Jacob Waterfalls and La Grobelle

Leave the town behind and plunge into a green and fresh setting by following the small, tumultuous torrent of Le Pontet, which flows from waterfalls to canyons, carving out giant steps and pools in which the nymphs come to bathe!

The path soon leads you to the Nant du Pontet and the murmur of its waters makes you forget the nearby town. You can feel the dampness of the droplets thrown up by the current as it bounces from rock to waterfall, stopping in a giant cauldron before setting off again on its assault on a canyon. To allow you to admire all these marvels, the trail follows the watercourse, taking wooden steps, a footbridge and a stone bridge, sheltered by undergrowth. Occasionally, it emerges from the undergrowth to offer a view all the way to Lac du Bourget. Further on, the path leads you through a farming landscape of fields and meadows, punctuated by the Grobelle farm. When you return to the town, the statue of "l'eau-vive" at the end of the route reminds you that a merry torrent flows nearby, in an unsuspected setting. Discover - Jacob waterfalls. - Giant kettles (deep cylindrical ponds dug out by the swirling water in the limestone rock), little canyons (deep gorges with vertical faces) and giant steps (rocky steps where water cascades) are dispersed all along the course of the torrent. - Jacob-Bellecombette town hall and the statue "L'eau Vive" by sculptor Livio Benedetti. Interesting titbits The Nant du Pontet springs at an altitude of 750 m in the foothills of the Chartreuse Mountains, before flowing into the River Hyères 6 km below. The gushing torrent is more spectacular after rain or snow melts. "Nant" is a regional term for a torrent; along the Nant du Pontet water has dug out a series of basins or ponds. In the 18th century, in one of these giant kettles situated 100 m upstream from the first waterfall, the beautiful Hortense Mancini, Duchess of Mazarin and the niece of the Cardinal, used to come here to bathe surrounded by her ladies in waiting. This pond is named "Bain des Nymphes" or "Bath of the Nymphs". Appreciating the beauty of the place, George Sand set one of the scenes of her novel "Mademoiselle La Quintinie" here. Since 1963, the"blue stone" used in the making of natural cement is extracted from the Pontet quarries in Montagnole and used in the Chiron de la Revériaz Cement Plant in Chambéry. At first it was transported by oxen and horses, but from 1912 the stone was loaded into wagons of a cogwheel train. In 1924, gondola lifts followed the train before the metro de Montagnole started operating in 1963. This little electric train circulated in a tunnel dug in the rocks between Montagnole and Bellecombette. The Chiron Cement Plant bought in 1980 by the Vicat Group has been decommissioned since 1995.