Along the River Odon

Parking is available at the car park by the church in Baron-sur-Odon.

(S/E) Leave the church car park, turn right onto Chemin de l’Église and walk along the cemetery wall until you reach Chemin de la Plaine. Turn right onto Chemin Constantin James, walk round the church for about 50 metres and turn left onto the path that crosses the plain. Walk for about 300 m, then turn right and walk for about 600 m until you reach the D89 road. Cross the main road carefully, pass under the high-voltage power line, ignore the path on the right a few metres past the pylon and continue for about 250 m to the crossroads (note the large yellow gas marker post nearby).

(1) Turn left, walk for about 250 m, take the left-hand bend and continue to the D89 road.

(2) Cross this road carefully, pass under the high-voltage power line, walk for about 500 m, continue straight ahead at the first crossroads (“note that the church is exactly in line with the path on the left”) and walk for another 500 m or so until you reach a second crossroads. Turn left, towards the houses (“note that you can see a large white building directly ahead”) and follow the path for about 700 m until you reach a junction of paths and roads.

(3) At the junction, turn right onto the Chemin du Pré d’Oisy, walk past the houses on your left, leave the small road and continue along the tree-lined path until you reach a junction where paths and roads meet. Cross the road (Chemin du Pataras) carefully and continue straight ahead, towards Fontaine-Étoupefour (D214), until you reach the next junction. Cross the Chemin des Hautes Sentes. Carry on until you reach the pedestrian crossing.

(4) Turn left to cross the Route de Fontaine (D214) with care, turn onto the Chemin des Hautes Sentes and walk for about 500 m until you reach the five-way junction. Turn right onto the Chemin de la Rivière and walk for about 400 m until you reach the Chemin du Duc Guillaume. Turn left, walk for about 80 metres, then turn right onto the small sunken track that leads downhill, following the high-voltage power lines, until you reach the next crossroads (“note that the small sunken track is quite rutted and that a trickle of water may make it rather slippery”).

(5) Turn left, join the path and the^GR® 221 C, then follow the River Odon on your right for about 800 m. Negotiate the left-hand bend before the small stream and follow the path uphill for about 200 m until you reach a Fork in the road. Take the right-hand fork, cross the stream, head uphill and continue for about 800 m until you reach the Chemin de la Pierrette.

(6) Turn right, then left about a hundred metres further on, so as to go round the quarry on the left, until you reach the high-voltage power line (“note that this section is rather rugged”). Follow the high-voltage power line, keep to the left after the pylon, leave the^GR® 221 C briefly before rejoining it a little under 100 metres further on, cross a junction of paths (“note that you can clearly hear the sound of an underground stream here”) and continue to the Chemin du Ponchet, near the Château de Baron.

(7) Turn right onto the Chemin du Ponchet, walk past the Château de Baron on the right and continue for about 150 m until you reach the end of the wall on the right. Do not follow Chemin du Moulin Foulon to the right – which would take you off the^GR® 221 C – but carry on straight ahead for about 150 m until you reach the end of the wall on the left.

(8) Turn left at the corner of the wall and follow the path for about 600 metres until you reach the D214 road (“note the wayside cross on the right, clearly visible across the fields”). Cross the D214 carefully, turn left onto Rue de l’Église (D214), walk for about a hundred metres, then turn right onto Chemin de l’Église and head for the car park (S/E).

From (S/E), you can shorten the route by turning left onto Chemin de la Plaine to reach point (3) directly, which is about 500 m away.

Short alternative: https://www.visorando.com/randonnee-/778...

The village of Baron-sur-Odon
Baron-sur-Odon is a village situated in Normandy, in the Odon valley, 10 km south-west of Caen.
The village enjoys a privileged location close to a major urban area, whilst retaining high-quality and highly diverse landscapes within its boundaries (woods, rivers, plains and pastures).
The balance between natural and built-up areas offers its residents a very pleasant living environment.
Baron-sur-Odon boasts a rich historical heritage (Baron Castle, the Celtic-Roman sanctuary at Le Mesnil, the Battle of Normandy, Hill 112).

History of Baron-sur-Odon
Baron-sur-Odon was inhabited before the birth of Christ. The numerous Gallo-Roman remains bear witness to organised human settlement within the municipal area.
The commune is bordered by a major Roman road linking the Cotentin to the Orléans region via Vieux, the city of the Viducasses. This Roman road is known as the Chemin Haussée, running between La Bruyère and the Croix des Filandriers at Cote 112. This road is also known as the Chemin Guillaume, in memory of the Duke of Normandy, who set out from Falaise and is said to have travelled along it whilst having his horses’ shoes fitted the wrong way round to deceive his pursuers. This stratagem is said to explain the origin of the name given to the Croix des Filandriers, which is thought to refer to William the Conqueror’s ruse of ‘slipping away behind’.
The first recorded references to Baron date back to the early 12th century; it is a name of Gallic origin, consisting of the suffix ‘on’ or ‘num’, denoting rivers, preceded by the root ‘bar’, a Gallic root meaning ‘height’. This would give Baron the meaning of ‘river height’.
In the early 12th century, Baron belonged to Ardenne Abbey. The oldest parts of the church date from this period.
Having belonged to the Le Gouvix family until the early 14th century, Baron subsequently came under the control of the de Villers, Anzenay and Moges families. Thus, Jean de Moges had the first Château du Ponchet built in the 16th century.
The village was struck by the plague three times during the Middle Ages, bringing ruin and desolation and, it seems, leading to the relocation of part of the village to the north-east, thus moving it further away from the church.
After the Revolution, in 1792, the municipality shared its land with the inhabitants. La Bruyère was divided into 473 plots and split into 11 ‘delles’: Delle de Liberté, Delle de l’Égalité and Delle des Victoires – names which are still used today.
In the 19th century, Baron had a population of around 400; agriculture was the main industry, but five shops also brought life to the village.
In the second half of the 19th century, the foundations were laid for the construction of a town hall and a school.
During the First World War, thirteen young men from Baron were killed. The village then reached its lowest population of 193 inhabitants following the onset of rural depopulation that was emptying the countryside.
Between the two world wars, the village installed a telephone line and established an electricity network, marking the start of a programme of modernisation.
The Second World War thrust Baron into the thick of the fighting that followed the D-Day landings in June 1944. From late June to early August, Baron-sur-Odon was subjected to a barrage of fire, as the German high command had decided to halt the advance of Allied troops at Hill 112. The town was left with lasting scars from this terrible battle, which destroyed two-thirds of the village, and it took many years to erase the scars it left behind.
Then, community life returned to normal and, from the 1970s onwards, Baron-sur-Odon saw its population grow again, from 200 at the end of the 1960s to over 900 in 2016.

The Château de Baron-sur-Odon
It originally dates from the 14th century but was rebuilt around 1690 by Louis de Canaye de Brasné. A massive Renaissance-style tower stands to one side of the main building. The outbuildings were added at the end of the 19th century.