Route du Maquis de Bourgogne autour de Les Bordes

The route starts at Les Bordes, from the car park by the washhouse (next to the restaurant). You’ll find the first information board there.

Yellow markings throughout the route.

(S/E) Head right towards the crossroads, cross the D15 and take Rue de la Mairie (towards Maurepas) as far as the church.

(1) At the junction by Saint-Pierre Church, turn right, walk past the church on the left, and take Rue du Cimetière, between the town hall/school and the church. At the cemetery, turn left onto the path leading uphill. Follow it to the hamlet of Le Clos Aubry. In the centre of the hamlet, read the information board (No. 8) before continuing.

(2) Take the road on the left. After a few metres, leave the road and take a grassy path leading down towards the woods (as you go, pass a dirt track on your right). At the bottom of this path, turn left and walk alongside the woods until you reach the road. Follow it to the right for about 200 metres.

(3) Turn right, then, after a few steps, turn immediately left. Join a road on the left leading to Villefroide. Pass the hamlet of Villefroide on your right and continue straight on to the hamlet of La Grange aux Malades (information board No. 7). Walk through the hamlet.

(4) On leaving the hamlet, take the path leading down to the right. After about a hundred metres, this path branches off to the right, running alongside a woodland, then follows the Val Mathieu before reaching the locality known as Le Charpentier.

(5) On reaching this locality, take the road on the right towards Clos Aubry. Walk through the hamlet, then take the first road on the left, which turns into a track after a few steps. Continue to the next junction.

(6) Turn left. Walk a few metres along the path ahead, then turn left again to head downhill to a Fork in the road. Turn right onto the path that crosses the woodland (Bois Rivière). After about one kilometre, ignore a path leading uphill to the right and carry on straight ahead.

(7) At the crossroads, turn right to reach the village of Les Bordes. Follow Rue des Chevaliers until you reach the junction with Rue de la Mairie. Turn left to return to the car park at the starting point (S/E).

For your safety, please avoid using this route during the traditional hunting season from 1 October to 28 February.

Routes through woods and forests must follow rural tracks; entering any woodland (even communal woodland) is prohibited. Please take care.

This signposted walk is marked with information boards: “In the footsteps of the Maquis Bourgogne”. This route invites you to follow in the footsteps of the Maquis fighters who set up camp in this part of the Othe Forest from January to August 1944. Indeed, two Maquis groups established themselves there and fought from that location. They belonged to different organisations but shared the same name: “Bourgogne”. The information boards allow you to discover what life was like for the Maquis fighters and Resistance members, and how they fought in the farms, hamlets and villages.