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Park in the car park in front of the Monthou-sur-Bièvre cemetery
Signposting: yellow horizontal bar ‘les Bernadettes’.
(S/E) Opposite the cemetery, turn left onto Rue de la Paix, then turn left again and walk carefully along the verge of the D764 until, after 150 metres, you reach Rue Creuse, which you should take to the left.
(1) At the junction, Rue Creuse continues as a path. Keep left at the Fork in the road to run alongside a vineyard. The path crosses two small roads then follows the edge of a wood on the right-hand side.
(2) At the crossroads, turn right. The track enters the forest and leads to a cross-track, which you should take to the left. The Chemin des Bernadettes, overlooking the Beuvron, runs alongside part of the old electric tramway network (which began operating in 1910 and ceased operations in 1933).
(3) Leave the path shortly before crossing the Ruisseau de Valaire by turning left, then keep to the right at the Fork in the road. Continue straight on at the junction, then return to the junction you passed on the way out.
(2) Turn right to walk along the edge of the forest, thus completing the circular section of the route. Reach the next crossroads.
(4) Continue along the edge of the wooded strip running alongside the Ruisseau de Valaire, which you’ll be looking down on, on the path signposted ‘les Bernadettes’.
(5) Turn left onto a small road, then right along a fence onto the cross-path that runs alongside the vineyards. Ignore the various offshoots. The path is followed by a hard-surfaced track which joins Rue du Châtelet.
(6) At the crossroads, carry on straight ahead in the direction of “le Chêne Vert”. Stay on Rue du Châtelet, which bends to the right, then follow the signs for “le Chêne Vert” again at the next junction. Once past “le Châtelet”, leave the road as it begins to bend to the right to cross the Ruisseau de Valaire, turning off onto a path to the left. This path joins Route de Culy.
(7) At the junction with a cross-path, turn left onto it towards the water tower, then turn right at the next junction. Pass the “La Guilbardière” farm. The path becomes tarmac, bends to the left before running alongside a pond.
(8) Turn right immediately after the pond, as if entering the farmyard, and continue straight on along the grassy, local council path, ignoring the path on your left – also a local council path – which runs alongside the barn. Turn right at the edge of the woodland
(9) Keep to the right at the Fork in the road. The track is overgrown with vegetation at the edge of the woodland.
(10) At the crossroads topped by a hunting lookout, take a sharp left onto the straight, east-facing lane. At the crossroads, continue towards ‘les Massotières’, keeping slightly to the left.
(11) First turn left then right as you cross the D764, then veer left after 150 m to head north, in the same direction as the D764.
(12) At the junction, carry on straight ahead towards “Route des Vignobles en Val de Loire”, then turn left at the Fork in the road to cross the D764 again before returning to the cemetery and its car park (S/E).
) and therefore a very ‘green’ route!
Visorando Member
Easy 
Association / Club / Walk leader
