From the Perdrigeat woods to Le Plantis

Park on Rue de la Mairie, on the right between the town hall and the cemetery.

(S/E) Leave the car park and walk to Rue de la Mairie. Turn left, walk past the town hall and continue straight ahead until you reach a four-way intersection.

Cross the crossroads carefully and take Rue du Lavoir opposite with caution (road D147).
Follow it to the first farm track on the right, just opposite the track leading to the last property on the left.

(1) Turn right onto the farm track known as Chemin de la Croix.
Shortly afterwards, when the farm track turns right at a right angle to serve two properties, continue straight ahead onto another farm track that heads south between two vineyard plots.

Continue straight ahead until you reach a T-junction. Turn left onto the farm track between two vineyard plots. Continue to the next T-junction, at the corner of a wood on your right. Turn right and then immediately left onto a farm track.
Continue until you reach the D137 road. Turn left and carefully follow the road for about ten metres.

(2) Turn right onto a farm track. At the next T-junction of farm tracks, turn left. From here, the route follows the^GR®® 655.

Further on, the track veers to the right and crosses a wood. At the exit, turn left and follow the farm track on the left-hand side of the wood. Continue until you reach a small road. Turn right and follow it carefully for about 30 metres before turning left and following a small road that enters a wood, then runs alongside a vineyard on the right-hand side. Continue to a right-angle bend to the right.

(3) Continue along the farm track heading north-east with woods on your left and a vineyard on your right.
Further on, when you reach the Bois de Perdrigeat, leave the^GR®® 655, which turns left (see "Practical information" section), and enter the woods, continuing straight ahead. Cross the Bois de Perdrigeat and continue to the D699 road.
Turn right and follow the D699 road with great caution until you reach the crossroads with a water tower on your right.

Turn left and take the small road that leads to the hamlet of Giraudot. Continue straight ahead until you reach a T-junction. Turn right; the route rejoins the^GR®® 655.
The road quickly gives way to a farm track called Chemin du Champ du Puits. Further on, leave the track on the right that leads to Chez Naud.

At the next T-junction of farm tracks, turn right and continue to the next junction about a hundred metres further on.

(4) Turn left onto a farm track. Continue to the junction with the first farm track on the right (after three right-angle bends in the track).
Turn right and follow the track to a T-junction of farm tracks.

(5) Turn right and follow the track to the D252 road. When you reach it, turn left and carefully follow the D252 road to a farm track on the right after a vineyard.

At this point, the route leaves the^GR®® 655. Continue carefully along the D252 road to the place known as Pont de la Vielle.
When you arrive, cross the D137 road carefully and continue straight ahead on the D148 road until you reach the first crossroads shortly afterwards.

(6) Turn left onto a small road. Continue straight ahead until you reach a place called Les Moulins de Chez les Rois. Here, the road turns into a farm track that runs alongside a vineyard after the place.
Shortly afterwards, there is a T-junction of farm tracks.

(7) Turn left and, immediately after crossing the bed of an intermittent stream, turn right onto a track.
Follow it to a farm track. When you reach it, turn right and continue to a right-angle bend to the right.

(8) At the bend, turn left onto a path. Follow it until you reach a farm track leading to the locality known as Chez Guérin.
When you reach it, turn left and immediately after, go straight through the right-angle bend.

(9) About 50 metres after the bend, turn left onto a path that soon runs alongside a small wood on the right. Continue until you reach a T-junction.
Turn right and then immediately left onto the D147 road. Follow it carefully until you reach the crossroads of four streets in the centre of Saint-Dizant-du-Bois. Turn left onto Rue de la Mairie.

Follow Rue de la Mairie, pass the town hall and return to the car park on the right, which marks the end of this walk (S/E).

The parking area is located between the town hall of Saint-Dizant-du-Bois and the cemetery

This hike covers varied terrain and requires suitable footwear.

Part of the route is marked:^GR®® 655 marked in red and white, from just after point (2) to before point (6). The rest of the route is unmarked. It is therefore advisable to follow the directions in the description and on the map, while also paying close attention to the landscape. The waypoints (with their GPS coordinates and distance from the starting point) are helpful for hikers who are new to the route.

