From Mormant to Marles-en-Brie via the Château du Vivier

Starting point and access: Mormant station.
- Transilien – Line P, on the section between Paris-Est and Provins.
Take the only exit, on the side of the station building, which provides direct access when coming from Provins (if arriving from the opposite direction, use the underpass).

No signposting

(S) On leaving the station, head to the left. At the junction, cross Avenue de la Gare and follow it to the right (south).

Blue signposting

At the traffic lights, carry on straight ahead. At the next junction, turn left onto Rue du Moulin. Carry on straight ahead, ignoring any side streets and cul-de-sacs.

(1) Cross the bridge over the railway line. The road then narrows and gives way to a grassy track between the fields. After a bend to the left, ignore a path branching off to the right, cross the Ru d’Avon and walk alongside a copse on your right. Pass under a high-voltage power line and then under a standard power line.

(2) At the junction, take the track on the left heading towards a farmstead. At the corner of^{the first} building, turn right. Pass an abandoned building on your left, then a pond on your right.

(3) At the ‘give way’ sign, follow the D32E3 to the left. This road appears to have little traffic, but the verge is quite narrow: do take care. At the junction at the entrance to Aubepierre, turn right onto the Chemin des Grands Bois. Ignore the side streets on the left and pass the entrance to the football ground. At the Stop sign, turn right and pass the cemetery.

(4) About fifty metres further on, leave the road and turn left onto a farm track. Follow this track for some time heading north-east. As you approach the first houses, follow a concrete block wall on your left.

(5) At the three-way junction, turn left onto Rue du Jour. At the end, turn left onto Rue de l’Ormoy. After about fifty metres, take the^first right onto Chemin du Bois de la Ville (gravel track). Walk alongside a low wall on your right and continue along a grassy path (very overgrown in places) with a fence on the right-hand side. At the T-junction, turn left and you’ll immediately come to a poorly marked junction.

Blue and yellow markings

(6) Continue straight on towards an electricity pole. Ignore a path on the left and head downhill. At the bottom, cross the D211 ( – heavy traffic) and head straight across towards Courtomer. Cross the River Yerres and, at the corner by a sewage treatment plant, continue straight on up Rue du Pont Neuf. Then take the^first right, into Rue de la Sirette. Walk past the town hall, then climb the steps on the right leading to the church square. Keep the church on your right and go down the steps on the left.

(7) At the junction, turn left onto Rue du Paradis, which leads downhill, and immediately cross Rue du Pont Neuf on the left-hand side. Before a 30 km/h speed limit sign, turn right onto Chemin de la Pierre Couvée. The tarmac quickly gives way to a gravel path, which becomes grassy further on. First turn left then right at the foot of a beautiful chestnut tree. Continue along the edge of the woodland until you reach the Menhir de la Pierre Couvée, situated on the left in a field (no access).

(8) Carry on along the edge of the field, then enter the woods. You’ll soon pass a meadow on your left, then climb steadily through the woods. At the top, ignore a blue arrow sign indicating a left turn; carry on straight ahead and you’ll immediately come to a small road.

Yellow markings

(9) Follow the road to the left, along the edge of the woods.

Yellow and pink markings

On the left-hand side, you’ll cross a road closed to vehicles over 3.5 tonnes; carry on straight ahead and ignore another road on the right.

(10) At a telephone pole bearing a mountain bike marker, turn left onto a path which runs parallel to the road at the start. Follow a fence on your left, ignore a path on the right, then follow fences and garden walls on your right. You’ll come out onto a small road in the village of Arcy; follow it to the left for about fifty metres.

(11) Then turn right onto Chemin du Lavoir. This path is gravel-surfaced at the start and then becomes grassy. Walk alongside a fenced meadow on your right, then continue between the fields. Cross the footpath over the Ru du Miroir. When you reach a metal gate, turn left. Walk alongside a fenced meadow on your right, which contains a pond.

(12) At the corner of the meadow, turn right onto a narrow path (the end of the path shown in purple on the map has been ploughed up). Weave your way between a hedge on the left and the meadow fence on the right. At the end, ignore a path on the left and go straight on into the woods. At the junction a few metres further on, turn right and head north-east, keeping to the left of a fence. Continue along the edge of the woodland, then follow the pastures of a riding centre on your left.

