From Marigny to the Chizé Forest

Starting point: Place du Centre car park in Marigny.

(Start/Finish) Leave the car park by heading towards the far end of the Place du Centre, where the car park is located, heading south-west. Continue along the Chemin de Saint-Sévenin.
You’ll see a well in front of a house on the right-hand side.

Go straight on at the junction with Rue de la Morinne, heading towards the campsite.
A lovely farm with livestock buildings on the right.
Further on, turn right onto the track, leaving the road leading to the campsite. Lovely views to the north over the surrounding countryside.

Carry on straight ahead until you reach the first wood. Walk through it and continue to a small road. Cross it carefully and carry on straight ahead into the Chizé Forest. The path runs along the edge of the wood on your right, with large fields beyond.

As the path approaches a large clearing of cultivated fields, follow the forest track which turns sharply to the left. Shortly afterwards, the path turns at a right angle to the right. Pass through a gate restricting motor vehicle access and continue along a lovely forest lane.
A little further on, the forest lane turns to the right and reaches a junction with a forest track on the right.

(1) Carry on straight ahead along the lovely forest lane – Forest Road No. 11 – which heads straight south-west and climbs gently up a small hill. At the top of the climb, the forest lane levels out. Continue for about one hundred to one hundred and fifty metres until you reach a barrier restricting motor vehicle traffic at a junction with a forest path on the right.

(2) Turn right and follow the forest track which runs alongside the D1 departmental road through the woods. Further on, pass a junction of tracks; almost immediately afterwards, the track turns left and winds its way closer to the D1. The track eventually opens out onto a small road leading from Rimbault to the hamlet of Sèche-Bec. Turn left to go round the Plan de Rimbault Forest House, which is opposite the track’s exit.

(3) At the junction with the D1 road, in front of the Plan de Rimbault Forest House, take the Allée Verte (^GR®®36) on the right. A little further on, pass through a barrier restricting motor vehicle traffic and continue to the junction with the first track on the right, shortly afterwards.

(4) Turn off onto the forest track on the right, which runs alongside the small road through the woods leading from Rimbault to the hamlet of Sèche-Bec.
Further on, you’ll notice a small pond in the woods on the right-hand side of the track. It’s visible a few metres from the track and is distinctly circular.
At the end of the straight stretch of the track, leave the track on the right and continue along the track that turns left and winds its way a few metres into the woods, with a large field on the right. The track, which is now narrower, eventually leads onto a good forest track (^GR®®36).

(5) Turn right onto the path that crosses the area known as La Vallée. Shortly afterwards, the path is flanked by two lovely shrub hedges whilst offering fine views of the surrounding fields. Carry on to the road leading to Sèche-Bec, which is nearby on the left-hand side. Cross the road carefully and continue straight ahead along a path on bare ground. Continue to the junction with a path on the left.

(6) Turn left onto the path, which climbs very gently and is lined by a hedge on your right. Continue to a junction between the D101 road leading from Beauvoir-sur-Niort to Marigny and the road leading to the hamlet known as Le Grand Mauduit.

(7) Carefully follow the D101 road to the right for about fifty metres. Turn left onto a path at the edge of a small copse. Follow this path as it crosses an area of large open fields at a place called Chiron de l’Ipaisse. Continue until it joins a small road at a right-angled bend.

(8) Turn right onto the path between two hedgerows, which heads north. Shortly afterwards, the path descends, approaching the railway line which it overlooks. Walk alongside the railway line for a short while. The path – Pln de Beauregard – is then tarmac-surfaced and veers away from the railway line to climb the hillside. A little further on, small patches of vineyards come into view, particularly on the right. The path heads east. At a small copse, turn left and head down towards the railway line at a place called Les Vignes Franches.

(9) Just before the railway line, turn right onto the path that runs alongside it on the left-hand side, known as the Chemin de Beauregard. You’ll reach the modest Marigny railway station and continue on to the junction with the D102 road, Rue de la Gare.

(10) Turn right onto a narrow track that runs alongside the D102 road (separated from it by a barrier). Follow it towards Marigny. Enter the village and continue to Impasse de l’Église on the right-hand side. Turn into this cul-de-sac and, before the gate of the very austere Church of Saint John the Evangelist, take the narrow lane that runs alongside the church, leading to the apse, where there is a signpost and a fine view of the church. Head for Rue de Beauvoir and walk eastwards towards the Town Hall to arrive straight away at Place du Centre (S/E).

