100 m, leave the path and take a right down to a wide ashy track. Follow this to the left until you reach the main road.