Trail through Saint-Georges, Mormal, and Englefontaine

Between edge and forest, this trail allows you to discover the hideouts of the hedgerows, forest paths and trails. The atmosphere changes with the seasons.

Details

1565723
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 11.63 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 3h 20 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 16 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 16 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 160 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 136 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Park in the Place d'Englefontaine car park.

(S/E) Turn right up the street alongside the church. At the corner of the school, turn right into Rue de l'Église, then left into Rue Jean Jaurès. At the end of Rue Jean Jaurès, turn right into Rue des Résistants.

(1) At the bend in the road, turn left along the hedgerow path for 50m, then right onto the path between the hedges.
This path, lined with hornbeam trees, offers views of the forest. At the end of the path, turn left at a right angle. Further on, a right/left bend leads directly to the forest entrance.

(2) As soon as you enter the forest, turn left along the forest path for about 800m. The path then emerges from the foliage and becomes a wide grassy strip. Join the D932 road.

(3) Turn right, carefully along the roadside for 100m, then right onto Route du Chêne Cuplet, the first straight stretch. After almost 3km, you come to the Chêne la Guerre crossroads.

(4) Take the second road (Route Duhamel) on the right for almost a kilometer.

(5) Turn right onto the wide forest road shared with the GR®122, marked White on Red for almost 600m.

(6) Turn right onto the Pont à Chiens road, leaving the GR®122. One kilometer further on, join the Route d'Hecq, which you follow to the left for 100m.

(7) Turn right onto the forest track between plots 710 and 706. 125m after the Pont à Pourceaux (which must have been the route used by local people to graze pigs in the Mormal forest), turn left along a regenerating plot of land.

(8) Leave the forest cover and go straight ahead. At the road (D100), turn right, then immediately left along the hedged lane.

(9) When you reach the next road, turn right/left again to take the path which bends 90° to the right. Walk straight on to the Fontaine Saint-Georges.

(10) Go right up a grassy lane which joins the square and arrives back at the car park (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 144 m - Place d'Englefontaine
  2. 1 : km 0.35 - alt. 149 m - Pollarded hornbeams
  3. 2 : km 1.47 - alt. 152 m - Forest path on the left
  4. 3 : km 2.74 - alt. 141 m - RD932
  5. 4 : km 5.8 - alt. 154 m - Carrefour du Chêne la Guerre
  6. 5 : km 6.75 - alt. 155 m - GR122 crossroads
  7. 6 : km 7.24 - alt. 154 m - Route du Pont à Chiens
  8. 7 : km 8.27 - alt. 146 m - Forest track on the right
  9. 8 : km 10 - alt. 151 m - Forest exit
  10. 9 : km 10.78 - alt. 145 m - Road, right then left
  11. 10 : km 11.45 - alt. 136 m - Saint-Georges fountain
  12. S/E : km 11.63 - alt. 144 m - Place d'Englefontaine

Notes

Wear waterproof footwear.
Exercise caution along the RD932.

Listed on the PDIPR (Plan Départemental des Itinéraires de Promenade et de Randonnée).
(Departmental Plan of Walking and Hiking Routes)

Follow the yellow markings.

Always be cautious and plan ahead when you're outdoors. Visorando and the author of this route cannot be held responsible for any accidents occurring on this route.

The GR® and PR® markings are the intellectual property of the Fédération Française de Randonnée Pédestre.

Reviews and comments

4.6 / 5
Based on 11 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.9 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.7 / 5
Route interest
4.3 / 5
randodom(
randodom(

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 21, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Lovely walk in the forest, but the route is not very varied, with long stretches on riverbanks.

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Pyou
Pyou

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 05, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A quiet, friendly ride.

𝙿𝙾𝙸𝙽𝚃 𝙿𝙾𝚂𝙸𝚃𝙸𝙵
➤ Non-tourist trails.
➤ Several passages in little-frequented areas.
➤ Quite a few farm and wild animals along the way.
➤ Possibility of lengthening or shortening the route.

𝙿𝙾𝙸𝙽𝚃 𝙽𝙴𝙶𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙵
➤ A lot of mud.
➤ A little narrow at times if you plan to ride with more than one person.

𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙴 𝙿𝙴𝚁𝚂𝙾𝙽𝙽𝙴𝙻𝙻𝙴
This is an excellent circuit for a leisurely ride that I would recommend to beginners or as a refresher. However, feel free to lengthen or shorten the route as you wish, as the Mormal forest is very easy to access with numerous paths. The passages between the pastures are a wonderful discovery, as these are paths you wouldn't normally take if you didn't know this route existed. However, be careful about the time of year you do the walk, and avoid wet periods even if it's not raining, as there are now many muddy stream crossings.

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adprod
adprod

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 31, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Very nice walk in the south of the Mormal forest, done by two hikers who know this great forest well, a large stag watched us come towards him just after the Carrefour du Chêne de Guerre, then he continued on his way, majestic as usual....

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Sandrine59
Sandrine59

Hello
I have a phobia of dogs and it's very hard for me to contain myself so that I don't run or behave appropriately. Is there another testimonial about this route and this dog?
I'm very tempted, but unfortunately this story is preventing me from doing the hike, I'm petrified
Thank you.

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Chamilo
Chamilo

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 07, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

The perfect way to discover the Avesnois. The route is impeccable and the walk is well maintained. We spotted stags, hinds and fawns on several occasions. Bird-watchers won't be disappointed either. The forest is pleasant, and we'll be doing it again in the spring, when everything will be greener and the trees will be leafier.

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patoche1
patoche1

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 26, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

Lovely walk. We would have liked to see some game but unfortunately nothing this day.

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PNR de l'Avesnois
PNR de l'Avesnois

Hello
Thank you for reporting this problem. We will be visiting this circuit shortly to rectify it.

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isabelleseny
isabelleseny

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 12, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very pleasant and varied walk, which allowed us to see game without disturbing it by staying on the paths.
One small comment: the hedges at the start of the walk would benefit from being trimmed, otherwise the path would be overgrown with brambles (the machete was not yet needed to clear a path, but... ).

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Demodocos
Demodocos
• Edited:

It's done once a year, so I think that's pretty good.

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Demodocos
Demodocos

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 06, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

It's true that there are a few brambles and nettles, but it's worth the effort. There are also insects, more or less numerous depending on the time of day and the season, and everything is well signposted. A good walker will complete the hike in 1 hour and 40 minutes.There is no place to eat, (a bench after the long straight stretch before the Duhamel road, I think) but the mosquitoes will dissuade you, they have that power, perhaps at the end of the route around the pond near the chapel there will be some benches, but I'm not sure.
For those who want to walk a bit more, you can combine this route with that of Preux au Bois to make a loop of 20 kilometres that can be done in about 3? hours, the link will be made on the Duhamel road. The best thing is to do both to get your bearings, and then get started.
On the Preux au Bois walk, there are benches along the route near a pond...
It's one of my favourite hikes.
Oh yes, also, at the end of the route after leaving the forest on a stony path on the left there's a German shepherd who's a bit aggressive, he hasn't bitten me yet, even with the gate open, don't look, my instinct tells me not to run, it's the only difficulty of the route in the end, either he's there with the gate closed, or the gate's open and there's the scare or there's nobody, vvvoooiilllouuuuu, sorry for the pavement.

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Jose Germain
Jose Germain

Has the cache, which was not cleared at the start of the route, been "cleaned" to make it passable?

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eric godin
eric godin

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : May 18, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

very nice route with no difficulties .
to be recommended.

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Jose Germain
Jose Germain

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 27, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average

It has been done in each of the 3 seasons (autumn, winter, spring) with varying degrees of satisfaction, but this time in summer it was a real hit! The caches at the start of the route are simply impassable, unless you have a machete like in the jungle... a shame for the Englefontaine commune... not good publicity...

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oversc51
oversc51

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 10, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average

nice start in the bocages
crossing the forest is done on tarmac roads or roads laid out for logging sites
few opportunities to stop for a lunch break...

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Buzzrando
Buzzrando

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 26, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

Enjoy your forest walk

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