Double circular route starting from Chaumes-en-Brie

Park in the car park at 6A Chemin de l'Abbaye in Chaumes en Brie, just after the castle.

(S/E) Turn left onto Chemin de l'Abbaye towards the outskirts of the town (south-west) until you reach Route de Maurevert. Take this road on the left and continue to the bridge over the Yerres.

(1) Do not cross the bridge, but turn left along the Yerres. Pass a dilapidated footbridge, then take the proper footbridge on the right and the path in line with it. Cross a wood and a path, then walk along the wood on your right until you reach the path that leads from the castle (*) to the fields. This path is private and blocked at the exit.

(2) Continue straight ahead along the woods. When the main path leaves the edge of the woods, continue to the right along the woods on the grassy path. Continue to the road, Chemin des Cantines, and turn right until you reach the next crossroads with Rue de la Tourelle.

(3) Turn left and continue to the end, opposite the woods and the Tourelle de Maurevert (*). Turn right and descend towards the Yerres. Cross the footbridge, then continue along the path and climb back up to the D48.

(4) Cross carefully and take the path opposite. The path turns left, then right and leads to Forest. At the crossroads with a calvary on the right at the entrance to the village, turn left. See the castle on the left (*), behind the gates, and arrive opposite the Ferme de Forest (*).

(5) Turn right onto Grande Rue, then continue straight on along Chemin du Gué du Thiou until you reach the ford on the Bréon.

(6) At the ford (*), continue straight ahead and go up the hill.
Note: during rainy periods, the ford may be impassable. In this case, return to the previous crossroads, turn left (going uphill) onto Chemin de l'Arche Montbrun (bridge visible) next to the low transformer, then, at the end of the climb, take the street on the left which rejoins Chemin du Gué after the latter).
After a left-right S-bend, take the path on the left in front of a tower-shaped transformer. At the end, at the new housing estate, turn right for a few metres and join Rue René Quinton, then turn left. Continue straight ahead along Rue Pasteur until the end. Find the GR®1, marked in red and white. Follow it to the left in front of the cemetery entrance.

(7) Walk along the cemetery towards the village exit, then follow the^{GR® trail} to the right at the end of the cemetery, Chemin de l'Étang. Walk along a wood until you reach a crossroads. Turn left onto the GR® trail to pass in front of the old mill between the ponds and fishponds.

(8) Continue to the D144A. Follow it to the right, taking care, until^{the first} crossroads with a sign for Château du Vivier on the right.

(9) Leave the^GR® and turn right to pass in front of the ruined Château du Vivier (*). Continue along the small road, cross the Bréon, and go up the hill to the junction with the D436.

(10) Cross it carefully. Continue straight ahead into the woods. Pass under the old abandoned railway line (*) from Paris Bastille to Marles-en-Brie via Verneuil; only the bridge walls remain on the right and left. Stay on the main path until you reach the D402.

(11) Cross it carefully, then follow it to the right for a few steps to find the marked path on the left, just before the bridge. Take it along the stream and ditch until you reach the edge of the woods. Turn right into the woods, then left and right again once you leave the woods. Pass in front of the racecourse and cross through some woods. Be careful! Look for the marked path on the left just before you leave the woods.

(12) Take the path on the left. Leave the woods and you will find yourself at a T-junction in front of a field. Turn left and follow the path to the village of Arcy. Turn left onto Rue du Château d'Arcy. Pass in front of a curious tower (*) to find the castle gate at the exit of the village.

(13) Take the path perpendicular to the street opposite the castle. In the woods, you will come to a perpendicular path on your left. Follow it until you reach the road. Continue straight ahead, passing the Impasse de la Ferme d'Arcy on your left, and continue to the next crossroads. Turn right onto the road that descends towards Argentières to reach the bridge over the Yerres.

(14) Cross the Yerres and follow Rue Saint-Bon, keeping to the left. Pass in front of the church square and continue to the next square with a pump next to a bench.

(15) Take Rue du Pressoir to the left of the pump, but not Impasse de l'Yerres on the far left. Just after No. 8 and a garage, take the passage on the right. Return to Rue Saint-Bon and turn left. Just after a decorated transformer, take another passage on the right to reach Rue des Acacias.

(16) Turn left onto Rue des Acacias and continue to the end, then turn slightly right onto Rue des Grands Saules. Follow this road until you leave the town and reach a small square with containers and a kind of memorial garden surrounded by stones and wooden barriers.

(17) Take the barely visible path on the right just after the bins. At the entrance to the woods, follow the path on the left along the edge of the woods until you reach the D32.

(18) Cross it carefully and take the path on the right. Cross the bridge over the old railway line and continue along the edge of the woods. You will reach a crossroads with several signposts.

