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Starting point and access: Créteil Pointe du Lac station.
- Metro - Line 8 (terminus).
Take Exit 1, Avenue François Mitterrand (opposite, after the turnstiles).
No signposting
(S) On leaving the metro, walk straight ahead for about thirty metres then take a footbridge on the right. At the exit, turn left, pass the statue of former President Mitterrand and walk down the esplanade named after him. Cross a road and continue straight ahead, keeping a small canal (sometimes dry) on your right. At the end, first turn left then right to take a flight of steps leading down to the lakeside.
Yellow markings
(1) At the bottom, turn left and walk along the lake on your right, first on a compacted path and then, shortly after, on a concrete path. Follow this path as it winds along the lake. At a railing (viewpoint), turn left and continue along the winding concrete path.
You’ll come out onto a wide tarmac path; follow it to the right for a few dozen metres and, at the fork, take the gravel path on the right. Walk along the swimming pool fence, then go round the wooden buildings of the sailing school on the right. Ignore a flight of steps leading down to the right towards a small beach. Continue northwards along a wide, compacted path, passing a playground on your left.
No signposting
(2) Take a very low wooden jetty on the right, which crosses a reed bed (be careful to spot this start). Walk along the jetty to a railing overlooking the lake for a lovely view.
Retrace your steps, but do not go all the way back to the previous point: just before reaching it, turn right onto another, even lower jetty at the water’s edge. Head back up via thesecond wooden ramp on the left.
Yellow markings
Return to the compacted path and follow it to the right (north).
No markings
(3) Take the sturdy footbridge on the right, which leads to a small island (which can serve as a stopping point). Walk briefly around the island (indicative route) and return via the footbridge.
Yellow markings
(3) Continue northwards along the lake’s edge and note the Créteil mosque on the left. You’ll reach the northern tip of the lake (paved area).
(4) Continue roughly straight ahead, keeping the lake on your right. Pass under the spiral section of a footbridge and turn left to cross this footbridge (zigzag). Cross the D86 in this way.
As you leave the footbridge, follow the tarmac path straight ahead downhill at the foot of a tower, towards Paris-XII University. Note an information sign on the right about the neighbourhood you are passing through, “du chou et des épis”.
Cross the road at the pedestrian crossing and continue straight ahead along a tarmac path (follow the cycle signs). Pass between a low cylindrical tower block and the Charles Péguy school complex, which is also cylindrical.
Cross Boulevard Pablo Picasso and walk past the media/play centre on your right, then a cinema. Continue along a tarmac path running parallel to Rue Ambroise Paré.
Red and white + yellow markings
(5) Turn right onto the Mail des Mèches (not signposted here) and walk alongside the university buildings. At a fork, continue straight ahead (do not turn right) and take a wide paved path.
After about fifty metres, climb the steps on the left leading to the University esplanade (UPEC). Turn immediately right and take the footbridge over Avenue du Général de Gaulle (four-lane road).
Go down a long ramp and, at the bottom, continue along a paved path (still the Mail des Mèches). Follow the main path, which winds its way east-northeast, ignoring the side paths. After a bar-restaurant, enter the tunnel leading to the metro (Créteil Université station).
On the other side, continue straight on for about twenty metres and, at a fork, turn right. Then turn left and leave a map of the town on your right. At the traffic lights, turn left to cross an access ramp, then turn right again.
No signposting
(6) At the next junction, turn left into Rue Saint-Simon. At the T-junction, go left, cross Rue Ernest Mallet on the left-hand side and continue along Rue Saint-Simon. Cross two more streets on the left-hand side, then go under the metro bridge.
Then cross Avenue du Général de Gaulle and continue straight ahead, still on Rue Saint-Simon. Cross Rue Boule twice in succession on the left-hand side (it forms a circular pattern) and pass under the motorway bridge.
Enter Maisons-Alfort, follow Rue de Mesly and walk alongside the residential complex called "Square Hector Berlioz".
(7) At the end, turn right onto Rue Georges Médéric. At the traffic lights, cross Rue Victor Hugo (pedestrian crossing on the left) and continue straight ahead along Rue Georges Médéric. At the next junction, turn right onto Rue Carnot.
At the junction with Rue Georges Gaume, turn right into Parc des Hannetons towards the Ensemble Pompidou. Just after the entrance chicane, take the tarmac path on the right. Pass a playground on your left, then turn left to leave the park.
(8) At the exit, turn right and walk past the Alphonse Daudet school. Go round the roundabout on the left and follow Rue du 18 juin 1940 to the left, towards Charentonneau.
After a few dozen metres, climb a flight of steps on the right towards Cours des Juliottes. At the foot of a staircase leading to the right, turn left towards numbers 12 to 37 and pass a chicane.
Follow a path, walk past a restaurant on your left, then cross a small covered shopping centre. At the exit, you will find the Maisons-Alfort Les Juliottes metro station (E) directly opposite.
To get back home:
- Metro - Line 8.
Local authority
Moderate 
Visorando member
Difficult 