Please note that after point (3), the^GR®® 655 turns left in front of the Bois de Perdigeat and then crosses the D699 road a little further on. It then heads towards a place called Chez Giraudot. Unfortunately, the farmer who works the plot on the edge of a copse has ploughed everything, even the path. I therefore suggest crossing the Bois de Perdrigeat and then following the D699 road for about 300 metres before taking a small road that leads to Chez Giraudot.
This practice, which is unfortunately becoming widespread on unmarked paths, is surprising for a^GR®®!

Hike completed by the author on 27 November 2018.

Saint Dizant du Bois

Saint-Dizant-du-Bois is a small French village located in the Charente-Maritime department and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region (formerly the Poitou-Charentes region). Its inhabitants are called Saint-Dizannais and Saint-Dizannaises.
The commune covers 4.2 km² and has 119 inhabitants according to the latest population census in 2005. With a density of 28.6 inhabitants per km², Saint-Dizant-du-Bois has seen a significant increase of 48.8% in its population since 1999.
Surrounded by the municipalities of Semillac, Nieul-le-Virouil and Allas-Bocage, Saint-Dizant-du-Bois is located 3 km north-east of Mirambeau, the largest town in the area.
Located at an altitude of 77 metres, the village of Saint-Dizant-du-Bois has the following geographical coordinates: Latitude: 45° 23' 53 north Longitude: 0° 34' 0 west.

Places and monuments
Unusual for the region, the church of Saint-Dizant is one of the few buildings in Saintonge to have a portal surmounted by a tympanum and a Gothic bell tower. Built in the 12th century with a single nave and a straight chevet, its chevet and bell tower date from the 13th and 15th centuries. Bell dated 1527, a silver chalice and a 17th-century painting of the Crucifixion listed as Historic Furniture.
Sources: Wikipedia (excerpts) and Haute-Saintonge Tourist Office (excerpts)

Mirambeau

A small town at the foot of a cuesta that formed a major defensive site over the centuries, this former stronghold, barony and then marquisate under the Ancien Régime, is now one of the centres of the canton of Pons and a hub of commercial and craft activity. The "gateway" to the Bordeaux region, it is served by several major transport routes, including the A10 motorway, which places it less than half an hour from Bordeaux, Saintes and Royan.
A modest but significant economic centre given the essentially rural nature of Haute-Saintonge, Mirambeau is home to shops, supermarkets and various businesses, within a business park that contributes to the town's appeal. Mirambeau also has suitable infrastructure in the areas of education (Didier-Daurat secondary school), culture (library, cultural centre currently under development) and health.
Increasingly focusing on tourism, the town benefits from its location in the heart of the Cognac vineyards, close to those of Bordeaux and not far from the seaside resorts of the Côte de Beauté.
Mirambeau belongs to the Haute-Saintonge community of municipalities, an inter-municipal structure with a population of 57,043 in 2006.

Places and monuments
Mirambeau Castle
The château (private property), whose existence is mentioned as early as the 11th century, is located on a hill overlooking the town by almost forty metres.
The former medieval fortress was one of many strongholds that dotted the "marches" of Saintonge and Guyenne. It belonged to Artaud de Mirambeau (or de Mirambel) in 1083, then, two centuries later, to Guilhem de Cheyning, lieutenant of King-Duke Edward I. Particularly coveted during the Hundred Years' War, it passed alternately into the hands of the French and the Anglo-Aquitanians. In 1345, it was recaptured from the French by Henry de Grosmont, Earl of Derby, during his memorable "chevauchée". In 1415, the town of Mirambeau fell to the Frenchman Jean II Harpedanne, Seneschal of Saintonge.
Hidden by a park, the castle is difficult to see from the town centre. It retains few truly ancient features, apart from a gatehouse and a section of curtain wall, which were rebuilt in the 18th century. The main building dates mainly from the 19th century and combines neo-Louis XIII and neo-Renaissance styles. The chapel, set slightly back, is in the Neo-Gothic style.
The Château de Mirambeau has now been converted into a luxury 5-star hotel. It has 22 rooms, a gourmet restaurant and is surrounded by an eight-hectare park and a winter garden.

