Circuit pédestre N°2b - "Coteaux de la Dronne"

A pleasant, shady and hilly route, but great care must be taken along the D730. From the Bernard Roussillon college car park, take rue Marchet on the left and climb 800m. At the intersection, turn left to the D730, follow it for 300m to the right and take a track (DFCI SA 20) on the right, then a path on the left to Buzelin. In the locality, turn left onto the road and immediately right onto the grassy path between a garden and a meadow. It enters the forest, follow it to the intersection with the track. Turn right and follow the yellow and green markings of the great Guy Bodrut loop until you reach the tarmac road. Leave Audet on the left and follow the yellow markings straight on until you reach a place called Pilet. At Pilet, turn left and then right along the fence of the DFCI track SA20 which you follow for 400m (it will turn left after 200m). At the fork in the road, continue on the left-hand track until you come out of the wood, and follow it to the right. Continue on a tarmac road in the same direction, then go down the road on the left (point 2) towards the D142. Worth knowing: The origin of the name of the Double is derived from the Gallic "dubus, dubis" which means "black", the Double therefore refers to a very dark place, a very dense forest where the sun barely filters through. Although the Dronne River forms a geographical boundary between the Double forest area in the Dordogne and the Double Saintongeaise in Charente-Maritime, they are part of the same large forest massif. With a large proportion of maritime pines, the forest today also includes deciduous trees: oaks, alders, ash trees, chestnut trees... But also primitive moors and peat bogs. Heavily exploited in the 18th century for the shipyards of Bordeaux and La Rochelle, this massif became an inhospitable and humid area. Following the reforestation of the moors under the Second Empire, the 19th century also saw the development of clay extraction. Exploited from deposits discovered by chance since Antiquity, it was Jules Vieillard, a master earthenware maker from Bordeaux, who noticed its exceptional quality and helped to establish the reputation of Saintonge clay. In 1910, the industrial exploitation of the clay began, leading to the formation of the blue lakes. The extraordinary Kaolune, La carrière Saint-Georges au Fouilloux exposes the history of this rock and its extraction in an enchanting setting (information at the Maison de la Forêt de Haute-Saintonge on 05 46 04 43 67).