From one bank of the Sarthe to the other, passing by the Abbey of Solesmes

Park in the Solesmes stadium car park.

(S/E) Head towards the village hall and Chemin de la Senotière. After about 150 metres, turn left onto the path leading to the agricultural college. You will then be walking along a dirt track between fields (horses).

Walk alongside the school buildings and car park on your left. Take a passageway that leads to the meadows and follow the direction of the viaduct for 1.7 km. You are now on a newly constructed footpath for the "Tour de l'Abbaye de Solesmes" route between Rue de la Martinière on the left and the hill with the water tower on the right. At the Magic Form sports centre, continue straight ahead, along what appears to be no path, alongside a stream.

(1) Cross Rue Pierre et Marie Curie and continue straight ahead towards the viaduct. Walk along a pond on your left, then Château de la Martinière on your right.

(2) In Chantemesle, near Château de la Martinière (water treatment plant on the left), take the D138 on the left towards Sablé-sur-Sarthe and pass under the railway viaduct.

(3) On Rue Aristide Briand, turn right onto the dirt track just before the Sablé-sur-Sarthe cemetery. At the end, turn left and follow the towpath towards Sablé-sur-Sarthe. Pass under the road bridge and turn left onto Rue des Lavanderies. At the end, turn right onto Rue Aristide Briand.

(4) At the roundabout, take the first right and cross the small branch of the Sarthe river. Continue along Rue de l'Île (pedestrianised) via Place Dom Guéranger (former Notre-Dame-en-l'Île church, Maison du Peuple).

Leaving the street (remains of a fortification tower), take the Grand Pont bridge over the main branch of the Sarthe river. Continue a few metres along Grande Rue and turn right into Place Raphaël Elizé.

(5) On the square, immediately after a bank branch, turn right onto Rue d'Erve. Cross the bridge over the Erve river and continue along the street. You will come out onto Rue Michel Vieille. Turn right and, at the next junction, continue straight ahead.

Just before the ring road, turn right onto the towpath. Turn left, go under the road bridge and follow the Sarthe river. After about 200 metres, turn left and join Rue Michel Vieille.

(6) Cross the street and enter the Michel Vieille public garden. At the end of the winding climb, turn right. Note the exceptional view on the right of the town of Sablé, the Chantemesle viaduct and the white marble memorial column.

When you reach the closed access point to the Chantemesle Viaduct, turn left (follow the blue markings for the Tour des Galibots*). After 150 metres, take the footbridge on the right over the railway line. At the crossroads, turn left onto Chemin de la Roche towards "Maupertuis".

(7) You will come out onto the D4; follow it to the right. Just before the bridge over the railway line, at "Malvoisin", leave the road and turn right. At the intersection immediately ahead (crossroads), continue straight ahead and follow the small road parallel to the railway line. At the pylon, the road turns right and away from the railway line. Cross the hamlet of Bellevue, ignoring a road on the right and then one on the left.

(8) Shortly afterwards, turn right down Chemin de la Galerie (opposite, on the other bank, is Saint-Pierre Abbey in Solesmes). Ignore the turnings on the left. At the crossroads at the corner of the buildings, turn left and, at the fork that appears very quickly, turn right to reach Port de Juigné.

(9) Turn left onto Rue Raymond Dubois (Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Nid, going up the path to the chapel, a small steep path between the houses and L'Amusant Musée) or the D22 towards Juigné-sur-Sarthe. Then turn right onto Place du Port. Turn left onto the towpath towards Juigné-sur-Sarthe (^GR®365, red and white markings) until you reach the river stop. After about a hundred metres (a sort of return trip as you retrace your steps uphill), take the Solesmes bridge and cross the Sarthe. At the end of the bridge, turn right.

(10) Walk past the Abbaye des Solesmes (a mecca for Gregorian chant) via Rue du Bac. Continue in the same direction along Rue des Marbreries, passing the "Marbrerie" and then Cri Cri Plage.

(11) At the Grande Croix, turn sharply left towards Solesmes. Immediately turn right onto Chemin de la Senotière. Pass Abbaye Sainte-Cécile on your left. At a place called La Senotière, go straight ahead to reach the stadium car park (S/E).

Galibots* = mining apprentices

To complete this hiking route, park in the car park at the Solesmes stadium/village hall.