Château Chotard
This bourgeois residence was built in 1877 for Alcide Chotard, a businessman and banker who had moved to the town. Surprisingly inspired by Flemish architecture, this "folly" consists of a main building flanked by two pavilions topped with high stepped gables. The interior, decorated in the style of the period, was designed to be comfortable and functional: it still has marble fireplaces, wood panelling and moulded ceilings. The château is surrounded by an English-style park. It is privately owned and not open to visitors.

Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption Church
Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption Church is located in the town centre. Built in the 19th century, it replaced an old Récollets chapel that had fallen into disrepair.
A Récollets convent was established in 1715 to counter the influence of Protestant ideas, develop religious instruction and "say mass" (sic). Serving as a parish church for nearly 115 years, it fell into such a state of disrepair that in 1836, the idea of restoring it was abandoned in favour of a complete reconstruction. In 1841, the Récollets chapel was demolished, without a new church having yet been built. It was not until 1856 that the current church was built, but not without difficulty, as the nature of the soil forced its designers to dig foundations more than three metres deep in order to stabilise the building. The vaults were installed in 1857, but the façade and bell tower were not erected until 1875. Finally, in 1889, the choir and transept were decorated with frescoes in shades of blue and gold. In total, more than 100,000 francs were needed to complete the church, a sum paid in part through a subscription, but also thanks to a generous contribution from the Duchâtel family, who owned the castle at the time.
The church is in the Neo-Romanesque style. Shaped like a Latin cross, it consists of a single nave covered with a plaster vault, a slightly protruding transept and a semi-cylindrical apse. The façade, with its beautiful elevation, is composed of three vertical registers and is distinguished by the presence of a bell tower inspired by Romanesque architecture, topped by an elegant stone spire flanked by pinnacles. The interior retains its wood panelling, and in the choir there is a painting depicting the Immaculate Conception, executed in the style of the Spanish painter Bartolomé Murillo, as well as a Crucifixion, gifts from Emperor Napoleon III, who visited this church in 1860.
The south transept houses a painted and gilded wooden statue of the Virgin and Child, listed as a historic monument since 8 March 1994, while near the entrance are 17th-century baptismal fonts in stone with relief decorations, remnants of the former Récollets chapel. Decorated with angel heads, among other things, it has also been listed as a historic monument since 30 September 1911.

Saint-Martin Church
Saint-Martin Church is located in Petit-Niort, a former commune that merged with Mirambeau shortly after the Revolution. This former priory and parish church is one of the few in the department to retain pre-Romanesque features. The north wall of the nave is built of small stones and has the distinctive feature of a small semi-circular window with a claustrum, i.e. an openwork stone window, characteristic of a time when glass was the preserve of the wealthiest parishes.
The rather rustic crypt, with its barrel vault, is also typical of this type of architecture. A charter from this period reveals that the church was then a dependency of Savigny Abbey in Normandy. Partially rebuilt between the 11th and 12th centuries, which saw the flourishing of a particular form of Romanesque art known as "Saintongeais Romanesque", it features a façade with a single portal with five arches and double string courses, surmounted by a series of arcades and modillions.
Significant changes were made to the building in the 15th century, either because it had suffered damage during the Hundred Years' War (the Mirambeau region, on the borders of Guyenne, was the scene of fierce fighting), or because the wear and tear of time had left its mark too heavily. The choir was modified and a side aisle known as the "Virgin's aisle" was built to the south. It features windows with intricate tracery, with bellows and mouchettes, characteristic of the Flamboyant Gothic style. The interior is divided into three naves by large square pillars. Only the choir and the south chapel are vaulted, the rest being covered by a fairly crude exposed roof structure.
The church was listed as a historic monument in 2002. It is only open to the public on rare occasions due to the poor condition of the building, which is in need of restoration.

Lavoir des Sept Fonds
This wash house was restored in 1997.
Source: Wikipedia (excerpts)