Circular route between Maidières and Petite Suisse Lorraine

Start from the church square (Place Nicolas Maire) in Pont-à-Mousson.

(S/E) From the square, take the main one-way street (Rue Alfred Songeur), following the direction of traffic. Continue to the first junction.

(1) Turn left onto Chemin Saint-Pierre (Rue de Puvenelle). At the Stop sign, turn right onto Chemin de Dessous Saint-Pierre (Rue de Bellevue). This road climbs towards the hills, passes the cemetery and leaves the village. After Les Plantotes, pass a first path on your left with the Croix Robert (start of the circular Boucle des Vergers route) and arrive at a crossroads with two paths and an ONF sign indicating “Forêt Domaniale de Puvenelle”.

(2) Take the path on the left and follow it to the end. It ends with a fairly steep descent in a wide right-hand bend before joining another path in an inverted Y-junction.

(3) Turn left and take the path leading down towards Jezainville. Enter the village and come to a Stop sign at the first crossroads.

(4) Turn right. At the Stop sign at the end of the street, turn right again and take Rue Jean Mermoz for about thirty metres until you reach a path on the left.

(5) Turn left onto the tarmac path running alongside a property with a shelter covered in corrugated iron. Continue in the same direction along a grassy path. On leaving the forest, you’ll reach a crossroads after walking for quite some time along the left-hand side of a property’s white wall.

(6) Turn right up the tarmac track (Chemin de la Vaux Crinière). This immediately turns left and heads due south. At the next crossroads, continue straight on, staying on the tarmac section, then pass a path on the left. Shortly afterwards, the path turns 90° to the right and reaches another junction.

(7) Ignore the grassy path ahead that runs alongside the forest and stay on the dirt track, which bends 90° to the left, running alongside a field on the right. At the edge of the forest, leave the track that winds left and take the dirt track opposite that climbs through a stretch of woodland. On emerging from the woodland, rejoin the main path and keep the forest on your right. You’ll come to a left-hand bend.

(8) Leave the dirt track and take the grassy path that turns 90° to the right and enters the forest, then immediately take the path on the left and follow it until it crosses a track.

(9) Take the path on the left. At each junction, continue straight on to reach the edge of the forest at a picnic area with an information board.

(10) Turn right and walk along the edge of the forest, keeping it on your right, along the grassy path. Continue to the end of the field on the left of the path, leaving a path on your right that leads into the forest. The path veers slightly to the right, enters the forest and comes out onto the Route Forestière de la Vau de Châtel.

(11) Take the road on the right. It bends left, then twice to the right, and once more to the left. You’ll reach a junction just before a third right-hand bend.

(12) Take the second path going uphill on the left. As you reach the edge of the forest, join a cross-country path. Turn right and, at the next junction, continue left. The path leaves the forest, crosses farmland, veers left, returns to the forest and descends towards the D 107.

(13) Turn right and follow this road. Enter Griscourt and continue straight on, keeping to the right, until you reach a small square with a vaguely triangular grassy central island featuring a cross, trees, a bench and an information board.

(14) Continue right onto the D 106 just ahead of the central reservation towards Gézoncourt and Martincourt. Leave Griscourt. After the cemetery and before reaching the forest, leave the road and take the path on the right. Pass a dead-end path on the left and continue to the next junction just after passing a copse on the left.

(15) Turn left onto Chemin de Pont-à-Mousson. In the forest, ignore a path on the right. A little further on, the path turns left and arrives at Gézoncourt.

(16) At the wash house, keep left. Pass Place de France on your right. At the three-way junction just after that, take the street on the right, bordered on both sides by walls topped with tiles. In front of the garage with a blue wooden door, turn right again. At the end of the street, turn right and arrive at a small square with an old fountain. Cross the square.

(17) Continue to the right and follow the D 106. Pass in front of Saint-Lambert Church. You’ll come to a three-way junction with a white electricity box. Leave the D 106 and turn onto the tarmac path leading down to the left (Chemin de Villevaux). The path joins the Esch. Turn left and cross the stream via a metal footbridge to reach the old mill.