Along the route, provided you have everything you need to eat and drink, you can take a break at:
- Espace Henri (children's play area, toilets)
- La Halte Fluviale (pontoon for boaters, car park, toilets and children's playground).
-> Starting point at the "Tour des Carrières" marked in green (14.5km).
- Cri-Cri beach (picnic tables)

You can reach the village of Solesmes either by taking the shopping street on the right after crossing the Solesmes bridge () or by continuing straight on along Rue Jules Alain ((11)).
In Solesmes, you will find: the tourist office, the cemetery with the Saint Aquilin chapel and the military cemetery, the parish church with "Mary who heals couples", the entrance to Saint Pierre Abbey, the Grand Hôtel de Solesmes (restaurant and hotel), the house of Pierre Reverdy, the St Michel house (retirement home), the St Paul house (Marguerite Arron), access to Sainte Cécile Abbey, the town hall with its square and the statues of the Gruer couple (for example, the one named "Stella Maris" on the house at the corner of Rue Marchande and Rue du Bac).

Also worth seeing in the town of Solesmes:
- La Verdière: home of Captain Enjubault (lance cavalryman in Napoleon's Grande Armée and mayor of Solesmes from 24 July 1825 until his death on 18 August 1843)
- The Manoir de Beauce: a 13-hectare property owned by former politician François Fillon and his wife Penelope Clarke Fillon for €440,000 since 1984.

(3) Sablé-sur-Sarthe Cemetery (21 Rue Aristide Briand): tomb of Joël le Theule, Raphaël Elizé (France's first black mayor), his wife Caroline and their daughter. This was also the site of the former Sablé hospital inaugurated by Simone Vieil.

(4) You can take a detour (not marked) to the Saint-Nicolas neighbourhood. At the roundabout, take the first left onto Rue Saint Nicolas. Then turn right onto Rue des Terres, where you will see the house with the balcony displaying the revolutionary emblem and the Couvent des Cordelières de Sainte Elisabeth, founded in 1631 by Madeleine de Souvré, which brought fame to the small town of Sablé and where Dom Guéranger was born. Turn left onto Rue Traversière des Terres and then continue to 8 bis Jean Bouin, where Henri Royer (second deputy to Raphaël Elizé and member of the Max Butler resistance network) lived.

(5) Place Raphaël-Elizé (town hall): merger of the Place des Halles and the Place du Marché-au-Blé in the 19th century. You can visit the Malicot workshop at 11 Rue Carnot, the "A l'homme volant" museum, which is the oldest house in Sablé-sur-Sarthe at 35 Grande Rue, and the Château de Sablé.

After (5), Rue d'Erve, you will pass a house decorated with a Virgin and Child on the site of the former fortified gate of Erve and the homes of several Sablé resistance fighters (the Lemore family, Adolphe Soury at no. 27 and Madeleine and Marcel Richard at no. 17).

(6) The Michel Vieille Public Garden (11 hectares) was embellished by François Vieille (1793-1848), one of the concessionaires of the Solesmes mine and founder of the first bank in Sablé in 1820. He bequeathed it to his nephew Joseph-Michel Vielle (1821-2 February 1890), mayor of Sablé around 1871-1872, who inherited it and bequeathed it to the town of Sablé. Originally, it was a wild place known as "la Roche" where a wolf was shot in 1808.

The Chantemesle viaduct was built in black marble in 1876.

Near Maupertuis is the mining company at a place called La Masselière. The presence of anthracite in the subsoil of the commune (Port-Etroit, Maupertuis, La Colchinière, Les Saulteries, L'Alma, etc.), which was mined throughout the 19th century, led to the creation of the Juigné mining company. The buildings at La Masselière were constructed in 1850 to house the management, offices and director's accommodation. Brick was used for the balustrade bordering the roof of the central pavilion and the oculi. The residence was enlarged in 1865. During the two world wars (1917 to 1928 and 1943 to 1950), the mines were temporarily reopened due to the high demand for coal.

