From Fleury to the Orne

Parking is available at the Oresme car park near the town hall in Fleury-sur-Orne.

(S/E) Exit the Oresme car park, turn left onto Rue Serge Rouzière, staying on the left-hand pavement, pass the Espace Nicolas Oresme and then the town hall, and head back up towards the town centre. Turn left onto Rue de la Paix.

(1) Cross Rue Bouquet (church on the right), negotiate the right-hand bend, then turn left again into Rue Neuve. At the end of the street, turn left to take the narrow passage between the houses and join Avenue de Tilleuls, which overlooks the Orne. Turn right and follow the street for a few metres.

(2) Turn left onto Chemin des Carrières, keep left at the first intersection to leave Chemin des Côteaux. At the next intersection, carefully cross Rue de Saint-André (D 233) and continue straight ahead. Follow Chemin des Carrières for several hundred metres until you reach a small dirt road that climbs slightly to the right.

(3) At the fork, keep left onto the narrow, winding path that descends to the Orne. Follow the river south (on your right) to Île Enchantée. Keep right at the inn (Rue de Saint-André - D 233), continue along the river on Chemin de la Digue and pass under the old railway bridge that crosses the Orne.

(4) Turn left onto Chemin Latéral, which runs alongside the old railway line (on the left), and follow it for about 1 km until you reach a crossroads. Continue straight ahead on Chemin Latéral for about 800 m and pass under the southern ring road of Caen. In the left-hand bend, ignore the path on the right and cross the railway line. At this point, the greenway crosses to the other side of the old railway line. Continue to Rue de Fleury (D 233).

(5) Cross the road carefully and take Rue de Saint-André opposite. Pass the large farmhouse (on your right), follow the ring road (on your left), ignore the paths and access roads on your right, pass under the high-voltage line and reach the T-junction.

(6) Turn left, cross the bridge over the southern ring road of Caen, ignore Chemin Perdu on the right, pass the equestrian centre on the left and continue to the old church in Bas Fleury. Take the right-hand bend, ignore Chemin de l'Hôpital on the left and, at the fork, keep right onto the narrow, wooded Chemin du Colombier. At the junction with Allée des Peupliers, turn left and then use the passage on the left to reach Grande Rue.

(7) Cross Grande Rue carefully using the pedestrian crossing a few metres further down, turn right to go up Grande Rue on the left-hand pavement, cross Rue Louis Pasteur, pass the buildings and then the entrance to the Pasteur residence (on the left), walk along the embankment on your left, pass Rue de Crèvecœur (opposite side of Grande Rue), reach the car park and continue until you approach the corner of the recycling centre fence. Turn left before the waste collection centre, take the oval-shaped grassy path on the left lined with tarpaulins, negotiate the curve to the right, then continue straight ahead between the Pasteur residence (on your left) and the waste collection centre (on your right) until you reach Rue Louis Pasteur opposite, near the CCAS and the Salle Pasteur. Cross Rue Pasteur with caution, turn left, walk about 50 metres and turn right onto the path furthest to the right between numbers 52 and 54 on Rue Louis Pasteur. When you reach Rue Salvador Allende, turn right, negotiate the left-hand bend and continue to Rue Paul Langevin.

(8) Turn right, ignore the cul-de-sac on the right and continue to the intersection with Rue Eugène Varlin. Turn right to go uphill, walk about 50 metres, cross the street with caution and turn left into Impasse Ambroise Croizat, above which are some of the Swedish houses built during the reconstruction of Normandy (Rue Pasteur). Continue along the path to Rue Serge Rouzière opposite Espace Nicolas Oresme, cross the street carefully, turn left towards the Oresme car park and return to the parking area (S/E).

At crossing point (6), the narrow, winding path down to the Orne is quite steep, so I would advise against it for people who are unsteady on their feet.

Between crossing points (3) and (4), the path along the Orne river is prone to flooding during high water periods.

Fleury-sur-Orne

The commune was once divided between two parishes: Haute Allemagne, with its stone quarry workers' houses around the church of Saint-Martin, and Basse Allemagne, located in the lower part of the village on the edge of the marsh, with its vast landowners' residences dominated by the late^11th-century Romanesque bell tower of the church of Notre-Dame.
On the hillside overlooking the Orne, numerous stone quarries known as carreau d'Allemagne supplied the famous Caen stone.

Memories of Germany

Allemagne takes its name from a Roman garrison of Alamanni guarding the Athis ford across the Orne.

In 1047, it was near the village of Fleury that the rebellious barons, defeated at Val-ès-Dunes by Duke William of Normandy, crossed the Orne. The carnage was so great that their bodies, carried away by the current, blocked the Bourbillon mill near the Île Enchantée.

In 1916, Fleury-sous-Douaumont, near Verdun (Meuse), was destroyed by German bombs. "Outraged by the atrocities committed by the German hordes", the commune named "Allemagne", located south of Caen, decided to take this name, becoming Fleury-sur-Orne (1917).

From the^11th century onwards, numerous Caen stone quarries, first open-air and then underground, were opened in Fleury-sur-Orne until 1934 (covering approximately 11 hectares). Ammonites, nautiluses and even crocodiles have been found there! Nearly 20,000 refugees lived there during the bombings of 6 and 7 June 1944.

The Church of Notre-Dame de Basse-Allemagne

Its bell tower, listed as a historic monument, dates from the 11th-12th centuries, while the rest of the building, constructed in 1845 in a neo-Gothic style, is less interesting. This place of worship for the inhabitants of Lower Germany was built on a hillside near the old Angers road and the Athis ferry.

Swedish houses in the reconstruction of Normandy

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Sweden decided to show its solidarity with the devastated region of Normandy. Between 1946 and 1948, it sent two hundred wooden houses to Calvados. These semi-detached houses provided four hundred homes for ten municipalities: Aunay-sur-Odon, Bretteville-sur-Laize, Caen, Colombelles, Condé-sur-Noireau, Fleury-sur-Orne, Lisieux, Mézidon, Saint-André-sur-Orne and Thury-Harcourt. Sixty years later, these "little chalets, marvels of good taste and comfort" are still standing and continue to bear witness to the generosity of the Swedish people.

The Grand Marais de Fleury

Le Grand Marais de Fleury is a natural area of ecological, faunistic and floristic interest (ZNIEFF). It is bordered by the^GR®36long-distance hiking trail, which runs from Ouistreham to the Pyrenees. This wetland area, the hillsides carved out by quarrymen and the village overlooking the river offer beautiful views of the Orne valley and the city of Caen.

Miscanthus giganteus

Giant miscanthus, also known as elephant grass, is a perennial grass with rhizomes. Miscanthus is planted in March-April and has a lifespan of around 15 years. The first harvest takes place after 2 years. Miscanthus yields between 10 and 20 tonnes per hectare. It can grow up to 4 metres high.
Miscanthus grows in wetlands, such as the marshes near Louvigny, a sensitive environment that must be protected. It is therefore environmentally friendly:
- it is an ecological crop that grows without chemicals (no plant protection products or pesticides),
- it also promotes biodiversity,
- and above all, it stores 36 tonnes of^CO2 per hectare,
- in addition, in winter, animals such as deer and wild boar take refuge there.