The ‘Route des Cormiers’

Park in the Place de l’Église in Conflans-sur-Anille.

(S/E) Walk down Rue Saint-Maurice for 200 m. At the crossroads, turn right onto Route de Corbohay. Follow this road until you reach the crossroads where the hamlets of Le Grand Hameau (on the right) and Nicorbin (on the left) are signposted (elevation 138).

(1) Continue straight ahead and follow the red and white markings of^{the GR®®} 235. Pass La Proutière and La Croix. Reach the hamlet of La Tessierie.

(2) At the silos, turn left onto a small road leading down into the Anille valley. Cross the bridge and turn left to follow the road.

(3) Just before the bend, take the path leading uphill to the right, marked with red and white signs. You will reach the road leading to the hamlet of La Bataillerie.

(4) Turn left towards the edge of the forest, then, at the picnic table, veer right onto the wide stony path. Follow it until you reach the edge of the woodland, take the path on the right along the edge and pass La Lande to quickly reach the D98.

(5) Cross the D98 and head straight on along a beautiful sunken lane lined with oak trees, which leads to Les Coulonnières.

(6) Leave the^GR®® here and turn right onto a path marked in pink. You will then rejoin the D98.

(7) Turn left onto it for a few metres, then leave it at the next junction to turn left onto the shaded path leading to Les Bordes. Continue straight ahead, ignoring the path leading to the hamlet. Cross a stream and stay on this path at the Trois Carrières junction to reach the Route des Chênes.

(8) Turn right, passing the localities known as Les Chênes and Les Petits Chênes. Continue to the pumping station at the bottom of the descent.

(9) Turn sharply right (90°), then continue along the path that begins after the footbridge. Carry on due south, ignoring the path on the right leading to La Buronnerie, until you rejoin the D98.

(10) Follow it to the left and, further on, you’ll reach the town sign.

(11) Turn right onto the wide, stony path, which becomes grassy and shaded, until you reach the junction with a road, running alongside a small pond below. Follow it to the left for a few metres until you reach the junction with the path.

(12) Turn left uphill, then reach the crossroads by the ‘Croix de Pitié Dieu’ wayside cross; turn right into Rue de la Madeleine, then Rue Poitevin, before reaching the car park at Place de l’Église in Conflans-sur-Anille (S/E).

(S/E) In Conflans-sur-Anille
Saint-Maurice Church, dating from the 16th and 18th centuries.
Beautiful paintings depicting full-length portraits of saints and biblical scenes.
A manor house dating from the late 15th and 16th centuries.
Former presbytery, now the Town Hall.
Washing house.
Downstream from the manor house, on the River Roule Crotte.
Several 16th- and 17th-century houses.
A house known as the ‘underground house’ at No. 3 Ruelle du Presbytère.
Houses known as ‘Le Pavillon’ at No. 34, Rue Poitevin.
Weavers’ houses at Nos. 22 and 24, Rue Poitevin. Typical of 19th-century weavers’ houses, these consist of one or two rooms, with small external staircases leading down to the semi-underground cellars where the looms were kept.
The house known as ‘des Ligueurs’ at No. 5, Rue de La Madeleine.
The house of Alphonse Poitevin, inventor of photographic processes, at No. 4, Rue Poitevin.
Cross of Divine Mercy.
Cemetery: graves of Alphonse Poitevin (1819–1882) and Abbé Élie Cottereau, naturalist (1867–1952)

Along the way:
The Foulon Mill, known as the Gauthier Mill.
(5) (6) (8) Several fine service trees and/or service-berry trees can be seen.
Gradually supplanted by apple and pear trees, which bear fruit more quickly, this valuable tree – once indispensable to rural life – provided very hard wood resistant to friction and pressure. It was used for gear teeth in mills, press screws, cart hubs, rifle butts, fort balls, etc.
Between (S/E) and (1) lies the private Château de Corbohay: built by Landron, the architect of the market halls in Saint-Calais.

Nearby:
The house known as ‘Maison du Pont’ or ‘La Huguenotterie’ at No. 6, Route des Treize Vents. The house, dating from^{the first} half of the 16th century and situated near the bridge that gave it its nickname, was part of the seigneury of La Barre.
Château de la Barre: a 15th-century residence with a fortified enclosure dating from the late 16th century.