After Vallon du Fier, I continued walking and, after a detour through a trail along Nant de Calvi, I reached Poisy, a village northwest of Annecy. My goal was to cross the Montagne d’Âge, a small mountain that is part of the Jura mountains, from the north to the south on the way to Château de Montrottier and Gorges du Fier in Lovagny.
The Vallon du Fier is a large park and nature reserve in Annecy, located between the Fier and Viéran rivers. It has many paths suitable for walking or biking.
The Eglise Saint-Louis de Novel is a catholic church built during the 1960’s in the Novel-Teppes neighbourhood of Annecy. It was designed in the brutalist style by architect Michel Saint-Maurice.
Last summer, I went on a hike near Chamonix to the Baraque Forestière des Rognes, a tiny emergency hut located between the much bigger Refuge de Tête Rousse, where most mountaineers stop on their way to the summit of Mont Blanc, and Nid d’Aigle, a hut at the terminus of Tramway du Mont Blanc. I followed this trail direction (except I started and ended at the Bellevue cable car station): Sentier des Rognes on the way up and a path along Glacier de Bionnassay on the way down.
The Parc du Taillefer is a park in Cran-Gevrier (Annecy). Its elevated position offers a good view on Annecy and the surrounding mountains. The entrance is next to Lycée Charles Baudelaire, not far from the exit of Parcours Nature Fier et Erbe.
After I reached the Passerelles neighbourhood in Cran-Gévrier and the end of the path along the Thiou river, I kept walking on the road until the start of the Parcours Nature Fier et Erbe (Fier & Erbe Nature Trail). It is a path in the forest that follows the course of the Fier river at first, then the Erbe, a brook that flows into the Fier. Here is a map.
The Thiou is a short river (3.5 km) that flows from Lake Annecy to the Fier, which is itself a tributary of the Rhône. Starting from the Old Town of Annecy, built in the middle of canals formed by the Thiou, there is a series of paths along the river that go all the way to Cran-Gévrier, slightly before it joins with the Fier.
The Château de Miolans (Miolans Castle) is a fortress in the Bauges mountains above Saint-Pierre-d’Albigny, Savoie. It was built during the Middle Ages and was converted to a prison by the Duchy of Savoy after they acquired it in the 16th century. Its most famous prisoner was probably writer (and notorious pervert) Marquis de Sade: He was arrested in 1772 in Chambéry and placed under guard at Miolans, until he escaped a few months later.
Last summer, a few weeks after riding my bike from La Féclaz to Albens, I came back to the Bauges mountains. This time, I rode from the Semnoz plateau to Saint-Pierre-d’Albigny in Savoie.
The Église Saint-François de Sales is a catholic church built in the 17th century and located in the old town of Annecy, near the Thiou canal. It is consecrated to Saint Francis de Sales, who grew up in Annecy. The church used to host his shrine but the tomb is now located in the Basilique de la Visitation.