(7) Châteaux de la Hartempied: a building partially covered by a polygonal broken roof and terrace, completely rebuilt around 1864 and remodelled (addition of sculptures) at the beginning of the 20th century

(9) In Port-de-Juigné:
- an artist: Born in 1904 in Ernée (Mayenne), the sculptor Raymond Dubois moved to Port-de-Juigné opposite the Abbey of Solesmes in 1929. Essentially religious in inspiration, his work from 1928 onwards was carved directly from Chauvigny stone, granite and, above all, wood (oak, cedar and twisted boxwood from the Saulges region in Mayenne). Nearby, you can admire the "Christ de la Salette" (crucifixion with the instruments of the Passion) (boxwood - 1942) in the church of Avoise, the stone sculpture "Saint Joseph and the Child Jesus" at the Lycée Saint-Joseph in Sablé-sur-Sarthe, and his tombstone in the cemetery of Solesmes(died in 1982).

- Notre-Dame-du-Nid Chapel: In 1936, Raymond Dubois built a small sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary on his property in gratitude for a vow that had been fulfilled. Although private, this chapel dedicated to Notre-Dame-du-Nid, guardian of the home, is open to the public.
At one end of the chapel stands an impressive wooden statue of the Virgin Mary, whose face represents the artist's wife. Originally, it was commissioned as an ex-voto sculpture by a lady who had avoided divorce around 1934. It was to be called Notre-Dame du Foyer. A couple with three children were to be depicted in the Virgin's arms, but a black knot in the thousand-year-old boxwood prevented him from carving the other two children. He then began a crown of thorns to fill the gap. However, as he worked, the gap took the shape of a nest with two eggs. This is how Notre-Dame-du-Nid came into being. The patron, Madame de Surmont, requested the construction of an oratory for the Virgin Mary, hence this chapel, which the parish priest deemed more appropriate. It is depicted on a capital to the right as you enter. Opposite it, you will find a self-portrait of the artist.
Behind the high altar, on the bas-relief, which serves as an altarpiece, is a representation of the Last Supper (1937). Christ cleverly conceals the tabernacle. With the exception of two apostles, all the figures are monks from Solesmes. The fourth figure from the right is the artist. Behind Judas, the evil apostle, to the right of Jesus, to whom he turns his back, the artist chose to depict him with the features of Hitler, with a beard. While Hitler's moustache is famous, he did not have a beard, so why do we see one here? In fact, during the occupation in 1943, a Wehrmacht officer staying with the couple expressed his desire to visit the Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Nid. Anxious, Raymont Dubois asked his wife to keep him busy for a few moments while he quickly reworked the face, adding the beard.
The gate next to the chapel is decorated with a tympanum representing the umbrella of Charity. Thus, three generations of a family, the dog and a loaf of daily bread are sheltered under the same umbrella. Above it stands a cross engraved with the Latin word "caritas", meaning "affection, love".

- The Amusant Musée: In the former workshop of sculptor Raymond Dubois, with a wooden sign at its entrance, one of his sons (Jean-Vianey Dubois) has assembled a collection of more than 2,000 antique and unusual toys. The museum is now closed.

- The Château de la Grange, high up on the Côte de la Grange before crossing the Solesmes bridge

- The river stop 100 metres after the bridge (pontoon for boaters, car park, toilets and children's playground). This is also the starting point for the "Tour des Carrières" marked in green (14.5 km).

Continuing along the towpath, about 900 metres further on, you will find lock no. 13, known as the Juigné-sur-Sarthe lock.

About 1,200 metres away, in the opposite direction, is lock no. 14, which is equipped with a
turning bridge that allows you to reach the island of Saint-Clément, where the remains of a marble workshop are still visible. Located on the banks of the Sarthe, this St Clément marble workshop, created by the Landeau family opposite the Abbey of Solesmes, used water power to work the material.

(10) The Solesmes bridge was built in 1904 using local marble (grey marble veined with white). On 8 August 1944, the Germans, who were occupying Solesmes, blew up the first two arches of the bridge, so the ferry was brought back into service to enable the inhabitants to cross the Sarthe.

- Solesmes Abbey: a mecca for Gregorian chant, where Dom Prosper Guéranger (4 April 1805 in the former Couvent des Cordelières, rue des Terres in Sablé - 30 January 1875 in Solesmes) restored the Order of Saint Benedict in 1833

- La Marbrerie, next to Solesmes Abbey: former marble workshop of Le Tertre

- Cri Cri Plage: a venue where many music hall stars (Maria Candido, Gloria Lasso, Jacques Brel) performed from August 1947 onwards.