All’s Well That Ends Well: Bushwacking in Grandris

Today is another hot day: 35 degrees. Our host Alban tells us that the heatwave had continued here in France while we were in England, with temperatures in the low 40s. This is why everything looks so dried and brown... it's not normal for this area to look like this in August.  He tells us that while we were away, he was working on a bridge (his job involves 'hard to reach' locations), and the workers would rappel down to the river and soak themselves to stay cool. France is not the only place feeling the heat... In my home province of British Columbia, Canada, more than 100 forest fires are raging. 

Due to the continuing high temperatures, we decide that it might be a good day for a forest walk. At least we could get shade.  On our last trip to Grandris, we noticed that it has many well-established hiking and biking trails in its environs.  There are randonnée signs to mark them all, but they are not the same as the yellow randonnée signposts we are used to following--these have a unique look.   I select a randonnée of around 8km, centering around the forest of Le Devant.  It has a 200m rise and another 200m fall in elevation.

It's meltingly hot today.  Somehow it feels much hotter than the 35 degrees registering on my cell phone's weather app.  Before beginning our randonnée today, we stop at bakery for croissants and iced tea, which I guzzle in one go (if you know how slowly I normally drink, you will be impressed with this. lol).  With this "preview" of the heat, I'm seriously doubting this "long hike" idea.  At least I picked an area that has many options to shorten or lengthen our route, depending on the weather.  We make one more stop: the air conditioned grocery store (thank goodness, not just for AC, but also because we ran out of cheese last night), then--natch--have Cheese Time.  Now full of... um... resolve... we head out for Grandris.  

We drive along Highway D54 to the northern top of Le Devant forest. We park the camionette on side of the road and walk to start of the trail.  It’s really well-established and quite lovely.  I am also happy because it sure doesn't feel like 35 degrees Celsius here under the forest canopy.  Forest walk strategy: big success.  :)

We follow the trail to a logging area: there is a small clearing and cut logs piled on each side. There are multiple paths leading out from the clearing.  We start on what we think is the correct one (the right fork at the end of the logging area in the photo below). We get a few metres up the trail and GPS says we are not on the path, so we go back to the clearing and take the left fork. It is really steep and really rough. 

We keep looking for the right turn shown on the map (there should be two, fairly close together), but we don't see any that are anywhere near passable. We keep heading uphill, and the road continues to be pretty rough.  At one point it tilts about 30 degrees!  Then it finally flattens out and becomes nice again.  We simply can’t find any right turn, and think we will have to turn back, or we will end up in the nearby town of Les Nuizières.

Before we can decide what to do, the road suddenly stops.  On a tree, someone has spray-painted “FIN” (end).  We are flummoxed.  Then I notice three spray-painted lines on a tree to our right.  There is another tree with the same three lines a couple metres over from it. Do these markings mean “stay out” or “go this way”??  With our only option being going back the way we came and giving up on our hike, I trample through the low blackberry bushes to see what I can find in that direction.  

Quite soon, I can see some kind of building not far off.  As I get closer, I see a Grandris randonnée sign!  THIS is the path we SHOULD have been on all along!!  Apparently, we were not even on a real trail before... just a logging access road. Somehow, GPS had led us very astray. 

As we follow this correct trail back in the direction we came, we can actually see the logging road we were walking before, below and to our right.  Yet somehow, from below, we could not see this trail we are walking on now.  We pass the first of the two “right hand trails”we had been looking for before (now on our left).  It does not seem passable, which is good to note.  Then it dawns on us: the first trail (the right hand fork) that we tried in the clearing with the logs was probably the correct one, and we soon pass it, on our right.  It looks steep and rough, similar to the path we did take, but it certainly seems passable.  It turns out that the second of the two “right hand trails” we were looking for is simply where the trail we are now on curves a little--not really a "fork" at all.   

The terrain along this path is beautiful: we pass through woods and follow the edge of fields. The path is clear and level, and there are enough trees to offer us shade on the trail. We continue onward until we meet the creek, Ruisseau de Fragny.   The creek is small, and actually dribbles across the walking trail. One end disappears into the woods; the other end heads into the fields. 

At the creek, we have a choice:  take the left fork through the woods, or take the right fork, get out of the woods, and perhaps make a little loop to return to this same spot before heading back.  Since the sun has gone behind a fairly big cloud, we opt for the right fork. The creek is very easy to cross... a long step is enough.  

We stay to the left at the next fork. skirt the edge of the Le Brule forest, then turn left again to cross the fields back in towards the (Le Devant) forest we just exited. Just as we hit the trees of Le Devant, we meet the paved road and turn right. The road heads through a strip of open fields between Le Devant and Le Brule forests.  Of course, as soon as we hit the open sky, the sun comes out again.  I'm soon sooo sweaty.

