Circular Calceria at La Chaussaire

From Montrevault-sur-Evre, take the D92 towards La Chaussaire. Park in the car park on Rue du Centre.

(S/E) With your back to the car park, walk down Rue du Centre to the stop sign. Turn right onto Rue des Douves, then continue straight on at the junction with Rue des Moulins, following this road for 1 km. Cross a stream and continue to the intersection.

Keep right to join the D92. Turn right onto this road and, at the end, make a right/left turn to go around the Beauregard estate. Keep left and follow the path to Moulin Tourneau.

(2) Turn right, then right again at the intersection, then first turn right then left to cross the path leading to Saint-Augustin and its lake.

(3) Continue straight ahead, follow the road until you reach another crossroads.

(4) Continue straight ahead for 900 metres until you reach the next road, near La Chohonnière.

(5) Turn left, then right at the next junction to follow another water feature. Turn right at the fork until you reach the stream.

(6) Turn left onto a small wooded path, then cross a field to reach the road at Plessis Fleuri.

(7) Turn left, then, once you reach the intersection, turn right onto the road and continue until you reach the bend at Fromenteau.

(8) Continue straight ahead on a path until you reach a place called La Fosse.

(9) Turn immediately right onto Route la Bossadière and continue along this road for 2.3 km until you reach La Bâte (ignore the roads branching off to the left or right). Cross three streams before reaching the hamlet.

(10) After the third stream, at La Bâte, take the path that branches off to the left until the next intersection at Petit Verret.

(11) Turn right onto a track, then right again onto Route de la Nouette and follow it until you reach Rue des Mauges (D92).

(12) Turn right. At the Parish Church of Saint-Joseph-en-Mauges and its Grotte de Lourdes de la Chaussaire, turn left onto Rue du Centre to return to the car park where you started (S/E).

Grotto of Lourdes de la Chaussaire, Parish of Saint Joseph en Mauges:

In 1948, Abbé Jean-Baptiste MANCEAU, then senior priest of Montrevault, organised a mission preached by the Redemptorist Fathers and decided to conclude it with the construction of a Lourdes Grotto near the Pont Martin. The site was ideal for this purpose: a mass of rocks at the bottom of a hillside, on the banks of the Evre.

This vault was built using the same mould as that used for the Chapelle des Recoins du Fuilet, which is where the bricks came from, as was the case for the Church of the Sacred Heart in Cholet.
A small altar combining rock and brick has been set up under the vault so that Mass can be celebrated there. The whole structure is surrounded by an iron fence.
An additional step, the length of the grotto, allows pilgrims to kneel at the edge of the grille. A short distance to the left, in front of the grotto, a statue of the young Bernadette Soubirous praying before the Virgin Mary stands on a huge block of stone.