A long time ago, we had made the crossing between La Chaux-de-Fonds and Les Ponts-de-Martel by way of the Communal and the Grand Sommartel. On that day, we had some time to spare, enough to get to La Sagne, but not enough to get to Les Ponts. So, we left the town to climb the Mont Jaques and cross to La Sagne.
The appearance of the Mont Jaques has changed considerably since 2023, because the overhead power lines have been buried between the latter and Les Endroits. I doubt that the storm of 24 July 2023 was the cause of the burial work, but the fact that a few pylons had been knocked over during that event certainly precipitated the work.
After crossing the Mont Jaques, we descended into the Combe des Grandes Crosettes before climbing back up to the Communal via the Roulets farms. The path is not entirely easy to find there, because one would tend to want to follow an agricultural path along a barn. One has to cross the pasture directly to find a stretch of road.
After the Roulets, a short climb allows one to reach the wide shoulder of the Communal. As it was Sunday, many people had set up camp there to have a barbecue. Before descending to La Sagne, we did not follow the marked path faithfully but cut across the meadow to join the road just at the last hairpin bend. This allowed us to avoid a detour that would have meant that we would not have been able to catch the train at La Sagne.
Itinerary: La Chaux-de-Fonds – Mont Jaques – Les Roulets – Le Communal – La Sagne
Distance: 11.2Km
Elevation gain: 320m
Duration: 3h
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