Route des sentiers cachés en Bouguenais

Set off from the Trocardière stop on Tram No. 3 in Nantes-Rezé. Car parks are located on either side of this stop.

(S/E) Walk westwards along the platform for 150 metres to reach Rue de la Trocardière. Turn left onto this street and walk for 50 metres, then turn right onto Allée Adrienne Rolland. Cross the Ruisseau de la Jaguière via the footbridge and rejoin the tram line.

(1) Take Chemin Amélia Earhart, which runs between the railway line on your left and the tram tracks on your right.

(2) Go past the ‘Les Couëts’ tram stop and carry on straight ahead along Chemin Maryse Hilse until you reach the roundabout.

(3) Turn right to cross the tram line, reach the roundabout and turn left onto Rue de la Chapelle. Go round the roundabout on the right and continue along Rue de la Chapelle, following the tram line until you reach the next roundabout.

(4) Turn right onto Rue des Écoles, then left onto Rue des Venelles. Turn left again onto Rue du 19 Mars 1962 and follow this road, turning right to reach a junction near the tram terminus.

(5) Turn right onto Rue de la Neustrie and continue to No. 1. Then turn left onto Impasse du Petit Rocher. Continue to No. 19, passing under the road bridge, and take the dirt track opposite. Pass under the high-voltage power line and continue along this track to the large Basses Landes roundabout.

(6) Turn right towards a large radio mast on Rue des Pontreaux. Cross Rue Christophe Colomb and, at No. 24 (the first block of flats), turn left and take the path running alongside the quarry site. At the pond, turn right and, after passing two wooden footbridges, go round the houses to reach the steps leading over the roundabout.

(7) Take the path that runs alongside the expressway, via Chemin de la Vaserie, to the Orphelins d’Auteuil children’s home.

(8) Turn right onto Rue de la Loire and, at No. 11, go under the arch. Go up the stairs, then turn right onto Rue Françoise d’Amboise until you reach Rue Pasteur. Turn left and follow this street to No. 32 bis (pedestrian crossing).

(9) Turn right onto Chemin Rosa Bonheur. After a small car park, turn right and walk alongside a pond. Continue along Chemin Rosa Bonheur, passing through Clos Saint Julien, then emerge onto Rue Louise Michel.

(10) Cross at the pedestrian crossing and take the path opposite to rejoin Chemin Maryse Hilsz.

(2) Turn left and retrace your steps in the opposite direction to return to Trocardière 
(S/E).

1. • Adrienne Bolland, born on 25 November 1895 in Arcueil and died on 18 March 1975 in Paris, was a French aviator and Resistance fighter, famous for being the first woman to fly across the Andes.
2. • Amelia Mary Earhart, also known as Lady Lindy, born in Atchison (Kansas) on 24 July 1897 and lost at sea in the Pacific Ocean on 2 July 1937, was an American aviator; notably famous for being, in June 1928, the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by aeroplane and then, in 1932, the first woman to make a solo crossing.
3. • Françoise d’Amboise, born in 1427 in Thouars, died on 4 November 1485 in Bouguenais; she was Duchess of Brittany from 1450 to 1457 through her marriage to Pierre II. She was also a leading religious figure, having founded the first women’s Carmelite convent in Brittany¹ in Vannes, at a time when the Carmelites had not yet arrived in the neighbouring Kingdom of France. After becoming a widow, she entered the Carmelite order and became prioress of her convent. Beatified a few years after her death, she is highly revered in our region.
4. • Marie-Rosalie Bonheur, known as Rosa Bonheur, born on 16 March 1822 in Bordeaux and died on 25 May 1899 in Thomery, was a French painter and sculptor, specialising in animal subjects.
5. • Louise Michel, alias ‘Enjolras’, born on 29 May 1830 in Vroncourt-la-Côte and died on 9 January 1905 in Marseille, was a schoolteacher, writer, anarchist activist, French Freemason and supporter of the revolutionary and socialist-republican movement founded by Auguste Blanqui.
6. • Maryse Hilsz, born Marie-Antoinette Hilsz on 7 March 1901 in Levallois-Perret.This female military officer was a pioneer of French aviation. She entered a parachuting competition in 1924, even though she had never before been on a aeroplane. Having become a pilot, she held numerous records. She joined the Resistance and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1946. She died on 30 January 1946 in a plane crash alongside Second Lieutenants Martin, Rousset and Bétou, whilst flying from Villacoublay to Marignane in an aircraft belonging to the Ministerial Air Liaison Group; the aircraft broke up before crashing to the ground.