Planche des Belles Filles

Trail description

The walk starts at the car park by the church in Plancher-les-Mines and climbs steeply on the Chemin des Roches, the Sentier des Mines and the GR 533 to the summit area of the Planche des Belles Filles, ending about 30 m short of the 1,148 m top. Metal ores were mined on the mountain's flanks from the 15th to the 18th century, including copper and lead at the Laurier mines between the village and the summit. Legend links the name to village girls who chose death over capture by Swedish mercenaries in the Thirty Years' War, but 16th-century texts describe the place as 'peuplé de belles fahys', full of fine beeches, which is the likelier source. The summit holds the only ski station in Haute-Saône and has hosted Tour de France stage finishes since 2012. The walk is about 3.4 km one way with some 640 m of climbing.

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