(13) The path turns left and enters the woods again. Pass two ponds on the right-hand side, turn right with the path and follow a fence on your right. Then turn left and cross a stream. Continue straight on with a fence on your right until you come out onto a road at the entrance to the hamlet of Les Grands Champs.

Yellow markings

(14) Cross the road (with care) and follow it to the right for about thirty metres. Then turn left, go through a metal gate and continue straight on into a woodland. Cross a stream then turn left (west). Pass between the two walls of an old railway bridge and continue west-north-west. Cross the D436 road (, a busy road) and follow the small road opposite towards Château du Vivier.

(15) Turn right with the road and note the ruins of Château du Vivier on your left. Turn left with the road and head uphill.

Red and white markings

(16) At the Stop sign, turn right and walk alongside the horse pastures on your left. Follow the road for about 1 km.

Red and white + yellow markings

(17) Take the small road on the right towards Visy. Head downhill, cross a river and go back up the other side via Rue du Bréon. When you reach a speed bump on the street, turn left onto Chemin du Parc. Walk through a residential area, pass through a metal gate and continue along a footpath. At a three-way junction (marker 97), turn left. Further on, cross a stream, pass through a metal gate and cross a river.

(18) Ignore the entrance to a sewage treatment plant on your left and head up a small road opposite. Soon, you’ll be walking alongside the wall of the Château de Fontenay-Trésigny park on your right.

(19) At the ‘give way’ sign, follow the D144a to the right. Ignore all turnings on the left, enter Fontenay-Trésigny and you’ll come out opposite the church.

(20) Leave the church on your left and cross the village via Rue Bertaux. Pass through a stone gate and, at the next roundabout, turn slightly left to follow Avenue du Général de Gaulle towards the N4 and Nancy. Pass the town hall and then the post office on your left.

(21) At the corner of No. 14, turn left onto Rue Louis Braille. At the end of the street, follow the avenue to the left. At the roundabout, continue straight ahead and cross Avenue du Général Leclerc, following it along the right-hand pavement. Go under the N4 bridge and turn immediately right towards Nancy. Follow the road along its left-hand verge and take a faintly marked path behind the safety barrier.

(22) Turn left straight away, following a small concrete wall on your left. Turn right at a pond, then immediately left. Follow a path overgrown with grass between the low wall on your left and a cultivated field on your right (a cluttered and unpleasant stretch; conditions as at June and September 2020). Walk alongside a copse on your right, ignore a path on the right and rejoin a proper path. Emerge onto a road at the hamlet of La Croix Saint-Pierre.

(23) Cross the road and follow it to the left as far as the crossroads. Cross the D436 ( – a busy road) and follow the D144a for about twenty metres. Then turn right onto a path. At the Fork in the road that appears immediately (not shown on the map), take the path on the right which leads back towards the D436 and then turns left. Follow a wide path through the woods, which is the embankment of an old railway line. Continue along the edge of the woodland and then through the fields.

No signposting

(24) At the junction, carry on straight ahead (ignore the signposting leading to the right). At the end of the track, follow a small road to the right (D143). At the Stop sign, cross the D436 again and follow it to the left. Carry on straight ahead and, as you approach the level crossing, turn right to reach Marles-en-Brie station (E).

Train timetables: see the Transilien website.

For motorists:
Arrange to use two cars, one at each of the car parks at the two stations. Using just one car would require a change at Paris-Est station.

Hiking boots are essential.

Water point at Aubepierre cemetery (4). Bread vending machine on the esplanade outside Courtomer church (7) and a bar opposite. Bars, restaurants, a bakery and other shops in Fontenay-Trésigny.
Thanks to the Visorandonneur user ‘ovil’ for completing the list of resources along the route.

In the areas between the fields, signposting is scarce due to a lack of suitable surfaces. Between points (12) and (14), it appears to have been damaged in places. A 1:25,000 map is required (at the very least, the one accompanying this description).

Warning:
Hikers should be aware that this walk involves a significant stretch of tarmac roads. Furthermore, the heavy traffic on the N4, after Fontenay-Trésigny, is certainly audible.

Walk completed by the author on 19 June 2020.

- Courtomer Church (13th–16th centuries) (7).
- The Pierre Couvée menhir (8). The menhir stands in a field with no access path: once crops have been sown, please do not enter the field on the pretext of viewing the menhir at close quarters.
- Château du Vivier (13th century).
- Church of Fontenay-Trésigny (15th–16th centuries) (20).