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In Villaines-les-Rochers, park on the side of the main road (D57) in the car park below the church and town hall.
Please note: this route is not signposted.
(S/E) With your back to the church, return to the main road and follow it to the right. Ignore Rue de l'Église (D157) on your right and, just after that, look for the yellow markings on an electricity pole, which mark almost the entire route. Turn left immediately afterwards onto Rue Haute, which quickly turns left. Continue straight ahead along the path that climbs up the hillside. You will come to a stone cross and an antenna. This is the start of the circular route.
(1) Take the road on the left. Shortly afterwards, at a fork, continue to the left. When the road turns left, continue straight ahead on the path through the fields.
(2) Further on, continue into a wood, then continue between the wood and a meadow. Back in the wood, you will see beehives on the right, then ignore a path that branches off to the right and backwards. As you leave the wood, you will see the Château du Petit Boulay opposite. Continue towards the château and you will come to a small road.
(3) Follow the road on the right to walk along the castle grounds on your left. At the end of the grounds, leave the road and turn onto a path on the left (signposted route no. 49). Soon, the path veers to the left. Further on, ignore a path on the right, then you will come to a fork.
(4) Note the yellow markings and an orange arrow on a stone, and continue to the left. You will come to a road at the entrance to a hamlet (La Méquillière). Follow it to the left to descend and cross a stream. Shortly afterwards, you will come to another road.
(5) Continue to the left, past houses, many of which are cave dwellings, then take a small road that climbs to the right. When this road descends to the left, continue straight ahead. You will come to a crossroads and turn left.
(6) Further on, as the road curves to the right, continue on this road until you reach the D57 and follow it to the left (caution! See warning in Practical Information). Turn onto the first street on the right, Rue de la Vallée. Continue on this road past houses, many of which are cave dwellings.
(7) Ignore a road on the left, Rue du Grand Perqué, which crosses the Ruisseau du Gué Droit stream via a bridge with a blue balustrade. You will come to a fork. Ignore the road on the left that crosses the stream and continue straight ahead, slightly to the right (towards paths 1 and 2). Further on, at another fork,
(8) Go down to the left onto Rue Jolivet. Continue along the houses built against the cliff in the hamlet of Vaulimont. Pass close to a ford on the left of the road, which crosses the Ruisseau du Gué Droit stream.
(9) At the next fork, at the "Atelier végétal", continue to the left (PR® sign no. 49) and, at the fork just after, head to the right (route sign no. 1) onto a path. Continue straight ahead, ignoring the paths on the right, along this path which runs alongside the Ruisseau des Genêts in the undergrowth. You will arrive at a small road in the hamlet of La Baillière.
(10) Follow the road to the left (PR® sign no. 49) to cross the stream (in case of high water, take the footbridge on the left side of the road). Continue uphill through the fields and come out onto a small road.
(11) Turn left onto the road. At the hamlet of La Touche, facing the dead end, continue on the road to the right, then, after a few metres, turn left onto a path that descends towards a wood. Enter the wood and, shortly afterwards, ignore a path on the right.
(12) Cross a stone ford, then climb up and continue, ignoring a path on the left and one on the right, on a sunken path in the undergrowth. Further up, ignore a path on the left, then a path on the right, then another path on the left and towards the rear, then exit the woods into an open space. Continue straight ahead to a crossroads.
(13) Take the road opposite. At the next crossroads, continue straight ahead on a road which, further on, first turns right then left before joining another road at La Masseillière. Continue to the right for about 200 metres.
(14) Take the first road on the left (Rue la Masseillière). At the next crossroads (water tower), ignore the two roads on the right and the one on the left and continue straight ahead onto Chemin de la Martinière (dead end). At the houses, continue along the path that extends the small road. At the junction with another path, continue straight ahead. You will come out onto the D57.
(15) Cross (carefully) and continue along the lane opposite, behind the PNR Loire-Anjou-Touraine sign. A few metres further on, turn right onto the small road to cross the troglodytic hamlet of Les Maurusseaux. Shortly after a private pond on the right, ignore the road on the right and go straight up Route du Chêne Percé. At the next fork, turn left onto Rue de la Petite Chaume.
(16) At the next crossroads, turn left and continue along this road, which is straight at first and then curves left and right further on. You will arrive at the start of the circular route.
(1) Descend back to the village via the same route as on the way up to return to the car park between the church and the D57 (S/E).
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Local authority
Easy 
