Circular Cluny route via the Carmel de la Paix

Park in the designated spaces on Rue Sainte-Odile, near Notre-Dame Church.

(S/E) Head towards the tourist information centre by turning left at the corner by the chemist’s and following Rue Mercière alongside the church. Walk past the 1939–1945 war memorial and take the passage on the left to reach Place Notre-Dame. Exit to the right via Rue de la Barre to rejoin Rue Mercière. Walk up this street to the left.

(1) Walk past the Fontaine aux Serpents (1789) and the Maison des Vendanges, then continue straight on along Rue du Merle.

(2) At No. 22, note the Maison de l’Apothicaire. Continue to the end of the street to reach Place du Champ de Foire.

(3) Turn left onto Rue Jacques Guéritaine (D152), which forms part of the GR®76C route, heading towards the castle.

(4) At the junction marked ‘La Framboise’, follow the GR® to the left onto the Chemin de Montillet and rejoin the D152.

(5) Cross it carefully (poor visibility) and take the path opposite, which climbs towards a wooded area.

(6) At the junction (small ruin on the left), carry on straight ahead. As you approach a sharp bend, leave the GR®, pass a well, a large house, then the ‘Les Granges’ signpost before rejoining the D152 once more.

(7) Cross it with the same caution to take the path opposite towards La Brosse and reach the hamlet at a crossroads marked by a tree in the centre.

(8) Turn right onto a dirt track running parallel to the high-voltage power lines. Stay on this path , which leads to the ‘ban sacré’ – the zone of peace and immunity established around Cluny Abbey in the Middle Ages: marked with yellow signposts. Continue straight on. Before passing under the high-voltage power line, you’ll find an information board on the Roche plateau in the commune of Château.

(9) At the “En Roche” signpost, continue towards Mazille. On the plateau, there is no longer a marked path. Follow the hedge on the right: you will see a ruin on the left.

(10) At the end of the straight stretch, enter the woodland. Pass, on the left and slightly to one side of the path, a new information board entitled “Au-dessus du Plateau de Borde”: there’s a lovely view of Mont Gremois and the church at Grange as you emerge from the woods. Walk through Borde, passing close to the castle and the chapel: the access path on the left is marked by a wayside cross. Join the D165 (Route de Jalogny).

(11) Walk carefully along this road, keeping to the left. At the “Les Gorlières” signpost, stay on the road, leaving the yellow markings behind, and negotiate the bend to the left.

(12) Turn right onto the road towards Chaumont and the Carmel. At the “Les Crays” signpost, carry on straight ahead.

(13) Continue along the road, which turns 90° to the right, to reach the Carmel de la Paix.

(14) Retrace your steps back to the bend.

(13) Take the dirt track on the right downhill and reach the junction marked “Chemin du Carmel”.

(15) Head left towards Vaux. Ignore the path on the left and continue downhill; there may be a muddy section for 200 m. Join the GR®76 – GR®765 North at the “Chapelle de Vaux” signpost and follow them to the left towards Jalogny. Stay on the main road until you reach the last houses.

(16) At the fork in the road, take the path leading down to the left. Leave this almost immediately to take the path on the right which follows the high-voltage power line and then passes underneath it. You’ll come out onto the D165.

(17) First turn left then right as you cross the road to join a track; follow this for about a hundred metres before turning right at a 90° angle towards Jalogny. Cross the gravel path (grey) known as the Cras and continue straight ahead. Join the Chemin des Vergers, then take the Rue du Carge on the right and head towards the “Jalogny Bourg” signpost.

(18) Turn left towards Château, then turn right onto the path towards Cluny, which runs through the woodland at the foot of Mont Saint-Pierre.

(19) On emerging from the woods, at the “La Fosse” signpost, continue to the right, passing a mobile phone mast.

(20) A few metres before reaching the Route de Saunat and before the broken wayside cross, turn left onto the path. At the wash house, carry on straight ahead; you’ll come out onto the Route de Saunat and continue left until you reach the junction marked by a detached building.

(21) Follow Route de Brizolles to the right until it ends. Cross the junction of Rue Salvador Allende and Rue Léo Lagrange and take Rue du 19 Mars 1962 opposite, which joins Promenade du Fouettin.

