Around Courgenay

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Listening to the Cistercian Abbey of Vauluisant, discover the monks’ irrigation system, the old flour mill, the Saint-Thomas gate, the old farms of Vauluisant, La Singerie and the Vauluisant State Forest.

Details

n°278486
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 5.32 mi
  • ◔
    Average duration: 2h 45 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Easy
  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 308 ft
  • ↘
    Descent: - 322 ft
  • ▲
    Highest point: 722 ft
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 384 ft
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Description of the walk

(S/E) Start at the Arbre de la Liberté at the junction of Grande Rue and Rue Ronde.
Head down Rue Ronde towards the south-west and turn left into Rue de la Poterne. At the end, turn right and walk a few metres.

(1) Continue left along Chemin du Pont and cross the bridge over the Ru d’Alain.

(2) 70m after the bridge, turn right and take Chemin des Conduits for 2.2km until you reach theGR®2(red and white markings) at a junction

(3): Continue straight ahead along theGR®2for about 200m to reach the former Abbey of Vauluisant.

(4) Turn left and head uphill for 1.5 km, cross a small road and arrive at a place called La Singerie.

(5) Go round to the right uphill and turn left immediately. Continue for 700m, turn left to reach the national forest, then follow the edge of the woods on the right until you reach the D79 road.

(6) Follow the road to the right for 200m then turn left towards the Vauluisant Forest. Enter the forest then turn left after 180m. Cross the D79 again, continue straight on and descend into the ravine to the local road.

(7) Take this on the right for 700m until you reach the junction with the Route des Marchais (D79). Turn left, pass the Courgenay wash house and head towards the Arbre de la Liberté (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : mi 0 - alt. 413 ft - Tree of Liberty
  2. 1 : mi 0.26 - alt. 394 ft - Chemin du Pont
  3. 2 : mi 0.36 - alt. 397 ft - Chemin des Conduits
  4. 3 : mi 1.6 - alt. 390 ft - Junction with the GR2
  5. 4 : mi 1.73 - alt. 384 ft - Abbaye de Vauluisant
  6. 5 : mi 2.7 - alt. 561 ft - La Singerie
  7. 6 : mi 3.47 - alt. 702 ft - Junction with the D79
  8. 7 : mi 4.61 - alt. 427 ft - Local road
  9. S/E : mi 5.32 - alt. 413 ft - Tree of Liberty

Worth a visit

(S/E) The Tree of Liberty was originally planted in 1789.

The water channel path supplied water to Villeneuve l’Archevêque – Beaulieu spring.
We will see in turn:
A leat feeding the Moulin de Vauluisant.
A dam and sluice gates for irrigating the pastures. Continue straight on.
Water inlet to the old flour mill, on theGR®2.
(4) Entrance to the Cistercian Abbey of Vauluisant: Saint-Thomas Gate.

On the climb towards La Singerie: on the right, a former water reservoir that was fed by a windmill on an 80-metre-deep well.

Beautiful views of the old farms of Vauluisant Abbey: Putigny (Courgenay), Toucheboeuf and Beauregard (Lailly).

(5) La Singerie is a former barn belonging to Vauluisant Abbey, sold as national property after the Revolution.

After La Singerie, at the top of the climb, there is a view of Les Marchais (Bagneaux).

Always be cautious and plan ahead when you're outdoors. Visorando and the author of this route cannot be held responsible for any accidents occurring on this route.

The GR® and PR® markings are the intellectual property of the Fédération Française de Randonnée Pédestre.

Downloads
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Reviews and comments

4.1 / 5
Based on 5 reviews
Reliability of the description
3.8 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.6 / 5
Route interest
3.8 / 5
Roger Flao
Roger Flao

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 06, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Thank you for suggesting this walk; there are some lovely places to discover in the area. Vauluisant Abbey and its outbuildings are truly magnificent.

Machine-translated

henri57
henri57 ★
• Edited:

Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.

A fee of two or three euros per route, for example, would seem more reasonable to me than these 18 euros a month

On Visorando, the ANNUAL subscription to IGN maps costs €18.99.

Subscription to IGN maps

You can choose between two options:
a quarterly subscription for €11.99
annual subscription for €18.99

https://www.visorando.com/article-abonnem...

Kind regards

Machine-translated

Antoine Monneret
Antoine Monneret

Overall rating : 3 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 15, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing

Hello,

Having done this walk (“Around Courgenay”) on Sunday 15 April, I can say that we weren’t very satisfied:
• no street signs at the start, making it difficult to find your way without a compass.
• long, somewhat monotonous stretches, very exposed (watch out for the sun on summer walks) surrounded by fields of what appear to be intensive crops (so be aware of treatment periods), at both the start and end of the route.
• visibility of the old Vauluisant farmhouses is actually quite limited; you pass behind the old abbey, where you can only make out the outlines of the buildings (and at a time of year when the trees are in leaf, I doubt you’d be able to see anything at all…), which is rather frustrating, especially as even from the top of the path, the view of these buildings isn’t much better.
• A relatively small section is set aside for the forest, which is actually quite beautiful (this was the only part of the walk we enjoyed). A shame: the presence of numerous abandoned plastic bottles, stuck on stakes (we should have been warned and had suitable containers to collect them… if that was the aim…)
• Return via the main road leading to the village…
In short, despite the benefits of an 18 km walk, there was little enthusiasm for exploring the area.
We do not recommend it!

One last thing, of a more “general” nature: without the Ign subscription (which we were trying out today and which we feel is overpriced unless, no doubt, you’re constantly out on the hiking trails), it’s difficult to find your way around with the map provided, which is rather imprecise. What’s more, the route description kept disappearing to make way for a subscription offer. Luckily, we’d emailed the details of this walk to ourselves so we could find them again…

That said, thank you to the Visorando team for their efforts. Suggestion: shouldn’t the possibility of using the IGN’s services (which is, after all, a national service) on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis be looked into? A fee of two or three euros per route, for example, would seem more acceptable to me than these 18 euros a month!

Machine-translated

bibi
bibi ★

Thank you for these two reports. I’m waiting to hear back from the author to find out if they know of a way to reroute the walk, or if they have the landowner’s permission to pass through; sometimes the signs only apply to motor vehicles...
Kind regards

Machine-translated

walain89
walain89

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 31, 2017
Reliability of the description : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

Hello, there’s an error on the last section. The forest is private. No entry. Also, I’m having trouble reading the map on my iPad 2. I’ve sent an email to your team. walain89 Best regards

Machine-translated

PIETA77
PIETA77

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 13, 2017
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

A short, easy walk through rolling countryside. Three-quarters of the route is in open country. Please note that the path leading into the woodland is not very visible due to the tall grass.
Well worth a go!

Machine-translated

gegekina89
gegekina89

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 31, 2016
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

A nice, easy little walk.
Beautiful autumn scenery and chestnuts as a bonus!

Machine-translated

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The GPS track and description are the property of this route's author. Please do not copy them without permission.