South West CreuseThe moors and peat bogs of La Mazure

I tested for you: hiking at La Mazure

A desire for wide open spaces? To let your mind wander as you walk? At the edge of the PNR Millevaches, this site offers a multitude of preserved landscapes in which you venture with envy, discovering a remarkable fauna and flora.

Published on 23 February 2021

Baptiste

Passionate about nature, wide open spaces and therefore inevitably about the Creuse, he loves to share his discoveries :-)

Heaths and peat bogs of La Mazure

The call of the great outdoors

My job in tourism allows me to have a good knowledge of the territory and to know quite a few nice little spots, especially when it comes to hiking, my pet peeve 🙂
Today is Wednesday afternoon, the kids are on vacation and I’m on rest. The sun is shining brightly for this mid-February. After a few hours spent locked in front of a pc, only one desire: to breathe… To take the air, to taste the intoxication of the great spaces and the wind caressing our faces. It’s already 2pm, the 6pm curfew will soon arrive.
So, direction the moors and peat bogs of La Mazure about twenty minutes from the house. It is a hike that I have already done and that I particularly appreciate, the landscapes are diversified and the beauty of the spaces is always so grandiose.

Baptiste

We park the car at the Planchette mill, right next to the granite chaos of the Rigole du Diable, another hike to do also on the other side of the road.

Here we go. We quickly reach the first sunken paths that protect us from the cool wind that is blowing a bit today. We pass acquaintances, and after a few minutes of chatting, we get back on our way. I converse with my daughters as we walk, and as I do so, I mechanically follow the markings without reading the signs.

Here I took the trail the wrong way and went on the small loop when my original goal was to do the big loop. It’s the girls who will be happy, 3km less to do, it’s not to their displeasure even if this trail has no difficulty.

We walk a bit more in the forest which soon gives way to broom hedges.

We soon discover one of the most enchanting parts of this hike, the moor stretches as far as the eye can see in this small valley, dotted with a few granite chaos standing here and there.

I love this place. What a view! We feel alone in the world in these vast horizons. We choose the highest stone to make a pause, a little rest and contemplation for me whereas the girls prefer to take advantage of it to taste. Nothing like a high point to observe the surroundings and taste its chocolate bread.

The clouds that trail slowly over the surrounding hills are so many vessels that invite to escape; a plane far above us has fun to turn in circles leaving behind him long white trails that slowly fade.

The break finished, following the path between the rocks, we then go down the puy in the direction of the footbridges that allow us to cross the stream of Haute Faye.

Lilou has in her hands the discovery booklet and at each of the 15 numbered studs scattered on the interpretation trail, reads the information referring to it. Good reading practice for her who is in CM1 class.

Her sister Olivia listens with a distracted ear to the passages explaining the formation of peat bogs and forests. The ones talking about plank bridges, sheep will be more followed.

We soon come to a gate that we have to open. As Olivia was able to discover, the site is grazed by a herd of Limousin ewes that, well adapted to the local climatic conditions, maintain the site in summer.

We then find the forest and some wooden footbridges to avoid the wetlands.

The sound of water can be heard and becomes more present, we join the stream that we must cross. The girls have already spotted a marker and soon fly over the 3 bridges that separate them from it.

We walk along a few remnants of the reach and then after a right turn, we gain height to reach a bench ideally placed to contemplate one last time the slowly overgrown bog and the river slowly flowing in the middle.

Here, an explanatory panel teaches us more about the creation and evolution of a bog.

One last breath of air and it’s back to the parking lot is soon in sight.

5:20 pm, the girls still have a few minutes to play and climb the Devil’s Rocks to find where, according to legend, the Devil left his footprint before we reluctantly have to head back home.