Bouillé route

Start at the church square in Torcé-Viviers-en-Charnie.

(S/E) Walk round the back of the church, turn right onto the road towards Neuvillette-en-Charnie (D9) and follow it for about a hundred metres. Turn right into Rue de l’Avenir and continue along a path that skirts the lake.

(1) Cross the D9 with care, then the D161 (Route de Parennes), until you reach a track.

(2) Turn right and follow a wide track round Bouillé Castle.
As you reach the departmental road via a small open area, take in the view of the gate (monumental entrance) and, on the other side of the road, the Tour du Trésor. Turn left to walk alongside the D161.

(3) Look for a small path on the right that crosses the plateau. At the junction between La Tellerie and Le Petit Fourneau, carry straight on. Cross the D9 with care and continue climbing towards the first patches of woodland at Bel-Air.

(4) Head down the D146 for a good 200 metres and turn left onto the Bel-Air forest track, which leads to the Haute-Croix-Mallard crossroads, skirting a lake.

(5) Turn left to climb the forest track towards the Grande-Charnie ridge, a high barrier of Armorican sandstone quarried until the end of the 19th century to supply many of Paris’s cobblestones.

(6) At the junction, head down to the right towards Les Tuileries, follow the road to the left and turn right about a hundred metres further on.

(7) Turn right onto a lovely path towards La Croix-Mallard, where you’ll rejoin the tarmac road. Then turn left.

(8) Follow the D146 to the left to head back down to the village of Torcé-Viviers-en-Charnie (S/E).

Torcé-Viviers-en-Charnie lake: covered playground, children’s play area, toilets.

Between (6) and (7), you can take a detour via Tertre-Blanc, the highest point in the Charnie (286m), to see the statue of the Sacred Heart.

Find all the walks suggested by the Sainte-Suzanne les Coëvrons Tourist Office at www.coevrons-tourisme.com.

Bouillé Castle, of which the 15th- and 16th-century remains can still be seen today, was devastated during the Hundred Years’ War and subsequently rebuilt on a grand scale. In addition to the remains of sections of fortified walls, the Treasury Tower (Archives Tower) still stands, heralding the Renaissance. It belonged to the de Bouillé family, whose prominence spanned mainly the 16th and 17th centuries. It is a rather complex site, as over the centuries many buildings have been added, including a motte, a fortified castle, a residential castle, a farm and even a lime kiln.

Statue of the Sacred Heart: this statue was erected in 1946, following a vow made by the parish priests and mayors of Torcé and Viviers during the last war. The work of the Parisian sculptor Ceras, it is made of solid-coloured concrete.
Remains of sandstone quarries nearby