Forests and canal in Danjoutin

The start is on Rue des Charmilles, near No. 2 Allée des Grands Bois. There is a car park at the shopping centre next door.
The route is signposted with Blue Rings and is located to the south of the village of Danjoutin.

(S) At the start, take Rue des Charmilles. Turn right onto a path that runs alongside the road and enters the forest. Follow the fence of a private property and pass above the fire station. Just after the fire station, the route splits into two.

(1) Turn left, heading south, running alongside the fire brigade’s training area. Follow the Blue Ring markings. After 100 m, turn right and enter the forest.
Shortly afterwards, the route crosses the buried water pipe that supplies the town of Belfort and the surrounding villages with drinking water from Mathay near Montbéliard.
The forest has few logging tracks and the route follows the occasional clearings between the forest plots to reach the sports ground and schools in the village of Froideval.

(2) On leaving the forest, take Rue du Hameau du Berger and turn right onto the D10.
In front of Froideval school, cross the D10 at the pedestrian crossing, leave it and take Rue du Hameau de la Douce, which heads due south.
As you leave the built-up area, admire the old Froideval Farm, a popular meeting place for walkers and anglers. The building was probably one of the first structures in Froideval.

(3) After crossing the bridge over the canal, turn left. Take the Coulée Verte, the towpath on the west side of the Montbéliard–Haute-Saône Canal, which was intended to link the Rhône–Rhine Canal to the Haute-Saône.

(4) Go under the A36 motorway and cross the D9. Continue straight ahead on the towpath on the west side of the canal.
On the eastern bank of the canal stood the port of Botans, where some of the coal destined for Belfort arrived by barge. The port has not been in use since 1973.

(5) After about 1.2 km, turn right and then take the hairpin bend to the left to cross the D18 bridge over the canal, then follow the road.

(6) At the Œufs Frais junction, cross the D437 and continue straight ahead on the cycle path towards Leupe, crossing the Savoureuse via the lovely Sablettes footbridge. Continue along the cycle path. At the junction, carry on straight ahead. On the right are old blockhouses and signs of former mining activity. In the 18th century, iron ore was mined here for the forges at Chatenois-les-Forges and Belfort.
At the junction with a stop sign, turn left onto the road to Leupe and go under the railway line. Turn right when you reach the hamlet of Leupe.

(7) When you reach this junction, turn left onto a tarmac path. (Follow the signs and do not continue straight on the Forts hiking route marked with a Yellow Rectangle and a Red Rectangle). The path first turns left then right, passes between two ponds and then turns right. At this point, keep left onto a dirt track and go straight on to reach the Andelnans cemetery. Turn left.

(8) Just before the railway bridge, turn right, go down a short steep slope and turn left onto Rue de Meroux (D9).
Go under the railway bridge and turn right immediately afterwards, taking Rue de Danjoutin, then right again onto Rue de la Forêt.

(9) Turn right to cross the level crossing on the single-track Belfort–Delle line, and enter the forest by taking the path on the left which runs alongside and overlooks the railway line. Stay on the main path.
At the next junction, turn left and take the footbridge that passes under the railway line.
Follow Rue de Breuil to complete the route on Rue du Maréchal Juin (E).

The start is on Rue des Charmilles, near No. 2 Allée des Grands Bois. There is a car park at the shopping centre next door.
The route is signposted with Blue Rings and ends near the centre of Danjoutin, a 15-minute walk from the start.

Note: to reach the starting point, take Rue Rouault, then Rue d’Andelnans, Rue Jacquot, cross the roundabout, take Rue du 21 Novembre, go under the A36 motorway before reaching the starting point. Total distance 1.2 km.

(E) It is also possible to reach the starting point on foot by walking through the village of Danjoutin. As this section is within the town, it is not signposted.

The route, which covers part of the southern district of Danjoutin, is not difficult and offers the chance to discover the considerable engineering work involved in the construction of the canal between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
For further details, visit the website
Part of the route also follows a section of the old strategic road built as part of the defences of Belfort following the Franco-Prussian War.

At Froideval, after crossing the bridge, you take ‘la Coulée Verte’, the western bank of the Montbéliard Canal to the Haute-Saône. The canal was intended to link the Rhône-Rhine Canal to the Haute-Saône.
The declaration of public utility for the canal, signed by the Minister of Public Works, C. de Freycinet, dates from 1879. Construction work began in 1883.
A ninth attempt to fill the canal from the Champagney Reservoir took place in 1933. As water losses were enormous, it was decided to abandon the project.
Details of the canal’s construction are set out in Pierre Klinger’s book.

Just before leaving the canal, you can take a detour of about 1 km there and back which allows you to discover, near the village of Bermont, the remarkable construction of the Canal Bridge over the Savoureuse with Lock No. 5.

The route passes by the rural village of Botans, known for its wash houses, old farmhouses and its agricultural museum.

In Sevenans, you can admire the château built by the Noblat family around the 1770s, modified in the 19th century by the Saglio family, renovated in 2003 and now occupied by the UTBM.
The château briefly served as the headquarters for part of the Prussian army (further details on the website).
Leupe, a hamlet of Sevenans, was a separate settlement in the 14th century (‘Revue d’Alsace, vol. 4, 1853, pp. 17–33’).