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Starting point: Carency – Car park, Rue du Quai, near the old station.
(S/E) With your back to the station, take the street opposite (Rue Joliot-Curie). At the T-junction, take the street on the left.
(1) Carry on straight ahead, heading uphill to the Moulin Topart.
(2) Leave the small road and take the path on the left. At the end, turn left along the edge of the field and continue to a T-junction.
(3) Take the track on the right and head down through the woodland to join a small road.
(4) Follow it to the right. After the last few houses, the road becomes a track. Ignore all the side paths and keep going in the same direction up the Vallée Niclette until you reach the D 65.
(5) Cross it and carry on straight ahead, passing the renovated old station, then the military cemetery, until you reach a T-junction. Then turn right onto a lovely arched path, which eventually turns left to cross the Bois de Villers. You’ll reach a crossroads opposite a recently renovated chapel.
(6) Take the Chaussée Brunehaut on the left. Keep heading south-east and walk for about 1.5 km. Don’t miss the gate on the left leading into the Bois Poret.
(7) Go through the gate. At the three-way junction, take the right-hand path along a lovely track through the ferns, which eventually leads to a bench and asecond gate. Go through it and turn left onto the path running alongside the woodland.
(8) At the edge of the woods, go through another gate on the right. Follow the lovely grassy path which turns left, leading to a T-junction opposite the water tower. Turn left to reach another T-junction, where you turn right. Walk for about 300 m.
(9) Don’t miss the narrow, straight path on the right, heading towards Villers-au-Bois (you can see the church). At the end of the path, take Rue Sanverne opposite. At the T-junction (communal pond on the left), turn right, walk past the church and stay on the street until you reach the D58.
(10) Follow it to the right, along the lovely pedestrianised path, until you reach the cemetery. Then turn left to cross the woods. You won’t have any trouble finding your way through the woods: just stay on the main path. The only problem is that it gets muddy as soon as it rains, and some sections can be a bit tricky. After a wider path (though not in very good condition either), you’ll reach a T-junction.
(11) Take the path on the right to enter the woods again (the path is much better). You’ll reach a T-junction on the outskirts of Mont-Saint-Éloi.
(12) Turn right onto Rue Salengro, then left onto thethird street (Rue des Tours) to find yourself facing the towers of the former abbey (a quick look behind the two towers will be well worth it once the building work is finished!).
(13) Take the GR®127 and the GR®145 on the left. Walk past the Town Hall and carry on in the same direction (still on the GR®), along Rue de la Warde. You’ll pass an old-fashioned garage (on the left), then a farm (it’s straight ahead, on the left). See practical information.
(14) Carry on straight ahead (this is the old GR® route, but according to IGN, it now appears to branch off to the right. It’s true that the path is quite rough in places, especially the last 100 metres).
You’ll reach a T-junction on the edge of Bois l’Abbé.
(15) Turn left, then immediately right (GR®127 variant). Pass one junction and reach a second one.
(16) Take the track on the left and reach the D58. Follow it for a few metres to the right and find a path branching off to the left.
(17) Follow this path until you reach a junction.
(18) Take the small road straight ahead. At the junction, continue straight ahead again and reach a road junction at the entrance to Ablain-Saint-Nazaire.
(19) Continue left along the Sentier des Vaux Chauds until you reach a T-junction.
(20) Turn left and, heading downhill, reach the original fork in the road.
(1) Follow the small road on the left in the opposite direction to the outward journey and, a little further on, turn right towards the station (S/E).
Association / Club / Walk leader
Easy 
Visorando Member
