Montagne d’Albion et la forêt du Tay

In the Tay forest, you're sure to come across the flat surfaces of ancient charcoal kilns. These mounds of earth-covered wood were once used to make charcoal: the wood was stacked around a central chimney and then covered with earth to prevent draughts. In this way, the wood was heated rather than burned for several days to create good charcoal. The charcoal kilns were built in the forest, as close as possible to the wood resource, hence the presence of these remnant sites in the Tay forest.

Departure point: " Séderon, alt.795 m " parking place de l'église

1. Go up Rue de la Bourgade, and at the crossroads, continue straight ahead on Chemin de Pale. At "Saint Charles, alt.810 m", stay on the road, pass the cemetery and 200 m after the "Croix Rouge, alt. 818
m" crossroads, take the track on the right as far as the ford on the Ruisseau du Défens.

2. Cross the ford to the right and continue in the same direction on the Route des Iscles; turn right at the first bend. As you approach the road, ford the stream to the right and join the D 546. Follow this road
before the bridge, turn right until you reach a crossroads at Gué de la Tuillière.

3. Follow the track along the stream for 800 m, finding several charbonnières as you go up the Combe du Tay to the trail junction.

4. Continue straight ahead in the combe for 800 m to the "Chemin de Barret, alt.1150 m".

5. Turn right, then directly left on the path that climbs up to reach the "Col du Seuil, alt.1253 m".

6. Turn left onto the track. View of the southern slopes of the Albion plateau. Pass the Pauchette sheepfold (entry not recommended as there is a risk of falling rocks) to reach the Col des Sires, alt.1284 m.

7. Continue straight on, keeping to the main track, until you reach "Passière de Valaurie, alt.1215 m". The path splits.

8. Turn left onto a small track that leads to the Col du Négron (alt. 1242 m).

9. Take a path parallel to the road down into the wooded combe du Négron (spring a few metres below). The path branches off to the west and leads to a little-used track. Follow it downhill for 700 m, cross the Lébrières ravine and rejoin the D 542.

10. Cross the road and head uphill towards the hamlet of La Gourre. Be respectful and close the horse park's movable fences. Cross the hamlet and climb up to the small pass overlooking the Séderon cirque. Descend due north along the trees bordering an old pasture and find the path leading down to the Saint-Baudile district. The path leads to a track, which you follow in the opposite direction until you reach the road.

11. Go straight on for 200 m; at the left-hand bend, leave the road to take a track again, which you follow for 500 m until you reach point 1 ("Gué du ruisseau du Défens"). Follow the same path as before to the church square.

VARIATION
Follow the above route to point 4.

4. From here, turn left onto a lovely winding path (follow the signs) which climbs up to join the Barret forest track.

5. Turn left and 600m further on, leave the track to take a grassy path on the left which gradually descends to the bottom of the ridge.

6. Turn right at 90°, the path drops steeply at the start and winds through an attractive beech wood to bend to the left.

3. Back at "Gué de la Tuillière", take the path in the opposite direction back to the starting point.

Spoken languages

• French

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• Open air