Entre la Sep et la Morge

1/ From the signpost at the entrance to the car park (12th-century church and priory), take the D406 road passing on the left-hand side of the ‘école enfantine’. Follow this road for 1 km. At the top of a hill, turn right onto a track which, after 500 m, crosses a road. Continue straight ahead and descend until you come to a crossroads with a number of PR roads, where you can see the reservoir. Continue along the track on the left, overlooking the reservoir, as far as the Sep dam.

2/ Cross the dam and take the track on the left (barrier) down to the river. Turn right (barrier) onto the level track. At Moulin Josse, take the road (D122) to the right for 150 m. Take the first track on the left, which crosses the Morge by a footbridge, goes up into the forest and leads to the plateau. Continue straight ahead until you reach the hamlet of La Tour Serviat. The path becomes a tarmac lane and leads to the D408 road.

3/ Turn left, then left again at the fork (cross). After 150 m, turn right onto a track. At the T-junction, turn right and then immediately left. After the cross (cross of Saint Priest, patron saint of Montcel, 1898), the path becomes grassy and descends through meadows (with a wide view of the Allier valley and the Monts de la Madeleine) and then into the woods. Turn right onto the D408 for 400 m and then right down a track, which cuts two bends in the road and joins the road in the village of Montcel. Continue straight downhill, passing the town hall and then the church, until you reach the crossroads below. Choose the route de Jozerand (D408). In the hamlet of Les Chanteaux, leave the road at the hairpin bend and take the track opposite. Reach the D122 at Pont de Montcel.

4/ Turn left and, at the crossroads after the bridge over the Morge, go straight on. At the first crossroads 100 m further on, turn left onto a track which you follow for 2 km. At the crossroads on the plateau, turn right onto the grassy path that leads down to the Rioux stream, follow it for 50 m, cross it (footbridge) and reach a small road. Follow the road opposite, passing through the hamlet of La Rochette and then Les Bajaris. Continue on (Lapierre cross, 1874) and reach Saint-Hilaire-La-Croix. At the iron cross, turn left and walk past the ‘Jacques’ cross (1573) to get back to the starting point.