The Nozon in the heart of the village of Croy © ADNV – Lionel Bourgeois
Nature, water, and heritage: these are three words that sum up this loop hike starting from the village of Romainmôtier. In just over three and a half hours of walking, you’ll explore a pleasant trail as you follow the Nozon, the region’s iconic river.
With our water bottle and rain jacket stowed in our backpack just in case, we arrive in Romainmôtier late in the morning. From the parking lot on Chemin du Boléron, high above the village, we quickly make our way to the town center, where we discover the small Nozon stream flowing peacefully. We walk along it briefly to see old installations designed to harness the water’s energy, particularly for the blacksmith’s forge. We take advantage of the late morning to hike up to the Forel lookout point, which offers a magnificent view of the village, before heading to the source of the Diaz—a lovely, rejuvenating spot. Before noon, we explore the heart of the village, stopping by the abbey church and the Maison du Prieur. And even though this isn’t our first time here, we can’t help but be moved by this exceptional and so well-preserved heritage. Before setting out on the Heritage Trail, we enjoy a meal at Chez Magali, right in the center of the village, where delicious food and a warm welcome go hand in hand.
After spending the morning exploring the village, we set off toward Croy for the first few steps of this hike. Very quickly, we find ourselves next to the Nozon River, which narrows considerably as it reaches the bottom of the village of Croy, since it is channeled. It’s thanks to this channeled water that we discover the first heritage site, if we go back to the trail’s name. We can see some old wash houses. Signs explain how they worked back in the days of the washerwomen, roughly at the beginning of the 18th century. Very soon, we leave the village of Croy, following the trail markers that point us toward the Cascade du Dard, where the Nozon plunges a few meters. That day, a class of schoolchildren took advantage of the water’s temperature to cool off after walking a few kilometers.
After this magnificent spot—which is also very popular with photographers—a 35-minute walk through the shade leads us to a remarkable relic of the past: the Grand Chanay Quarry. Once there, we discover numerous rectangular indentations in the ground. Once again, a sign informs us of the site’s history: these holes are the imprints of fountain basins that were carved out and then removed. We learn that these basins were extracted by hand over many years, notably by master quarryman Jean-Pierre Reymond, who, during his career in the 19th century, carved nearly 200 basins!
Tuff quarries, old lime kilns, yellow quarries, and old iron furnaces: these are just a few of the many features we discover along the walk. This heritage helps us appreciate the steps required to produce a final product, whether it be iron, coal, or cut stone. These discoveries lie hidden along a pleasant trail, mostly through the forest, after we’ve moved a short distance away from the Nozon, which we’ve just crossed again. The hike takes us back toward Romainmôtier, where we discover new landscapes as the countryside unfolds before us, including the yellow quarry at Ferreyres, which suddenly gives the hike the feel of a grand canyon. We continue the hike and quickly return to the forest, where we’re enchanted by a magnificent encounter with a chamois dashing by just a few meters from the trail. Little by little, we catch sight of places we passed through at the start of the hike and arrive at the parking lot, feeling refreshed and as though we’ve experienced a moment from another time. The Heritage Trail truly lives up to its name.
Whether by public transportation or by car, the starting point of the route is easy to reach. By public transit, you can take the train to Croy-Romainmôtier and then bus 683 to the center of the village of Romainmôtier, but you can also start directly from the Croy train station. If you’re driving, there’s a parking lot located in the upper part of the village where you can park while you hike.