Elancourt-Maurepas

Short hike in the Île-de-France region, from Élancourt Village to the Courance de Maurepas pond.
The outward journey follows the left bank of the Ru d'Elancourt, the return journey follows the right bank.
The first part (from (S) to (3)) can no longer be done. The entire Elancourt hill (la Revanche) is under construction in preparation for the Olympic Games and is therefore closed to hiking. This will remain the case until 2025... See reviews

Details

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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 16.68 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 5h 20 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 210 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 210 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 232 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 77 m
  • ⚐ Country: France
  • ⚐ District: Élancourt (78990)
  • ⚑
    Start/End: N 48.784608° / E 1.959157°
  • ❏
    IGN map(s): Ref. 2214ET, 2215OT, 2215OTR, M2215OT
  • Hour-by-hour weather

Photos

Description of the walk

(S/E) From the Bassin de la Muette to the top of the Colline de la Revanche: climb the fairly steep Sente des Gatines, a good way to warm up your legs.

(1) Cross the Route des Gatines (D58) and take the path opposite that leads to the top of Colline de la Revanche, the highest point in the region.

(2) Descend to Élancourt Village.

(3) Turn left onto the D58, then 100 metres further on, turn right onto the D23.

From Élancourt to Ergal:

(4) Follow Chemin de Paris on the left.

From Ergal to the Courance basin in Maurepas

(5) Take Chemin du Fourneau and Chemin des Bruyères in the Maurepas Forest to reach the Courance pond.

From the Courance basin to the Jouars-Pontchartrain chapel:

(6) Go around the basin on the left, then return and leave the Courance basin on the left via the Chemin de Chennevrières.

(7) Turn left onto Chemin de la Fosse Rouge (a Gallo-Roman paved road) and head to Saint-Martin Church in Jouars-Pontchartrain

(8). From Jouars-Pontchartrain to Élancourt Village via La Richarderie:

Go to La Richarderie via Chemin de la Messé.

(9) Continue to Élancourt village via Chemin de la Richarderie in Elancourt.

(10) Continue along Chemin des Bordes to reach Bassin de la Muette (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 125 m - Bassin de la Muette, Elancourt
  2. 1 : km 0.68 - alt. 172 m - Cross the Route des Gatines (D58)
  3. 2 : km 1.47 - alt. 232 m - Revanche Hill
  4. 3 : km 2.61 - alt. 134 m - D58
  5. 4 : km 3.31 - alt. 130 m - Follow the path from Paris on the left
  6. 5 : km 5.21 - alt. 121 m - Chemins du Fourneau and Chemins des Bruyères
  7. 6 : km 6.43 - alt. 122 m - Tour of the basin on the left
  8. 7 : km 8.45 - alt. 116 m - Chemin de la Fosse Rouge
  9. 8 : km 10.56 - alt. 103 m - Saint-Martin Church in Jouars-Pontchartrain
  10. 9 : km 12.99 - alt. 100 m - La Richarderie
  11. 10 : km 14.24 - alt. 107 m - Chemin des Bordes
  12. S/E : km 16.68 - alt. 125 m - Muette Basin

Notes

Required equipment: walking shoes, as the paths may be muddy.

Worth a visit

- The Muette basins in Élancourt.
- Colline de la Revanche (231 m above sea level), the highest point in the entire Île-de-France region.
- Courance de Maurepas pond.
- Ancient Gallo-Roman road (Chemin de la Fosse Rouge).
- Saint-Martin Church in Jouars-Pontchartrain, dating back to medieval times (13th century).
- Beautiful building belonging to the Mequignon Foundation in Élancourt.

Reviews and comments

4.2 / 5
Based on 18 reviews

Reliability of the description
3.7 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.3 / 5
Route interest
4.5 / 5
Flaviel78
Flaviel78

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 27, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Sunday's route to rediscover the Colline de la Revanche and continue on.
We hesitated a little about going down to the Courances basin, but we eventually found a slightly less steep path.
The passage on the dyke was closed for works, but we were able to rejoin the route by taking the path below.
A beautiful and varied route with hills, forest, fields and a few climbs
Thank you very much.

