Passing through Monçay via the Chemin des Cochons and the Chemin des Boeufs

Start from the car park at the church in Lailly-en-Val.

(S/E) With your back to the church, turn right onto Rue de la Mairie towards the sports ground. Walk alongside the sports facilities. At the fork, keep right to stay on Rue de la Mairie until you reach a crossroads.

(1) Turn left into Rue de la Bargoudière, cross the D951 with care and continue straight ahead along Rue de Marambault. At the cross, the road continues as a wide track. Keep right at the next fork to stay on the busiest track, then turn right at the crossroads, as the access opposite is private. Cross the Vezenne.

Yellow-red markings

(2) At the junction with a cross-road, the^GR® 3, turn left. The wide lane passes near the Vezenne mill; ignore the side paths.

(3) At the fork, keep to the right and continue along the lane until you reach a wide tarmac road, the Chemin des Cochons.

(4) Turn left onto it at the hairpin bend. This leads to the hamlet of Monçay.

(5) In the centre of the hamlet, keep left at the crossroads, then turn immediately left onto Rue de Monçay, heading north-north-west. Cross the Ru de Vezenne then turn right onto the first track, the Chemin des Bœufs.

Leave the tarmac after about a hundred metres and take a rutted track on the left, just before the entrance to the Portereau farm. This Chemin des Bœufs, easily recognisable by its well-trodden path, leads to Lailly-en-Val.

No signposting

(6) At the cross, cross the D19 and continue straight ahead along the grassy track. At the next junction, after about a hundred metres, keep heading north-north-west. Two sinkholes are located a few dozen metres from the Chemin des Bœufs, on the left-hand side.

(7) At the junction, turn left towards the Villenouan farm. Once past the farm, the Chemin des Bœufs becomes tarmac and is renamed Rue de Villenouan.

(8) At the fork, shortly after the first houses of Lailly-en-Val, turn right onto Rue du Porteau, cross the D951 or Route d’Orléans again with care, and continue along the Chemin du Buisson opposite. Follow this wide lane, which bends to the left and then becomes tarmac, taking the name Chemin du Bourg Neuf.

This small road crosses the road to Beaugency, then becomes Rue du Bourg, which leads to the church and its car park, the starting point of the walk (S/E)

The route follows well-drained paths, suitable for walking in all seasons.

The main attraction of the walk is the chance to immerse yourself in the Sologne countryside after leaving the Loire Valley.