Before reaching the car park which marks the end of this route, take a look at the beautiful house where Yves Rabault, the Poitou-born singer-songwriter, once lived.

The car park is located at Place du Centre in Marigny. At the far end of the car park, on the right-hand side at the back of a small grassy area, there are toilets. Other parking spaces are available in the village (opposite the cemetery, next to it, and near the village hall). For those arriving from the west via the D102, it is possible to park at Marigny station (just before point (10) on the route) and work out the rest of the route from there.

This walk across varied terrain requires suitable footwear.

This route is partially signposted as it follows sections of^{the GR®®36}and the^GR®®36diversion, marked in red and white. It follows the GR®36 almost from the start to (1), from (3) to (4), and from (5) to the road near Séche-Bec. Nevertheless, it is advisable to follow the directions in this description and on the map, whilst also paying attention to the surrounding landscape. Distance markers from the starting point, or even the GPS coordinates of waypoints (including the start), can also help hikers find their way.

Alternative route: For those wishing to take a shorter route, it is possible to continue straight on at (6) to reach (1) in around 400 metres. The end of the route then follows the same path as on the way out to (1). In this case , the route is 9.3 km long

Hike completed by the author on 13 December 2020.

Marigny
In the 12th century, the area under vine increased at the expense of wheat. Food shortages arose at the slightest climatic disturbance.
From the 15th to the 16th century. It is said that François^I, who owned a kennel in Rimbault for hunting with hounds in the Forest of Chizé, enjoyed tasting local wines such as those from Marigny. He particularly appreciated grape varieties such as Folle Blanche for white wine and Balzac for red wine.
In the 18th century, the intensification of crop and cereal farming made way for the planting of vineyards.
During the Empire, the vineyards – which covered 12 per cent of arable land – provided the commune’s main source of income. Certain names of fiefdoms evoke the presence of vineyards, such as Le Plantis, Les Vignes Franches, Le Vigneau, Les Vieilles Vignes, Le Fief de Beauregard, Le Fief des Dames, etc. The vineyard area increased from 360 ha to 700 ha by 1875 (over a period of fifty years).
In 1881, the vines were infected and withered away, leading to the disappearance of almost all the vineyards. This was accompanied by a very significant exodus of the population.
In 1889, the first dairy in the Deux-Sèvres department was founded in Beauvoir. This prompted all the farmers to build up their own herds. In 1896, new families settled on the land that had become available. They came from Gâtine and the Vendée.

The Church of Saint John the Baptist
The site has been inhabited for a long time, as evidenced by the megaliths and nine Merovingian tombs discovered in 1883. Between 936 and 954, Marigny (Marniacus) was the chief town of a Carolingian district, known as a ‘viguerie’. The church is thought to have been built by the monks of the Abbey of Saint-Jean-de-Montierneuf in Poitiers at the end of the 11th century. It is dedicated to the same saint as the abbey, John the Evangelist.
It was confirmed as belonging to the abbey by Pope Adrian IV in 1157. The priory church remained under the authority of Montierneuf until the Revolution. The priory buildings stood adjacent to the church. Damaged during the Wars of Religion, the church underwent major restoration in 1715.
During the Revolution, it was put up for sale as national property and acquired in 1793 by Jacques-Claude
Jard-Panvilliers. It was used as a saltpetre store. When the purchaser offered to sell it back to the local council for 1,600 francs, the council refused. He then had the paving removed and the vaults, as well as the south and west walls, demolished in 1801.
In 1813, a new municipal council took office and decided to rebuild the church. Mr de La Rochebrochard donated stones from the former castle at Fors for this purpose.
Source: the municipality’s official website

The landscaping of the surroundings allows visitors to admire the beauty of the central bay and the semi-circular apse, flanked by the semi-circular apsidioles of the transept, all covered with slate. The whole structure is dominated by the
massive, elongated bell tower. The bell tower, situated above the square transept, dates only from 1854. Given its imposing octagonal base, it is likely that the original bell tower was more slender. A stone parapet enhances the appearance of the square structure with its four windows, which illuminate the belfry.
The spiral staircase leading up to the bell tower is situated at the junction of the nave and the right arm of the transept. The bell tower covers the transept square with an octagonal dome resting on drum-shaped supports. The four arches of the transept’s square are built in a basket-handle style. The pillars are decorated with large capitals, each of which is well worth admiring in turn. On each arm of the barrel-vaulted transept there is a semicircular apside.
The chancel comprises a straight bay with a barrel vault and an apse with a semi-cylindrical vault, illuminated by
an oculus. This part of the church was listed as a historic monument on 8 April 1909.

