Medieval churches of Brie: Lourps and Chalmaison along the Voulzie

Starting point and access: Longueville station.
- Transilien - Line P, on the section between Paris-Est and Provins.
Take the Rue de Verdun exit.

Red and white + red and yellow + yellow markings

(S/E) With your back to the station, turn right onto Rue de Verdun and walk downhill. Pass the war memorial and the town hall (on your left). At the bottom of the hill, turn right towards the pharmacy (sign). Cross Rue de l'Amourée (railway bridge on the right) and continue straight ahead on Rue André Taton. At Place du 8 mai 1945 (school), continue straight ahead, follow the railway viaduct on your right and cross the Voulzie.

Red, white, yellow and green markings

(1) At the traffic lights, cross the D403 road and take the street opposite, which is a no-entry road (sign), until you reach the end of the viaduct. Then turn left and then right and follow Rue du Réservoir. At the end of this street, continue straight ahead along a path (signposted "Impasse"). After passing a small brick building on the left, turn left and go up into the woods on a stony path.

(2) At the three-way junction that follows (clear view on the left), turn right. Go around a telecommunications pylon on the right, turn left and continue through the woods. Ignore the paths on the left. Note a forest barrier on the right and ignore vague paths on the same side.

Yellow + blue markings

(3) At a three-way junction (field on the right), turn left at an acute angle (south-east) and descend into the woods, then follow the edge of the woods on your right. Turn left onto the grassy path (view of the Chapelle de Lourps on the right). Follow a copse on your right until you reach a T-junction (electric pole in the field opposite).

(4) Turn right (south-west) and go downhill. Cross a small road and continue straight ahead (south) along a farm track. Then cross the underground aqueduct of the Voulzie (sign) and continue straight ahead along a grassy path that climbs uphill. Follow a property wall on your left and, at the corner of this wall, turn left and head straight towards the chapel.

(5) Continue straight ahead (east), leaving the chapel and then the cemetery on your right. Go down the small paved road. After the "Stop à 100 m" sign and before the D403 road, at the foot of an electricity pole with beacons, turn right. Walk south-southwest on the grassy verge of the underground aqueduct of the Voulzie, which gradually moves away from the road and climbs slightly. Pass a yellow sign with two sides (on the ground in March 2016) and, after passing the Jutigny cemetery in the distance on your left, ignore a turn-off on the left.

Yellow + green signposting

(6) At the crossroads before the aqueduct bench turns left (yellow sign with two sides on the right), turn left towards an electricity pole with signposts. Cross the D403 road (take care) and continue opposite along Rue des Grouettes.

Yellow signposting

At the T-junction (No. 19bis opposite), turn left. At the stop sign, turn right into Rue du Vieux Moulin.

Yellow + green signposting

Cross Chemin des Prés, continue east on the small road and reach Moulin de Jutigny.

(7) Cross the Voulzie and leave the mill on your right. Pass the Jutigny exit sign and, at the corner of a poplar grove, leave the road and turn right (south) onto a farm track.

(8) When you reach another road, turn right, cross the Voulzie again and leave the Moulin de Gouaix on your left. At the stop sign, turn left onto Chemin du Buyon (dead end). The tarmac gives way to a path between the fields. Then follow a poplar grove on your left.

(9) At the next crossroads, follow the small road to the left and cross the Voulzie. Before a "narrow road" sign, leave the road and turn right onto a wide path between two poplar groves. You will soon come back to the Voulzie river. Follow it on your right. After the river has branched off, walk along a wood on your left and a row of trees on your right (the arrows and markers are on this side).

Yellow + red and yellow markings

(10) At the corner of the woods, follow the green markings straight ahead and turn left. Follow the woods on your left and pass under an electricity pylon. Follow the woods on your right and look for an arrow indicating a left turn: be careful not to turn left immediately at the corner of the woods (path between the fields) but about 150 m further on.

(11) Before reaching the village, turn left to cross the Ru des Méances. Follow the stream on your left and, when it turns left (makeshift footbridge), turn right. Then take a left and a right to cross another river. You will come to a small road.

Blue markings

(12) Leave the^GRP® trail on your right and turn left onto the road that climbs slightly. At the crossroads, cross the D122 road and climb a few steps opposite. Turn immediately left, pass a forest gate and you will reach the Church of Saint-Etienne.

