Along the Becdal

Starting point: Car park, Rue Saint-Mauxe, 27400 Acquigny

Yellow signposting

(S/E) From the car park, head north-west along Rue du Moulin Potel until you reach the municipal stadium.

(1) Keep to the right and turn right at the Stop sign. Cross the small bridge to reach the church.

(2) Opposite the church, turn left, then left again onto Rue Aristide Briand. Walk through the village. Continue to the traffic lights and go straight on, then cross the bridge over the N154.

(3) Turn immediately right onto the track. Continue between the dual carriageway and the fields. The track veers to the left and leads to the Becdal manor house.

(4) Turn left onto the track, then left again. Cross the Becdal ford and head right. Leave the forest. Further on, turn left and head towards the fields. Turn left to join the D82.

GRP Châteaux de l’Eure

(5) Turn left (take care), then right onto the path. At the next junction, turn right, keep left at the Fork in the road and continue straight on until you reach the main road in the hamlet of La Mare Hermier.

GRP Châteaux de l’Eure +^GR®222

(6) At Rue de la Métairie (D 112), turn right. At the wayside cross, turn left onto the path leading to the pond. Go round it on the left.

(7) Take the Chemin des Pommiers, then the new Chemin des Pommiers on the left. Head up Rue de la Métairie on the left, then take the first right onto the Chemin des Écoliers (take care). Carry on straight ahead, carry on straight ahead and head down into the forest until you reach a cemetery.

End of^GR® and^GRP® signposting

(8) Turn left until you reach the D112 (take care on the bend).

(9) Turn left, then, at the^second street, turn right until you reach the D61 and Chemin des Perrais.

(10) Turn left immediately and follow the road to the railway line.

(11) Turn right and follow the track until you reach the D71.

(12) Cross (take care) to reach the right-hand side (before the safety barriers) and go under the motorway. Follow the D71 to the junction.

(13) Turn right, then immediately left, onto the road leading back towards Acquigny.

(14) At the junction, turn left and then right to return to the starting point. (S/E)

Be careful at the ford; make sure you wear waterproof shoes.

Check with the local council or visit onf.fr for information on hunting seasons from September to the end of February

• Sainte-Cécile Church, listed as a historic monument in 1975, is a Rococo church with a Neoclassical façade. It was built in the^16th century and subsequently extended in the^18th century by Roux d’Esneval. It features magnificent wood panelling in the Louis XV and Louis XVI styles, as well as a painting by Charles Le Brun, court painter to Louis XIV, and by Jean-Baptiste Nuet.

• The park and gardens of the Château d’Acquigny, designed in the late^18th century and designated a ‘remarkable garden’, this 16-hectare romantic park serves as a setting for a Renaissance château built around the theme of love.

• ‘Le Vieux Logis’ house, a half-timbered building featuring an ‘essentage’ (a façade clad in wooden tiles) and a carved wooden statue.

• Manoir du Becdal, built in the early^16th century. It was listed as a historic monument in 1978.