(18) In front of the mill, take the path opposite which runs upstream along the Esch. After a long straight stretch through the forest, the path curves sharply to the left. In this bend, ignore the first path on the right and, at the end of the bend, you’ll reach a three-way junction.

(19) Change direction and take the path joining from the right at an acute angle. Pass a track on the left and then another on the right. The path turns left, leaves the forest and crosses a ford. At the junction after the ford, continue to the right and, a few metres further on, pass a path on the left. Continue in the same direction until you reach a three-way junction (not marked on the map) where you can see, through the forest, a meadow on the banks of the Esch with an old restored building.

(20) Continue to the right (it is possible to turn left; the two paths join further on). The path ends at a clearing in the forest on the right, corresponding to an old track.

(21) Take the path on the left. Soon, pass the path you left earlier at the previous three-way junction on your left. Continue until you reach a path branching off to the right.

(22) Take the path on the right. 200 m further on, turn onto a path on the right. This gradually turns left, runs alongside a field on the right and comes to a crossroads.

(23) Take the track straight ahead on the right, cross the Esch via a concrete footbridge and then a rudimentary wooden footbridge, continue straight on and join the D 106. Turn left and continue to Martincourt. In Martincourt, ignore the first street on the left and continue to the next junction.

(24) Turn left onto Rue de l’Église, heading towards Manonville and then Saint-Jean. Ignore the various junctions and continue straight on along Rue Saint-Jean. When the road bends to the right on leaving the village, take the path that continues straight ahead. Cross the Esch twice and arrive in Saint-Jean. Ignore the road joining on the right and continue to the junction by the last houses.

(25) Take the small road on the left and continue to a path that branches off to the right just before crossing a stream, 50 m after passing a pumping station.

(26) Turn onto the path on the right. Follow it for a long way until you come to a wide cross-path. The path seems to continue on the other side of the path opposite, on the right.

(27) Take the path on the right, follow the valley up and join a track.

(28) Continue along the track in the same direction until you reach the crossroads at the entrance to Mamey

(29) Turn right opposite. A little further on, keep to the right then turn right again. Continue to the crossroads by the church.

(30) Turn left. On leaving the village, cross the D 106 and continue straight ahead along the Tranchée de Mamey.

(31) In the forest, leave the^GR®5, which heads off to the left, and continue to follow the trench straight ahead. Join the^GR®5Fagain at a place called "La Folie".

(2) Continue straight on and return to Maidières church via the same route (S/E).

Parking is available at the start of the walk in Maidières near the church on Rue du Bois Leprêtre, in the school car park (on the right after the wash house) and on Rue Alfred Songeur.

There are no facilities for refilling water bottles except by asking the residents of the villages you pass through. There are several fountains along the route but the water is not drinkable.

The route almost always follows marked trails:^{the GR®5F}from (1) to (4), “la Boucle de la Vaux” marked with a dark blue ring from (5) to (12), the Yellow Disc from (12) to (17), the^GR®5from (17) to (19) and from (24) to (31). The unmarked section between (19) and (24) follows an old route of^{the GR®5}. Please note that the old^GR®5route between (21) and (23), which ran alongside the Esch, is no longer accessible at all. The path has virtually disappeared and the meadow along the Esch is entirely fenced off with barbed wire.

A short detour seems worth taking by following the path at the Croix Robert before (2). This path runs through the orchards. In spring the trees are in bloom and, as they have not yet grown their leaves, there are lovely views over the Moselle valley. At the junction before a pylon, take the wide path that climbs to the right and rejoin the route described.

The difficulty, according to the FFRP, is

• Effort = 4
• Technical difficulty = 3 (due to having to step over a large tree trunk shortly afterwards (19) and crossing certain footbridges)
• Risk = 3 (due to crossing narrow footbridges, particularly at the Jus).

In Maidières: Romanesque church, Casenove chapel, the wash house and the village.
In Griscourt
Jezainville Church.
Gézoncourt: the wash house, the village houses, the Romanesque church.
The Esch Valley.
The old mill at Villevaux
Pierrefort Castle, near Martincourt.