La Pierre Merlière

From La Motte d'Aveillans, this short hike towards Pierre Merlière, a local legend, can be supplemented by a visit to La Mine Image museum.

From the car park, head towards the Mine-Image museum, pass in front of a fountain, then the mine baths. Continue on rue d'Aveillans until the stop sign. Turn right into rue du Mas to arrive at rue de pierre Merlière.

Cross the hamlet of Mas. Leave the path going up to the left at the first sign "Le Mas". Continue until you reach a small square which will lead to the second sign "Le Mas". Take the path straight ahead which climbs through the undergrowth towards "La Pierre Merlière" which is reached fairly quickly.

Continue on a steep path until the sign "Le Rattier". Turn left towards "Côte Belle". Continue downhill, pass the "Les Vernes" crossroads, on the left, leave the thematic path on the water. Travel about 80 m to reach the fountain. Continue downhill and take the road to the left following the La Mure railway line. Join the outward route via rue d'Aveillans to find the starting point.

The Legend: The name of Pierre Merlière would come from Merlin the enchanter because the legend says that we practiced human sacrifices on this altar as evidenced by the hollow imprint on the top.
Right next to this hollow there is a round shape to accommodate the person to be sacrificed as well as a vertical gutter along the rock to evacuate the victim's blood.
But far from all that, we are facing a rock in which several millstones have been cut. We find two in the lower part abandoned during the size following the appearance of a defect, in reality it would seem that a single millstone was extracted from this rock, hence the hollow imprint visible on the top.
The rocks likely to give good grinding stones were rare in the region (it needed hardness and sufficient resistance to abrasion to obtain a good grinding wheel) the slightest rock likely to be suitable was immediately exploited to supply the mills of the region .
This is how the millstone became the Merlière stone.