(19) Take the path that descends to the right until you reach the D32, with a small square and the old gatekeeper's house opposite. Cross carefully and take the path on the left that starts to the right of the house, behind the barrier. Continue along the old railway line and cross the bridge over the Yerres. Continue straight ahead until you cross the bridge on the road leading into Chaumes.

(20) Just after the bridge, make a U-turn to the right to pass under the bridge and take Rue Nicolet towards the village centre. At^{the first} crossroads, take Boulevard Paulat on the left. At the end of the boulevard, turn left onto Chemin du Pré Martin to reach the Yerres at a small triangular square with a small car park.
Leave the street and turn right at an acute angle along the Yerres. Walk along it on your left, pass in front of the dam and go up the D402, Route de Guignes, via the stairs on the right. Cross the road and turn left in front of the gendarmerie. Cross the Yerres via the D402 and rejoin the river via the steps on the right after the bridge and the small car park. Use the footbridge on the right to cross the Yerres again. Turn slightly right to go around the school buildings, then left and follow the path that climbs towards the castle. Turn left in front of the castle to reach the abbey car park (S/E).

Caution: be wary of the markings: they are currently being repaired, so they vary in colour and have sometimes disappeared.

(S/E) A medieval castle pastiche built on the ruins of the former Saint-Pierre-de-Chaumes en Brie Abbey, which fell into ruin before the Revolution.

(2) On the right, the Château de Maurevert, which is not accessible: private road. The château is built on the site of the medieval castle. It was the fiefdom of the Louviers family, lords of Maurevert and Saint-Mery, renowned for their fanaticism during the Wars of Religion. Charles de Louviers, Lord of Maurevert and the damned soul of the ultra-Catholic Duke of Guise, attempted to assassinate Admiral de Coligny on 22 August 1572, most likely on Guise's orders. This was the trigger for the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. In 1621, François de Louviers, at the head of a team of killers, attacked the foresters of Ozouer le Voulgis with the aim of seizing the forests of Ozouer, between Ozouer and Maurevert, which provided timber for construction and heating, as well as game. The judge had the lord and his henchmen beheaded.

(3) Maurevert Tower: This is the remains of a fortified farm called Château de la Tourelle. The estate belonged to the Louviers de Maurevert family.

(5) At the entrance to Forest, after the calvary, pass a gate on the left: this is the former castle of the Countess of Ballancourt, which later became Cavanna's residence.
- La Ferme de Forest, renowned for its dovecote. It was rebuilt in 1897 in Anglo-Asian style on the site of the former medieval manor house, which was destroyed by fire.

(6) Curious ford of the Thiou. This is probably a dam separating the river and a leat to supply a mill, while allowing the Bréon to cross.

(9) Château du Vivier: Royal castle where Philip IV the Fair stayed. Philip VI of Valois added the chapel dedicated to Saint Louis to the estate. Charles VI the Mad was confined there during his crises. Francis I was the last king to stay there, as the castle was already in very poor condition. It remained a royal estate until 1791, known for its ponds which served as a royal fishpond: the carp supplied the kitchens of the Louvre.

(10) In the Bois du Roi forest, on the other side of the D436, you pass under the Paris Bastille – Marles en Brie railway line, where it joined the line to Grand Morin. Originally, it connected Verneuil-l'Étang to Paris. It was a suburban line, which was used, among other things, to supply Paris with market garden produce and wines from the Val d'Yerres. It was extended to Marles via Chaumes, connecting several lines to the east, for military reasons. The aim was to guarantee connections to the east in case one line was bombed. After the phylloxera epidemic, roses replaced wine, hence the current name of the walk: the Chemin des Roses from Brie-Comte-Robert to Yèbles.

(13) Just before the castle at the end of the straight line is the Tour Saint-Firmin, built in 1896 by the actor Léon Noël in memory of the set of the play that made him famous: Les Mystères de la Tour de Nesles. Léon Noël was Louis Jouvet's teacher.
- Château d'Arcy. Formerly a dependency of Chaumes Abbey. The château is now occupied by a rehabilitation association.

(15) Argentières. The name of the village indicates that precious metals were once found there.

(19) On the other side of the D32, the Crénille stud farm above the Château de Crénille estate, on the other side of the Yerres.

(20) Boulevard Paulat, see the old fortifications. The old abbey and various prestigious monuments in Chaumes: the châteaux of Crénille, Maurevert, Arcy and Forest, the Grange des Saints-Pères farm, three churches (only one of which remains) and the fortifications show the importance of the town in the past. It is therefore logical to find famous families there, including: the Couperins, musicians known from 1600 to 1789, and Antoine Parmentier, who helped reduce famine through his efforts to introduce new foods such as the potato.