Abbaye de Mortemer walks

A shaded day-long hike to discover the Norman Vexin with Lyons-la-Forêt, a listed village, and its large forests. This is one of the most beautiful beech and oak forests in Europe, with tall trees, an arboretum, the Fouillebroc and Sainte-Catherine springs, and the 12th-century Cistercian abbey of Mortemer.

The proposed itinerary is mainly through forests, roads and forest paths. It passes by Mortemer Abbey, the Fouillebroc valley and its spring, and Sainte-Catherine Chapel. The Lyons arboretum is a good place to stop. The return to Lyons through the forest ends with a visit to the main monuments of Lyons-la-Forêt.

This walk begins with a visit to the 11th-century church of Touffreville, situated on the edge of the forest. The route then follows the Fouillebroc stream, which you will cross several times.The paths through the Lyons Forest lead to the stream’s source and to the Fontaine de Sainte-Catherine; the route then overlooks Mortemer Abbey and reaches the village of Lisors, where the church stands opposite a chapel in front of a pretty pond fed by the Fouillebroc.