(22) Cross at the pedestrian crossing and head down Rue Sainte-Odile opposite. Walk past Les Récollets at No. 7, then past the primary school, to return to the car park (S/E).

Wear walking shoes and carry plenty of water in hot weather.

Cluny offers all the necessary amenities: a variety of accommodation options, restaurants, bars, toilets, etc.

You can visit the Abbey and the Museum of Arts and Archaeology, which is also the former abbatial palace of Jean de Bourbon. Take the opportunity to have a look at the town hall, which was also once an abbatial palace for Jacques d’Amboise.

(15) The section between the ‘Chemin du Carmel’ signpost and the Vaux Chapel may be muddy.

(S/E) On Place Notre-Dame standsthe eponymous church, dating from the 13th century and built in the Gothic style; its large porch was destroyed shortly before the Revolution. Of particular note are its lantern bell tower, the rose windows in the transept, the gallery in the nave, and its 50 sculpted faces, one of which—a triple, crowned figure—represents the Holy Trinity.
The Mâcon tile standard embedded in the church wall explains why the church was known in the 15th century as Notre-Dame des Panneaux; the ‘panneaux’ were the legal standards of measurement for grain, flour and different types of bread, as well as for tiles and roof tiles.

Also worth seeing: the “Romanesque House 1136”: it comprises three wings, arranged around an inner courtyard, connected by galleries, serving four storeys above a ground floor. Surviving from the Romanesque period are the gables of the southern main building, mullioned windows, a staircase built into the wall, four arches on the ground floor and some structural elements, dating from 1135–1136. In the 15th century, the house was converted into a private mansion, whilst retaining most of its Romanesque structure. The façade was rebuilt in the 18th century, and the plot was divided into two.

Do not leave this square without stopping at the Maison des Dragons (formerly the Maison des Griffons), which is one of the few Romanesque-Gothic residences in France. Inside, in addition to its beautiful openwork timberwork, it features significant fittings and furnishings that bear witness to medieval domestic life.

(1) At the ‘Carruge de Forges’, the crossroads where the two main thoroughfares of the medieval town meet, you can see a reconstruction of the grape-harvesters’ frieze from the Romanesque house known as the ‘Maison des Vendanges’, which depicts the grape harvest and may allude to its owner’s occupation or social status.

(2) At 20 Rue du Merle stands the house known as the ‘Apothecary’s House’; it dates from 1091 and is considered one of the oldest houses in France.

(14) Carmel de la Paix, 1346 Route du Carmel, Mazille – The Carmel de la Paix was founded in 1610 in Chalon-sur-Saône – just six years after the arrival in France of the first Spanish Carmelite nuns, disciples of Saint Teresa of Ávila. The convent takes its name from a small 15th-century statue of Mary, Our Lady of Peace, brought by the first novice to join the community in January 1610.
In 1970, the community voted to move to Mazille, with a view to welcoming more broadly all those wishing to share in liturgical life, silence and rural work, thereby integrating the community’s activities into those of its rural surroundings. The Carmel de la Paix is the work of the Spanish architect Jean-Louis Sert, a disciple of Le Corbusier.

(22) Sainte-Odile Gate: one of the 11 entrance gates to the medieval city’s fortifications, which illustrated the diversity of the measures put in place to secure the town, complementing the defensive architecture of Cluny, which skilfully utilised its surroundings: to the north-east, it abutted the abbey walls; to the east, it ran alongside the Grosne; to the south and west, it followed the edges of steep plateaus, reinforced by bastions. The adjacent ponds, particularly the one to the north, which lay right up against the ramparts, reinforced the site’s natural defences.

Les Récollets, 7 Rue Sainte-Odile – The Récollets convent was founded in the 17th century by the Franciscan charitable order of the Récollets. It was nationalised and sold following the French Revolution, before being purchased in 1812 by Balthazar Javouhey, brother of Anne-Marie Javouhey, founder of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny, who would go on to spread throughout the world on missions of education, healthcare and social work. Today, the site is home to a retirement home for the congregation’s elderly or ailing sisters.