The Forest of Chizé
The Chizé State Forest
A remnant of a prehistoric forest, it covers approximately 3,435 ha and forms part of a larger area, the Aulnay-Chizé massif.

An open forest
Crossed by the^GR®®36, the^GR®® de Pays de la Sylve d’Argenson, the Chizé Forest welcomes many visitors, including walkers, cyclists, schoolchildren and scientists.

Remarkable wildlife
Designated as a Natura 2000 site, the forest is home to 31 species of mammals, 6 species of reptiles, 8 species of amphibians, 78 species of birds and over 530 species of butterflies!

The dominant broad-leaved trees
The Chizé Forest is unique in that it consists mainly of beech trees. Having been affected by the storm of 1999, it is now the subject of in-depth observations and studies into the resilience of the tree in the context of climate change.
There are also numerous oaks, notably the ‘Emperor’s Oak’, which is around 250 years old and stands 27 metres tall; and the ‘Papinot Oak’, which will provide shelter for your picnic break.

A forest, a legend: the seven oaks of Chizé
Legend has it that Melusine, the fairy of Poitou, whilst flying over the Forest of Chizé, was desperate to find a source of water to bathe her serpent’s tail. She thus caused a seven-trunked oak to spring from seven acorns, at the centre of which a natural pool filled with water. Today it is known as Melusine’s Bath.

Organisations based at the Chizé site:
The CNRS laboratory (on the site of a former military camp, active from 1952 to 1967, which housed 4,000 American military personnel and French civilians);
Ifrée (on the CNRS site), which aims to encourage greater public engagement through environmental education;
Zoodyssée (established in 2009; an ATMO Poitou-Charentes air quality monitoring station helps to better understand the links between air quality and forest ecology).
Source: website

Yves Rabault, the Poitevin singer-songwriter (1910–1990)
The origins of ‘Quand tu m’fais d’la sauce aux lumas’
Yves Rabault was born at 12 Chemin de Saint-Séverin, in Marigny, a small rural village on the edge of the Chizé Forest. Born into a family of farmers, he was nicknamed the ‘Poitevin bard’ in the 1930s. His *Histouères et chantuseries*, published in 1982 with a foreword by Léon Zitrone, is a collection of his complete works, including the famous ‘Sauce aux Lumas’, written in 1940 to the tune of Vincent Scotto’s “Quand on s’aime bien tous les deux”, an idea that came to him in 1934 whilst he was performing in Paris at the Caveau de la République, the Lapin Agile, the Théâtre des Deux Ânes, the Coucou and La Lune Rousse; a song that would take France by storm!
He remarried in 1965 to Simone Suzange, a pianist and accompanist who was a star of the Parisian cabarets and who went on to set up a dance and music school in Marigny. He then took over the management of Productions Paris Variétés, founded by his wife; in 1973, he received the Georges Chepfer Prize, awarded to the best poet-songwriter writing in the local dialect that year. After a lively career, he now rests in Marigny Cemetery.

What is a ‘luma’ in Poitou?
Known as ‘luma’ (*) in Poitou and Aunis, ‘bavou’ in Deux-Sèvres and ‘cagouille ’ (**) in the Charentes, it refers to the petit-gris, a snail measuring 30 to 40 mm and weighing 6 to 18 g. The main centres of French snail farming are Cavaillon, in the Vaucluse, and Charente-Maritime; with Poitou-Charentes remaining the leading producer, even though the gastropod is ill-suited to farming, which is therefore a marginal activity.
(*) From the Latin ‘limax’, meaning slug or snail.
(**) From the Latin ‘cuculle’, meaning hood or cap.
To find out more
Source (excerpts)''