From the railway line to the Roman road via Laurenan

de fr

An easy walk that follows the old railway line of the narrow-gauge railway from Carhaix to La Brohinière, then joins the Chemin de l’Etrat, a Roman road linking Corseul to Vannes. This is the eastern section of the short walking route ‘Au carrefour des voies’.

Details

n°29257308
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 6.32 mi
  • ◔
    Average duration: 3h 05 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate
  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 233 ft
  • ↘
    Descent: - 256 ft
  • ▲
    Highest point: 768 ft
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 535 ft
  • ⚐ Country: France
  • ⚐ City: Laurenan (22230)
  • ⚑
    Start/End: N 48.198823° / W 2.535167°
  • ❏
    IGN map(s): Ref. 0918SB, 1018SB
  • Hour-by-hour weather
    Discover Visorando Premium
Downloads
Open in the mobile app
Download GPX GPX
Download PDF PDF

Description of the walk

/A:: From the church car park in Laurenan, head north towards the centre of the village. At the roundabout, take Impasse de la Ligne, to the left of the town hall and to the right of the Route de Saint-Gilles-du-Mené. Go to the end of this cul-de-sac and continue along the footpath until you reach the greenway, a former railway line.

(1) Turn right (GRP® Petit Circuit du Petit Mené, red and yellow markings) and stay on this path for nearly 4 km.

(2) Ignore the path on the left – which will be the return route– and carry on straight ahead, following the GRP® markings.

(3) Leave the track on the left, following the yellow markings (which mark the rest of the route). Pass through the hamlet of La Folie and continue straight on along the tarmac road.

(4) Pass the abandoned houses of the hamlet of La Folie d’en Haut on your right and turn onto the first farm track on the left. Carry on straight ahead.

(5) Cross the D16 and carry on straight ahead at the first junction.

(6) At the junction with the Chemin de l’Etrat, follow this path to the left. This is the old Roman road, running straight ahead; it was once wide and paved but is now overgrown with trees and vegetation. Follow it for about 2 km.

(7) At the junction with the D16, take the farm track on the right which leads towards some agricultural sheds. The track goes round them and then passes through the village of La Mare. On leaving this hamlet, go straight on and then take a path just to the left of the house, which will bring you back onto the greenway.

(2) Turn right and, following the route in reverse to the one taken on the way there, return to the starting point at the church car park (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : mi 0 - alt. 577 ft - Car park - Église Saint-Ronan (Laurenan)
  2. 1 : mi 0.21 - alt. 535 ft - Former railway line
  3. 2 : mi 0.54 - alt. 571 ft - Crossroads at the end of the circular loop
  4. 3 : mi 2.74 - alt. 682 ft - Junction towards the hamlet of La Folie
  5. 4 : mi 3.12 - alt. 732 ft - La Folie d’en Haut
  6. 5 : mi 3.51 - alt. 768 ft - Crossing the D16
  7. 6 : mi 4.07 - alt. 722 ft - Junction with the Chemin de l’Etrat
  8. 7 : mi 5.22 - alt. 630 ft - The Croix du Chêne Dubé
  9. S/E : mi 6.32 - alt. 574 ft - Car park - Église Saint-Ronan (Laurenan)

Reviews and comments

4.5 / 5
Based on 2 reviews
Reliability of the description
5 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.5 / 5
Route interest
4 / 5
User 3889427

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 07, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

I didn’t quite understand the description of the difficulty as ‘moderate’, nor the estimated duration (3h05).
This route is practically flat, the paths are perfectly maintained, and, at 69 years old, with the heat and plenty of breaks to cool down, it took me 2 hours 30 minutes.

Machine-translated

Wjp
Wjp

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 14, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A route that is often in the shade, surrounded by nature

Machine-translated

Other walks in the area

Walking The Chapel of Saint-Guénaël and the Pellionnaye Menhir

Visorando Member
La Chapelle Saint-Guénaël et le Menhir de la Pellionnaye
↔7.76 mi ↗+436 ft ↘-423 ft ◔3h 55 ▲Moderate
⚑Departure from Gomené (Côtes-d'Armor)
A circular walk through the woods and countryside of Gomené, along footpaths or small tarmac roads, between the Chapel of Saint-Guénaël and the Pellionnaye Menhir.

