Route des Coulées

Park at the sports centre, Rue du Pré de la Dame, Férel.

(S/E) Leave the sports complex via the gate in the fence running alongside the path to the north of the sports grounds. Turn left until you reach the road, then left again, before heading up the path on the right towards Kerrouault.

(1) Turn right to cross the village and take the path running alongside the farm on the left. Continue to Le Guerny and turn right to join the RD34. Cross the road and continue straight ahead. At the next junction, take the path on the right then turn left.

(2) Halfway along the Chemin du Sable, turn left, following the^GR®39(red and white markings), through the woodland. When you reach the path with the pink surface (cycle route), turn left and continue along this path until you come to a junction with two roads.

(3) At the second road, first turn left then right, continue straight ahead for 250 metres and turn right. The straight path winds its way into a small valley, which you’ll enter properly after crossing another path, near the hamlet of Trémorel. Head into the Coulée de Kerosten, which leads to the banks of the Vilaine. Once you reach the river, turn right and follow the bank until you reach the next tributary.

(4) At Prédemo, where the Coulée du Bourg stream joins the Vilaine, cross the footbridge and immediately turn right onto the path that runs alongside the river.

(5) In the middle of the Coulée du Bourg, cross to the other bank by turning right, then left 50 metres further on to reach Kerlégan via the left bank. The path was laid out from the banks of the Vilaine, following the track that used to serve the marshy meadow plots – which were more or less covered by the tide – before the Arzal dam was built.

(6) Head back up to the road, below Kerlégan, and turn left then right towards Kerverte. After this hamlet, follow the road for 300 metres and, at the junction, turn left, following the road you have just come along. Leave it after 100 metres by turning right. You will come out onto the RD34; turn left and follow it for 70 metres.

(7) After crossing the RD34, follow the footpath which runs alongside the houses of the Cité de la Noë-Blanche; then, where the path ends, follow the road opposite it. At the next junction, head straight on towards the Férel care home (EHPAD le Florilège). Once past the care home, take the path on the right that leads under the willow trees, then turn left to join the RD315. If the start of the path is flooded, continue along the Route de la Cour des Prés to the RD315, then follow this road up to the Métairies wayside cross. Then follow the original route.

(8) Cross the RD315, take the path opposite the wayside cross, then turn left when you reach the first houses of Les Hautes Métairies. Head back towards the RD315 but turn right just before it onto the path leading to Les Basses Métairies.

(9) In the hamlet, turn right and join the Chemin des Pogasés, which you should follow to the right. Cross the picnic area set up around the pond and continue along the path until you reach the gate leading into the sports complex (S/E).

In the village of Férel, all shops and services are available.
Some sections of the path may be damp or even flooded during wet weather. Follow the alternative routes if the main route is impassable.

The watercourses that follow the riverbeds have retained their name ‘étier’. This stems from their former status as part of the maritime domain, when the lower Vilaine was still subject to the tidal cycle. Since the construction of the Arzal dam in the 1970s, certain parts of the ‘paluds’ (former floodplains along the river) have receded by more than 30 metres, particularly in the section covered by the route, along the banks of the Vilaine.

(4) During periods of high water, this section may be flooded. In this case, take the path leading uphill opposite the footbridge, turn right at the first fork, turn right again when you reach the road that bypasses the village of Drézet, and finally turn right, following the^GR®39signposts. At the bottom of the slope, you will rejoin the route you left after the footbridge. Continue along it to the left.