Paul Sérusier and Aulne River Circuit in Châteauneuf-du-Faou

Park at Place du Marché.

Follow the signs for "Sur les pas de Paul Sérusier" (In the footsteps of Paul Sérusier )

(S/E) From Place du Marché, walk down Rue de la Mairie and follow it. Pass in front of the tourist office (easel 1) and then the town hall, where you will see a mosaic inspired by a painting by Sérusier. Leave Rue du Four on your left, turn right, pass by a fountain and arrive at Place de l'Église (easel 8) and the museum. Head towards Saint-Julien Church.

(1) Enter the church to discover two frescoes by Sérusier in the baptistery on the right, painted between 1914 and 1918. Exit the church, walk around the building and join Rue Paul Sérusier. Walk down this street, pass in front of the house where he lived and arrive at a fork in the road (easel 4).

(2) Turn right onto a grassy path that descends along a valley on the right where sheep graze and arrives at the wash house (easel 5). Continue to the right, join a street and cross a stream (easel 6)
Off the circuit, take a detour through a newly landscaped park with a lake (not visible on the map) and continue downhill. Pass the sewage treatment plant and arrive at a crossroads (marker 7).

(3) Off the circuit, turn into Allée des Peupliers, which descends to the banks of the canalised Aulne (Canal de Nantes à Brest). Turn right, pass by the old Pont du Roy bridge built under Louis XIII to replace an old ford, then the new bridge, and continue along the towpath. Pass a covered picnic table, then a second uncovered one, and just after that, look for a discreet trailhead in the woods.

(4) Turn right and begin the steady climb up this narrow path until you reach a crossroads. Go down a few steps on the right, then turn left to join Allée Notre-Dame des Portes, which climbs up to this imposing chapel with its slender bell tower. Note the porch of the old ossuary on the right.

(5) Inside this large chapel is a statue of Notre-Dame des Portes, one of the five crowned virgins of Brittany (grand pardon on the penultimate weekend of August). Walk around the chapel for a view of the Aulne valley and continue along the esplanade, which passes near an oratory and leads to a crossroads (easel 2).

Turn right onto Rue de Pontadig for a return trip to the Notre-Dame des Portes fountain, then go up Place du Marché (easel 3) and the car park (S/E).

Toilet facilities at the starting point car park.

The museum dedicated to Paul Sérusier has just opened (June 2025)

Hike adapted from a document provided by the Châteauneuf-du-Faou Tourist Office.

Paul Sérusier.
Notre-Dame des Portes

Easel 1: 1884-1888: birth of a group: the Nabis - arrival in Brittany.
Easel 8: 1188-1894: When the wall becomes a canvas - painting the house and the church.
Easel 4: 1903-1913: the master and Marguerite - Armand Seguin, Marguerite Serusier and her house.
Easel 5: Friend Denis - the theme of washing.
Easel 6: The hermit of Châteauneuf - life in Châteauneuf
Easel 7: Theory and pedagogy - the ABCs of painting.
Easel 2: 1888–1894: The search for the primitive – Le Pouldu Huelgoat
Easel 3: 1894-1903 Châteauneuf-du-Faou: adopted homeland