Shoes on your feet, one of the most pleasant ways to discover iron in Belledonne is to walk along the Bréda valley and around Allevard-les-Bains. The traces of iron ore mining are present almost everywhere. In Pinsot, the museum of the forges and mills takes us back to a time when the forge’s swift struck the reddened iron in cadence to shape it and transform it into a tool.
It is on the iron path that you will discover most vestiges of the old mining activity on the heights of Allevard-les-Bains and Pinsot. A charming walk leads you from slag to the entrance of the galleries, from the ore roasting furnace to the ruins of a miner’s shelter. Starting from the place called “Perchetan”, a signposted route awaits you to discover the iron in Belledonne. This iron path is an excellent idea for an outing that is both sporty and educational, as it is marked out with 13 stages equipped with lecterns that explain the techniques of the miners, the geology of the land and the history of this economic activity.
The mills and the hammer of the forge were driven by the force of the Bréda torrent. And when you see this one at the bottom of a creek in which the waters of the Bréda are unleashed you understand better why it is called the end of the world. It is the force of this water that makes the wheels of the forges work. It is also in this soil that the veins for the exploitation of minerals were found.
