(1) Start from Les Iles, on avenue du Pont des Iles, not far from Forestland. Follow the yellow signs. The path starts on the right of the avenue, just after the bridge, heading towards Divonne-les-Bains. Follow the Versoix river for around 300m, until you reach a footbridge over the river. Less than a kilometer further on, a path leads off to the right to an observation platform.
(2) This platform offers a fine view over the marshes, ideal for observing the local flora and fauna. To continue the walk join the path on the other side of the Versoix. A few dozen metres further on cross the stone bridge. The path then curves to the left.
(3) Follow the path alongside the Crassy ponds. The path gradually widens here. Once you are through the gate, you reach the route des Étangs de Crassy.
(4) Turn left on this road to find the cycle path that runs alongside the lane and leads back to avenue du Pont des Iles. Stay on the left-hand path: you have come full circle.
Itinerary details
Description
Signs: PR-Yellow
Access: By car: join Divonne and head towards Nyon, parking at the end of the lake in front of the “Forest-Land” leisure park.
By bus: TER line Bellegarde-Divonne
On the way: Gentian, aurochs, beavers, alders, reed beds, oaks
Heritage: since 1265, the Coppet Canal has carried some of the water from the Versoix (or Divonne) to the communes of Boggy and Commugny.
Did you know? The beaver is our country’s largest rodent, weighing between 20 and 25 kilos as an adult and measuring between 1m and 1.20m (including a 30-centimetre flat tail). It is an excellent swimmer, capable of staying underwater for 10 minutes. It consumes plants, small branches and bark. Its habitat, made up of branches and trunks, resembles a burrow accessible through an underwater sluice. In May, the female gives birth to 1 to 3 young.
Route description :
Turn right at the edge of the Crans canal in the direction of the carrefour des étangs, and follow a succession of gratings and footbridges along and over the canal. Further on, walkers are invited to join an observation post on the right. Retrace your steps and continue to follow the yellow markings. When you reach a single-arch bridge, cross it and walk along a pond, joining a wide path leading to the “carrefour des étangs” (Alt.472m). Take a farm road, then a left-hand path along the road from Divonne to Crassy. At a traffic circle, keep left and return to the starting bridge.