 

At a small group of farmhouses, the randonnée sign points us through an extremely narrow gate, and into a field.  We can barely fit through the gate, so we can imagine that many other people would not fit through it.  It really seems like private property.  Only the continuing Grandris randonnée signs reassure us that it's ok for us to be here.

We eventually reach another fence with another extremely narrow gate.  We squeeze through. Therre is a little stretch of path and we keep left at the fork, then cross the Ruisseau de Fragny again. The path leads us into Les Palletières, a forest South of--and connected to--Le Devant. 

When we get to the spot where we would loop back towards the Le Devant forest, we decide to instead add on an extra loop to the South, through Les Pallatières forest, so we turn right at the fork.  At the next fork we turn left, to return back up through the forest. 

The path is fairly flat and the trees offer light shade.  So why am I sweating so much???  It doesn’t seem so hot here!  It's like my body is confused.  Maybe it's the humidity.  We follow the Grandris randonnée signs, and walk along the edge of the forest towards Les Nuizières.   

Reaching the end of the forest, the views on each side are beautiful. Over the fields, we can see Nuizières and Grandris in the distance.  We walk through the centre of the fields to a four-way intersection. 

At the intersection, the road on the left takes us through more open fields.  This time, a wire fence runs along each side of the road.  Even though now we are in full sunshine, the light breeze and fresh air is nice, and I stop sweating.  My body seems really confused today.  ;)  Soon we will have a decision to make:  head back through the forest, on the trail we had originally planned to loop back on, or walk in the open air through the town of Nuizières.  The distances look similar.  We have been sweating so much on this walk, and we are running short on water, so we worry it will be too hot in the open air.  But after walking this stretch in the open air with the breeze, I say:  let’s go for the town. Colin agrees that at least it would show us something new, instead of the same trail we just did.  We agree to keep an eye out for water taps.

As we hit the first house of Nuizières, we hear very mean-sounding barking.  An unleashed dog lunges out onto the road.  He is gnashing his teeth and lunging at us.  He does NOT look friendly!  I am not sure what to do, as I don’t see any place we could go to escape his reach if he decided to attack us.   

I pick up my pace, as Colin slows and tries to befriend him. The dog is still growling and barking, and lunges at Colin. Another unleashed barking dog appears at the property line, but thankfully is not approaching any farther.  

All this barking has set off other dogs in the houses ahead.  I am starting to get pretty scared.  How many unleashed dogs are around here?  Will they pack up and attack us?  I've read warnings about loose dogs in Spain and France, but this is the first time I've had to worry about them.  I again look down the road ahead of me, still looking for escape options.  There is nothing.  Any bank I can climb, the dog can too.  Any fence I can get over, the dog can get through. 

When I look back at Colin, the dog has vanished.  “What happened?”   I ask. “He is really not friendly,” replies Colin, “but luckily he is a wimp!  I finally stomped my foot at him, and he took off.”  The dog at the next house is still barking, but fortunately, it is behind a chain link fence.  Also, his tail is wagging.  Both are good signs for me.  

That first dog should never be left loose like that.  I take a deep breath to steady my nerves, and resume snapping photos of our randonnée.  Apparently I would make a poor photo journalist: I always forget to take photos in times of crisis. 

We walk through the last couple of houses, and soon reach the Highway D54. Colin says there is a cut-through up ahead, so we won’t have to walk the whole way back on the highway.  We identify it easily from its teetering Grandris randonnée sign.  It drops off the right side of the highway and into the shade of some trees.  We are finally completely out of water.  We look for water taps, but we see none.  The cut-through saves us an immense amount of time on the Highway, making this route in fact much shorter than returning through the forest. 

At the other end of the cut-through, we are surprised to see a familiar yellow randonnée signpost.  It points us towards Grandris.  We follow Highway D54 around a quick bend in the road.  

We could follow the Highway D54 all the way back to the camionette, but there is one more cut-through that will keep us off the highway for at least a short while.  It seems like we are simply walking through a farmer’s field, if it were not for the regular yellow randonnée flag painted on the fencepost. I am curious about the way they cut the grass, so that we can see where the trail should be.  Do the farmers do that themselves?  Or does a "trail" person do it?  If the farmers do it, what is the benefit to them, to have people traipsing through their fields?  Maybe it's a way that they can plant grain right over the "public right of way" trail?  

The trail dumps us back on the Highway D54, not far from the camionette.  We pass the only other road going through the town of Le Devant, but it is completely blocked by a pile of rocks. Doesn't seem very useful!  We continue on the highway another 650m, past the trail access where we started today's randonnée, and to the camionette.