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Pakou56
Pakou56
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 26, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

I did this route initially to check it out. The route on the map is reliable, but the description is very brief, which is a shame because you don't always follow PR or GR trails with markings.
The first part (from the start to marker 3) can no longer be done. The entire Elancourt hill (La Revanche) is under construction in preparation for the Olympic Games and is therefore closed to hikers. This will remain the case until 2025...

So we took a detour around the Courance basin. Instead of going straight down to the basin, we followed a path on the left halfway up, which at this time of year offers a beautiful view through the trees. We descended southwards towards a remarkable oak tree on the edge of Les Louveries and then reached the basin via Les Petits Houx, where we discovered a ruined tower and the pretty church at its foot.
Our hikers really enjoyed this varied, fairly easy hike. We had a picnic at the church in Jouars-Ponchartrain, which is lost in the middle of the fields.

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jejestar
jejestar

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 05, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A beautiful hike with good slopes, a bit of town, ponds, forest, fields, quiet, few people...
We did it in 4 hours and 15 minutes, including a picnic break. Bichette kept up well despite a few difficult sections.
A GPS is necessary and the route is reliable. Nice

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claude7844
claude7844

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 19, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very good route through woods, pretty villages and ponds with a few metres of elevation gain.

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The user account associated with this content has been deleted.

JulietteDurval
JulietteDurval

Overall rating : 3 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 22, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

A very enjoyable hike with two other people.

However, the map was too small (even in A4 format), so it took us a while to find stage 2, and for the other stages, we often hesitated between paths. Another downside: some streets had different names to those indicated in the description...
In the end, it took us longer than the estimated time because we sometimes had to turn back to find the right path and even use the GPS on our phone.

A very beautiful hike, but one that needs to be updated for future visitors!

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jmcrabos
jmcrabos

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 17, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

be careful on the descent of La Revanche, as it can be confusing. It is best to turn left and then right 50 metres further on, after which you will easily rejoin the original route after about 30 metres

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gazok54
gazok54 ★

Thank you, POUPOULE
As a matter of principle, the description alone is not sufficient. The route map is therefore an essential addition.

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POUPOULE
POUPOULE

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 16, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

Nice hike, varied landscapes and terrain, but the description is too vague: you need to follow the IGN map.

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ma2saintemarie
ma2saintemarie

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 10, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

Great hike with my three older children (aged 11, 10 and 9). A very pretty area that I didn't know about. It was also nice to come across the fitness trail around the lake!
I was able to easily shorten the walk (5 hours was a bit too much for the children) thanks to the 1:25,000 map!
We'll definitely be back!

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gazok54
gazok54 ★

Thank you, ClavijoCanaillou
We often emphasise that the description and the map of the route are inseparable.
If you have any ideas for improving the description, please do not hesitate to let us know.

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ClavijoCanaillou
ClavijoCanaillou

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : May 13, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

A very pleasant walk that allowed me to discover the surroundings of my new home, beautiful views, fresh air, and pleasant country and forest trails!
however, the description is extremely vague, and without the map, it's impossible to complete the entire route! That's a shame!

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hautefeuille
hautefeuille

Overall rating : 3 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 23, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

Very "brief" description, very vague, no precise details, and if we hadn't had the map, it would have been impossible to find our way
Usually the information sheets are very precise and I had never had such problems, but the hike is very pleasant, a little muddy at times on the way back to Elancourt, but it allowed us to discover some pretty spots

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gazok54
gazok54 ★

Thank you, Ovil
To make this route easier to follow, we have added waypoints to the description of this hike.

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ovil
ovil

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 14, 2017
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average

We started the day with the hike called "petite boucle du bassin de la Courance" (small circular loop around the Courance basin) and caught up with it after the dyke.
It's an orienteering course. You have to rely solely on the map because the paths in the countryside are not marked. Only the Sente des Gatines and the Chemin de Paris in the town are marked.
It should be noted that the Route des Gatines is the D 58, which is the only indication on the map.

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