From Haut Pileu to Île Saint-Amour

Start at Palaiseau station (RER B).

(S/E) With your back to the station, turn right towards the footbridge to reach it.

(1) Turn right again to cross over the tracks. At Boulevard Joseph Bara, turn left, walk past the Château de la Saussaye, then turn right onto Rue du Mont. You’ll pass a statue of the seated Virgin and Child.

(2) Carry on straight ahead. Take the passageway at the end of the street, then continue straight along Rue Anatole France. Turn left at the end of the street onto the D36 (Rue Maurice Berteaux). Carry on until you reach the public drainage channel and the Ferme des Granges.

(3) Turn right to go round the car park and turn left along the drainage channel onto Chemin de la Hunière. Continue to the footbridge.

(4) Turn right between the park and the school. Keep to the right on Rue Maximilien Robespierre, then turn left to join the Chemin de Vauhallan at the hedge and the communal gardens.

(5) Turn left onto the street. At the end of the street, carry on straight ahead across the pedestrian crossing, cross a road and go over the A126. Immediately afterwards, turn right, walk alongside a car park and keep to the right until you reach the Palaiseau vineyards.

(6) Stay on the path, which ends at Rue du Capitaine Cocart. Turn right onto this street and follow it until you reach the first car park on the right, at a set of traffic lights.

(7) Turn right to walk alongside the car park towards the motorway. Pass under the dual carriageway, then cross a path. Immediately afterwards, turn left, walking parallel to this path. At the next junction, take the path on the right, walk past the École Paul Langevin and follow the Sentier des Fourneaux. Ignore the first junction and carry on to the second.

(8) Turn left onto the Sentier Rural No. 7, known as the Frécus path. Then continue straight ahead along the street to join a path on the right called Allée des Frécus. Follow it to Rue Louise Bruneau and turn left. At the end of the street, keep left onto Rue Maurice Berteaux, then turn right onto the Sentier des Guêtrières a few dozen metres further on. First turn right then left twice before crossing Rue Anatole France. Opposite, you’ll find the Sentier de la Saussaie, followed by the railway line. Cross the footbridge again.

(1) Continue straight ahead. Head across to Rue de la Gare, then across again to Rue de Paris and cross two car parks. After the second one, turn left onto Rue Édouard Branly, then right onto Rue Michelet. Take the first left, then turn right and you’ll arrive in front of the inter-municipal music conservatoire.

(9) Continue to the right along Avenue de Stalingrad and take the first right onto Avenue du Général de Gaulle. Turn right twice more onto Rue Pasteur and Rue Michelet. Then turn left onto Rue de l’Abbé Lambert, then right at the end of the street. You’ll reach the junction with Ruelle du Lavoir.

(10) Turn right onto the street. Continue to the end of the street and turn left onto Rue Victor Hugo. Carry on to the roundabout by the General de Gaulle memorial and turn left. Turn right at Place de 19 Mars 1962 and follow Rue Émile Zola. At the end of the street, carry on straight ahead along the footpath, passing the pétanque court and a stadium. Cross a road and you’ll reach the banks of the Yvette.

(11) Follow the riverbank to the right. Pass the car park and turn right into Impasse Cyprien Muret. Continue straight on at the next junction towards Parc Pierre et Marie Curie. Walk along the left-hand side of the park to take the second exit, Passage Candide. Cross Rue George Sand to join Rue Jacques Duclos. Cut across Avenue du 8 mai 1945, then at the next junction, turn right onto Rue de Paris. Then turn right onto Rue du Docteur Morère, then turn left into Square des Champs Frétauts.

(12) Cross the square on the left-hand side to emerge onto Rue Carnot. Turn left, then right onto Rue de Paris. Continue to the town hall.

(13) Opposite the town hall, take the small alleyway called Rue Louis Blanc. Turn right at the end of the alley onto Rue Alexandre Néreau. At the end of the street, turn left and head towards the station (S/E).

Shortly after (1): the Château de la Saussaye. A beautiful holiday home dating from the late 19th century, it features architectural elements typical of that period: a double-flight entrance staircase and a wrought-iron balcony. Note the richness of the decorative motifs, which incorporate ceramic and glazed brick inlays. Rue Anatole France runs alongside the Saussaie stream, which gave the villa its name.

(2) Statue of the Seated Virgin and Child. Jean Cattant created this large sculpture (1.45 m high) in riveted brass on a wooden core in 1957. It was installed in April 1978 in the grounds of the Maison des associations Jean-Marie Bruneau (3 bis, Rue du Mont) and can be seen from Rue d’Ardenay.

(3) Public drainage channel and the Ferme des Granges. Please refer to the information plaques: one is situated at the corner of the drainage channel and Rue Maurice-Berteaux, whilst the other is further up the road, in front of the gate to the Ferme des Granges. The third is at the end of the drainage channel as you approach Place Camille Claudel.

(5) Hedgerow and community gardens. The last hedgerow (it’s prickly!) in Palaiseau runs alongside the plot housing the community gardens. This site is both a real treasure trove of biodiversity and a testing ground for the ecological transition.

(6) Palaiseau’s vineyards. You’ll be able to make out two plots: one is in the Clos du Pileu (on the right), the other on Rue d’Ardenay, looking towards Rue du Mont. These vineyards have been cultivated since 1997 by the Confrérie Palaisienne des Coteaux de l’Yvette, whose modest production of white wine helps to revive the wine-growing heritage of the Palaiseau region.

The inter-municipal conservatoire. A showcase for the arts, the new conservatoire (due for completion in 2022) is well worth a visit! The development features a modern building set on a 3,640 m² plot. It boasts green roof terraces, terraced planting areas and a patio. The building’s two wings, which form part of the town’s historic heritage, have been preserved and restored. One of them houses the Fabrique culturelle and its artists. Do pop in!

La Ruelle du Lavoir. It takes its name from the former Bourbillière washhouse (so called because of the muddy nature of the stream that fed it), which stood on the corner of Rue Abbé Lambert and Rue Pasteur. It is a reminder of the various washhouses that once dotted the town, most of which disappeared along with the washerwomen after the Second World War.

(11) The Île d’Amour, between the Yvette and the Boële, is now occupied to the west by Palaiseau’s sports facilities and to the east by the motorway. It had previously been developed as a place for relaxation and boat trips.

(13) The Town Hall. The Hôtel Tronchet has housed the town hall since 1954 and was extended between 1971 and 1975 with two new wings overlooking the park, which has been home to a youth centre (MJC) since 1967. Previously, from 1778 to 1806, it was owned by François Denis Tronchet (1726–1806). A magistrate and politician, this native of Palais was a deputy for Paris in the Estates General and a defender of King Louis XVI before the Convention. On the town hall square, note the beautiful mural painted to mark the bicentenary of the French Revolution.

Shortly after the (13): Rue Louis Blanc. This narrow, cobbled lane, 80 metres long, was once a passageway between Rue de Paris and the neighbouring gardens and fields. It is named after the historian Louis Blanc (1811–1882), whose writings reflected his opposition to the July Monarchy.

Shortly after the (13): Rue Alexandre Néreau. This street, which winds its way parallel to Rue de Paris, gives us a glimpse of Palaiseau as it once was.