(13) Go around the church on the left and take Rue de la Mairie, leaving the library on your right and the school on your left. Cross Rue Georges Cormerois and take the bridge over the railway tracks.

Blue + yellow + red and yellow markings

Just after the bridge, turn left and follow the railway tracks below on your left. Walk along the cemetery on your right and, at the corner, take the grassy path on the right. Pass the cemetery and climb up between the fields.

Red and white + yellow markings

(14) At a clearly marked crossroads, with woods opposite higher up, follow a farm track to the left towards a reservoir (you can see the Chapelle de Lourps in the distance on the left). Cross a very small road and leave the reservoir on your right. Continue along the farm track, ignoring the paths branching off to the sides, and head towards the edge of a wood on your right. At a fork, turn right, keeping to the edge of the wood.

Yellow markings
N.B. At this point, two^PR® trails cross, both marked in yellow, which may give the impression of conflicting instructions.

(15) At the T-junction, leave the^{GR® trail} to your left for a moment, ignore the yellow arrow pointing in the same direction and turn right to go up into the woods (ignore the yellow cross). After about 100 metres, take a path on the left (east). After about 150 m, before the path in the woods turns left, you will see the tiny Mare aux Sangliers on the left and some ruins on the right.

(16) Retrace your steps to the previous point.

Red and white + yellow markings

(15) Ignore the yellow arrow indicating a left turn, i.e. back towards Chalmaison, and follow the^GR®11north-west. Walk along a plot of land enclosed by fruit trees on the left, then ignore a path coming from the right. At a clearly marked crossroads (elevation 113), take the second path on the left (west) towards a small tunnel clearly visible under the railway tracks. Go downhill, pass under an electricity pylon and go through the tunnel.

(17) At the houses, cross the first road and turn right into the second, Rue du Château. At the next crossroads, turn left (north) onto the road you just crossed. After about 300 m, turn left onto Route de Jutigny towards the village of the same name (sign). Cross the Ru des Méances and, after about 100 metres, turn right onto a path at the corner of a wood on your right. After a poplar grove on your left, ignore a path on the left and head north-north-west towards some housing developments visible in the distance.

(18) At the sign for Longueville, follow the road to the right. At the crossroads (stop sign), turn right onto Rue des Abymes and take the paved path on the left of the street behind a hedge. Go through the woods, turn left with the street and cross Rue des Prés du Roy. At the T-junction, cross the street at the pedestrian crossing, turn left and then immediately right towards the station (sign). Go up, cross Rue and Impasse Gaston Brulé and reach the station at the top of the hill (S/E).

Train timetables: consult the Transilien website.

For motorists, there are several parking options:
- Longueville station car park (S/E).
- Car park at the bottom of the Lourps cemetery, near (5).
- Car park at Saint-Etienne Church in Chalmaison, between (12) and .

Hiking boots are required. The paths between the fields can be muddy in wet conditions. Much of this hike takes place in cultivated plains: in summer, avoid days and times when it is very hot and bring appropriate sun protection.

There are several places to stop: at the Chapel of Lourps (5); along the Voulzie, between (9) and (10); in the square in front of the church in Chalmaison, between (12) and; at the Mare aux Sangliers (16).

No water points identified. Shops in Longueville: bar-restaurant opposite the station; bakery shortly after the town hall (closed between 1pm and 2pm, Sunday afternoons and Wednesdays).

The route is signposted throughout. However, the signposting is sparse in the undergrowth and, due to a lack of support, almost non-existent in open fields. A 1:25,000 map is therefore necessary (at least the one accompanying this description). A compass may be useful...

Hike completed by the author on 24 March 2016.

In Longueville:
- Lourps Chapel or Saint-Menge Church (12th-13th century) (5). Visits are possible on the third Sunday of each month, from 2.30pm to 5pm.
- Living railway museum near the station: old steam locomotives, 20-track railway roundhouse, etc.

In Chalmaison:
- Saint-Etienne Church (13th-16th centuries).
- Tachy Castle (17th-18th centuries).
- Ruins opposite the Mare aux Sangliers (16). There are sections of walls at the top of a small hill surrounded by the clearly visible remains of ancient ditches: an old keep?