Walking Walk... on iron from the start at Vaublanc

Visorando Member
Promenade... de fer au départ du Vaublanc
↔5.11 mi ↗+558 ft ↘-561 ft ◔2h 50 ▲Easy
⚑Departure from Plémet (Côtes-d'Armor)
Set off to explore the surroundings of the Forges du Vaublanc, which was an important iron foundry fromthe 17th tothe 19th century. The ore came from the region. The route follows the Lié, which provided hydraulic power to the factory, then crosses the Loudéac forest where dozens of charcoal burners produced the charcoal needed to fuel the blast furnaces.

Walking The Lié valley upstream from La Chèze

Visorando Member
La vallée du Lié en amont de La Chèze
↔13.92 mi ↗+607 ft ↘-600 ft ◔6h 55 ▲Difficult
⚑Departure from La Prénessaye (Côtes-d'Armor)
This walk follows the River Lié, a tributary of the River Oust, itself a tributary of the River Vilaine. It follows the Voie Verte, a former railway line linking Saint-Méen-le-Grand and Carhaix-Plouguer. It offers the chance to explore La Chèze, a small village in the shadow of its castle ruins, the former stronghold of the Lords of Rohan. The circular route ends with paths and small roads through the hills of the Saint-Barnabé and La Prénessaye countryside.

Walking The Perfaux Route in Saint-Vran

Visorando Member
↔8.53 mi ↗+449 ft ↘-459 ft ◔4h 20 ▲Moderate
⚑Departure from Saint-Vran (Côtes-d'Armor)
The first part of the route is the most interesting, with beautiful menhirs to discover, a (private) castle and a chapel. There are also small rock formations here, those of Quémelin.

Walking The Duc’s Route in Merdrignac

Visorando Member
↔7.45 mi ↗+312 ft ↘-315 ft ◔3h 40 ▲Moderate
⚑Departure from Merdrignac (Côtes-d'Armor)
A short route on the outskirts of Le Mené, combining town, countryside, lakes and the Greenway. The route also follows part of the GRP® du Petit Mené.

Walking A short walk around the Roche-au-Cerf site

Visorando Member
Petite promenade autour du site de la Roche au Cerf
↔2.13 mi ↗+154 ft ↘-141 ft ◔1h 05 ▲Easy
⚑Departure from Plessala (Côtes-d'Armor)
A very pretty little walk that takes you along almost no tarmac roads and follows the Lié valley, on the edge of the Loudéac forest. It takes you to some very interesting sites: La Roche-au-Cerf and its thousand-year-old ford, the castle and the Essarts mill.

Walking Menhirs of Le Mené

Visorando Member
Menhirs du Mené
↔8.07 mi ↗+377 ft ↘-351 ft ◔4h 00 ▲Moderate
⚑Departure from Langourla (Côtes-d'Armor)
The entire Mené region, in the heart of the Armorican Massif, is dotted with large granite boulders, the eroded remains of ancient mountains. This walk offers the chance to discover a few menhirs. The ‘Chaos de Quemelin’ site is also remarkable. The Rance winds its way through a chaos of rocks. Throughout the route, you’ll notice the presence of granite, often in piles of large boulders pushed to the edges of fields or into the woods to make way for crops.

Walking In the Loudéac Forest

Association / Club / Walk leader
↔4.54 mi ↗+184 ft ↘-197 ft ◔2h 15 ▲Easy
⚑Departure from Loudéac (Côtes-d'Armor)
A short walk to explore the Loudéac State Forest, which covers 2,500 hectares. The southern part is state-owned and the rest is private. Do take a moment to smell the scents of the trees and listen to nature, all whilst walking along well-maintained paths.

For more walks, use our search engine .

The GPS track and description are the property of this route's author. Please do not copy them without permission.