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Start from the car park at Arthies church, about 7 km south of Magny-en-Vexin.
A map of the hike is available in the car park: this route follows the Circuit des Cinq Châteaux, marked at various points with the sign B4.
Yellow signposts
(S/E) From the car park, with the war memorial on your left, turn right towards the town hall. Leave the church and then the town hall on your left and go down the dead-end lane. At the end, continue along a wide grassy path between two fences.
(1) At a T-junction, turn left onto a stabilised path, cross a stream and climb gently towards the Château de Maudétour-en-Vexin, which is clearly visible. Follow the castle wall on your left until you come to a road and follow it to the left, still alongside the wall. Pass the main gate of the castle and you will arrive at the church of Maudétour-en-Vexin.
Yellow + red and white signposts
(2) Then take the first street on the right towards Genainville. At the fork that immediately appears, turn left, still towards Genainville. At the next fork, turn left onto Chemin du Tertre. Ignore a lane on the left leading to houses and, at the end of the tarmac road, continue straight ahead on a stony path, quickly coming to the edge of the woods on your left.
(3) At the cross and wash house on the edge of the path, enter the Bois de la Brume. Pass a detached house on the right, ignore a path on the left, go through a forest gate and continue into the woods. Cross a stream over a small paved ford and climb into the woods (wet passage). After another forest gate, continue on flat ground.
Yellow markings
(4) At a crossroads, continue straight ahead (leave theGR®11trail on your left and ignore the yellow sign for anotherPR® trail on your left). A very wet section can be avoided by following a well-marked path to the right of the main path. Ignore an entrance to private property on the right. Cross a small road and, at the next junction, continue straight ahead. At a T-junction, turn left and you will very quickly come to another junction.
N.B. The purple line on the IGN map leads to a T-junction where you should turn right and not left, but this line is incorrect as the corresponding path does not exist.
(5) At the junction, turn right and go downhill, keeping to the right-hand wall of a property. At the gate, continue straight ahead on the tarmac road. At the corner of the property wall, leave the road and turn right onto a path that enters the woods again. At the gate on the right (with a view of the Château de Grand Saint-Léger), turn left, away from the wall, and descend gently.
(6) Leave the woods and take a grassy path between the fields with the Château de Villers-en-Arthies clearly visible. When a path comes from the right, turn left and continue downhill. At the next crossroads, continue straight ahead and climb up a stony path. At the houses, the path gives way to tarmac. At the next crossroads, follow the Route des Mares opposite towards Chérence.
No signposts
(7) At the junction with a fire hydrant on the right, leave the signposts for a moment and turn right for a steep but short climb to the gate of the Château de Villers-en-Arthies (beautiful view of the building up close). Retrace your steps.
Yellow signposts
(7) Take a tree-lined path opposite the castle as you descend, or on the left if you did not climb up to the castle. This will bring you to a street (with a view of the church on the left). Follow it to the right and pass the town hall on the right.
(8) At the crossroads, turn left onto Route de Chérence, towards Villeneuve (be careful, two differentPR® trails start in opposite directions from this crossroads). Go down the paved street, cross a small lane on the left and go up to a crossroads. Then follow the D142 to the right towards Aincourt.
After about 100 metres, at the start of a left-hand bend, leave the road and turn right onto a farm track. Pass a shed on your right and follow a fenced meadow on your left. At the corner of the fence, turn left onto a wide grassy path (be careful not to miss this turn). Walk up between meadows and woods until you reach a large farmhouse.
(9) Return to the D142 and follow it to the right. After No. 30ter, turn left onto Chemin de la Messe. After passing garden fences, cross a copse. At the fork at the end of the copse, take a grassy path on the right that descends between fields towards the hamlet of Tremblay, which is clearly visible. Cross the hamlet, still on Chemin de la Messe, which has now become paved.
Yellow + red and white markings
(10) At the end of the lane, turn left and rejoin theGR®11. Ignore a path on the left and climb up into the woods. At the first fork, take the path furthest to the right. At the second fork (not shown on the map), turn left. At the third fork, turn right. Ignore a path coming from the left (not shown on the map) and turn right. Further on, walk briefly along a property wall on your right, ignore a path on the right and turn left. You will come out onto a small road.
Yellow signposting
(11) Follow the small road on the right for about 300 m (leave theGR® trail on the left).
(12) At the edge of the woods, near a very tall telecommunications pylon, leave the road (and the signposting for a moment) and cross a small meadow on the right at the edge of the woods, keeping the pylon on your left. Then take a well-marked path between the bushes. After a few metres, at a metal fence post, ignore the path coming from the left, continue straight ahead (south) and follow the signposts into the woods.
When you leave the woods, turn right. Walk along the Maudétour golf course on your left and make a left turn. Note a sign indicating "2km de passages inondés" (2km of flooded passages), continue straight ahead and you will quickly find a very wet passage that is easy to get around.
(13) At a junction with anotherPR® trail coming from the right, continue straight ahead. At a fork (with a signpost in the middle), turn left. Further on, turn right along the path and you will see the golf course on your left. Walk eastwards. Avoid a long flooded section of the path by taking a parallel trail on the right.
At a fork in this path, turn left back onto the main path and follow it again (flooded) on a well-marked path. Return to the main path (dry) and again avoid a flooded section on the right.
(14) Leave the woods and continue along the edge, with a fenced meadow on your right. Ignore a vague path on the left and descend into the woods again.
(15) At the three-way junction at the bottom of the descent, turn left towards a large building, which is none other than the Château d'Arthies. Leave the château and its dovecote on your right and descend. When a path arrives from the left, turn right. Note the church on the left and return to the car park where you started (S/E).
Visorando member
Easy 
Very difficult 
