Forêt de l’Absie and Bois des Gâts

Park at Place de l’Église, opposite the former abbey.

(S/E) Return to the crossroads and take Rue de Plaisance, then turn immediately right onto Rue de l’Audonnerie (^GR®364, marked in red and white). Follow the road and, at the Audonnerie crossroads, carry on straight ahead.

(1) Just before reaching the junction with the D136, turn left onto the path leading into the forest (still on the^GR®364). Carry on, ignoring the paths branching off to the right and left.

(2) Ignore a final path on the right and, just after crossing the stream (which is often dry), leave the^GR® by heading straight up the hill. Ignore the path branching off to the right. Follow the yellow markings.
Join the D179 road, turn right onto it, pass the Grolière junction and continue to the next junction.

(3) Turn right onto the unpaved track. A little further on, the track is blocked. Take the path on the right. Stay on this path, ignoring the signposts, until you emerge from the forest by crossing the Ruisseau du Moulin. Continue along the path as it begins to curve, passing in front of a reservoir and heading back up to the junction near the hamlet of La Prévézalière. (Note the large granite boulders dotted across the meadows)

(4) Ignore the signposting and turn right onto the road. Further on, enter the Forêt de l’Absie and continue along the road until you come to a path on the left.

(5) Turn left onto a path which first crosses a conifer plantation before heading deeper into the forest. Walk past a pond and join the D136 road. Cross it (note the memorial stone in the left-hand corner of the junction) then continue straight on for about 200 metres.

(6) Just before the three-way junction, take the path on the right and continue until you reach a small road leading to the village of Le Grand Freigné. (The route is marked in yellow again)

(7) Leave the road in the village and take a path that descends to the left between the houses. A little further on, turn right onto a grassy track. When you reach Petit Freigné, turn right, then left, and then right again towards La Jolinière.

(8) Turn left at the crossroads and join the D136; turn left and then immediately right, and walk carefully along the pavement alongside the 949bis for about 200 m.

(9) Turn right onto Rue de la Bergerie, then enter the Jardin des Abiès park. Head slightly to the right, take the footbridge crossing a small pond and continue to Place de l’Église (S/E).

This route follows part of^{the GR®} 364, marked in red and white, as well as sections of the Circuit des Bois des Hauts de Gâtine (marked in yellow – route description published by the Deux-Sèvres General Council)

This walk does not present any particular difficulties. However, please exercise caution on the sections that follow parts of roads, even though they are very quiet.
Also, be aware of the risk of falling dead branches in the woods in wet and/or windy weather.

L’Absie, at an altitude of 259 metres, is the highest village in the Deux-Sèvres.

The Royal Abbey of Notre-Dame de l’Absie, whose former monastery dates back to 1120.

The church as it stands today was altered in the^second half of the 15th century. It still retains traces of earlier construction phases. It is listed as a historic monument. It is the only surviving structure from this period, alongside the abbey’s chapter house. Of particular note are the murals in the church, which are thought to date from the 15th century.

The villages of Les Freigné appear to have been the first areas of the market town of L’Absie to be inhabited outside the Abbey.

(Source: Hiking guide ‘Route des Bois des Hauts de Gâtine’ published by the Deux-Sèvres General Council)