In the footsteps of the Maquis fighters in Plainville

Park in the car park at Marolles-les-Buis church.

(S/E) With your back to the church, turn left onto the D103, which passes in front of the cemetery, and continue to the Croix de Lorraine.

(1) Continue right along the road which climbs and then descends to the Sainte-Barbe Oratory. Carry on to the right for about sixty metres.

(2) Turn right onto a stony track. Pass the pumping station, cross the Vinette and continue left along this track to the hamlet of Saint-Hilaire-des-Noyers, where you can admire the 12th-century chapel where the priest from Thiron Gardais used to come and say Mass for the resistance fighters.

(3) Follow the small road to the left as it climbs steeply.

(4) Leave it at the first tarmac track on the right leading to the hamlet of La Fontaine. Head straight on at the junction about a hundred metres further on and follow the small stony track which passes several houses.

(5) Before reaching La Vinette, turn left onto a stony track that passes through Le Petit Giraumont and follow it straight on. At a fork (elevation 261), turn left until you reach a tarmac road.

(6) Take this road to the right, then immediately turn right to reach the D103. Cross the road with care and follow a dirt track opposite. Leave it at the first track on the left, which leads to La Bruyère. Continue straight on until you reach the D103.

(7) Take this road to the right and pass the access road to the Vallée des Sceaux.

(8) Turn left onto the road that crosses the woods and heads downhill to the Plainville farm.

(9) To explore the cave once inhabited by the Resistance fighters, follow the grassy path on the left leading towards the woods. Enter the woods and continue to a clearing where a memorial stone stands in honour of the Resistance fighters. Follow the on-site signposts to reach the caves.

(10) Return to the Plainville farm by the same route.

(9) Turn left and follow the road to the junction near the Oratoire Sainte-Barbe.

(2) Turn right then left and retrace your steps in the opposite direction to the car park at the church in Marolles-les-Buis (S/E).

Saint-Vincent Church.
Sainte-Barbe Oratory
Chapel of Saint-Hilaire-des-Noyers.
Plainville Maquis site.