Hamel and its marshes, a little Canada

From Hamel, you can explore the marshes of the region - it's like a little Canada! You'll also discover man-made works such as the Église de l'Écluse, an unusual barge, the Canal du Nord with the Palluel lock and nature trails.

Details

343782
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 10.96 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 3h 10 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 4 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 4 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 44 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 36 m
  • ⚐ Country: France
  • ⚐ District: Hamel (59151)
  • ⚑
    Start/End: N 50.278963° / E 3.076709°
  • ❏
    IGN map(s): Ref. 2506E
  • Hour-by-hour weather

Photos

Description of the walk

Park in the village hall car park, next to the church.

(S/E) Turn right into Rue de l'Église, then left into Rue André Halle.

(1) Turn left into Rue du Pont. At the end, turn left, leaving a starting point on the right, and continue straight ahead, past the marshes.

(2) At the first traffic circle, take the small street on the left, passing the waterwheel. At the junction with Rue du Centre, turn right into Rue des Murets Simon. Sixty meters further on, looking left, an unusual barge will catch your eye.

(3) At the next crossroads, turn left into Rue des Lumières and, at the end, fork right towards the church. Pass the church and, at the traffic circle, turn right into Rue Fily. Continue along Rue Joseph le Glay.

(4) Do not cross the canal, but take the road to the right alongside it, then the towpath which comes after it. Continue as far as Écluse de Palluel (Palluel Lock) and its special feature, the ferry on the other side to save water.

(5) Leave the canal and enter Rue de l'Abbaye. Follow this street to the right, then turn right again into Rue d'en Haut, which supports the GR®121 (white and red markings). At the traffic circle, turn right into Rue du Moulin for about 150m.

(6) Turn left along the Petite Sensée, following the GR® signs. Turn right into Rue des Marais. Continue straight ahead on the GR®, following alongside the Marais du Grand Clair and then the Marais d'Ecourt - Saint Quentin.

(7) In sight of the road, take the right-hand path and go straight on towards Hamel.

(8) At the crossroads, go straight ahead into Rue André Halle. Turn right.

(1) Return to the junction at the start of the hike, then, once you've reached the church, turn right to return to the car park at the start (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 40 m - Salle des fêtes car park
  2. 1 : km 0.17 - alt. 40 m - Rue du Petit Pont, left
  3. 2 : km 2.24 - alt. 39 m - Street on the left - Placé
  4. 3 : km 2.52 - alt. 38 m - Rue des Lumières, left
  5. 4 : km 3.89 - alt. 42 m - To the left along the canal before the bridge over the - Canal de la Sensée
  6. 5 : km 5.85 - alt. 43 m - Écluse, street on the right - Canal du Nord
  7. 6 : km 6.63 - alt. 39 m - GR121 to the left. Follow the Petite Sensée and then the - Sensée (rivière)
  8. 7 : km 9.52 - alt. 38 m - Crossroads, turn right
  9. 8 : km 10.62 - alt. 39 m - Crossroads, opposite
  10. S/E : km 10.96 - alt. 40 m - Salle des fêtes car park

Notes

If you inform the town hall (tel: 03 27 89 05 68 Monday to Friday mornings), you can park your cars on the sports field next to the village hall.
The circuit can be muddy in wet weather, so please bring good shoes and a change of clothes.

For a meal, head for the Musée de la Mine in Lewarde (15Km) and eat at the "Briquet". You can then finish your day with a visit to the Museum.

Worth a visit

Along the way, you can see churches, a modern paddlewheel, a barge stranded in the middle of the Écluse, the Écluse de Palluel and barges on the canal.

You can also see marshes and fishing areas.

A stroll through the Bois de Lewarde can also complete your outing.

There are many other possible routes in the area.

Always be cautious and plan ahead when you're outdoors. Visorando and the author of this route cannot be held responsible for any accidents occurring on this route.

The GR® and PR® markings are the intellectual property of the Fédération Française de Randonnée Pédestre.

Reviews and comments

4.4 / 5
Based on 26 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.7 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.5 / 5
Route interest
4.1 / 5
Jacky dum
Jacky dum

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Dec 19, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

very beautiful route

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User 23235524

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 28, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Great tour, but unfortunately too much city!

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Bûcheron
Bûcheron

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jan 27, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

Beautiful walk around the Mont des Cats monastery

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Cadefoster
Cadefoster

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 14, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

It's a pity that you have to go through the town centre of Arleux. At the 1st roundabout, I advise you to take a left towards the campsite.

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fanfan1969
fanfan1969

Overall rating : 5 / 5

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

Very pretty marshes, but be careful, there are a lot of mosquitoes in June, so be sure to spray.

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danicau
danicau

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jan 02, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

https://danicaurandonneur.blogspot.com/2...

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Al'tour
Al'tour

Overall rating : 3 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 18, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Very busy route : Yes

A promising start, before quickly returning to the tarmac road and passing, again and again, through an unremarkable village; then the end of the route along a highly polluted "marsh" (which you can hardly see).
Nature is not respected here and everything is in a state of disrepair.
It certainly has more charm in summer.

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bapfred
bapfred

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 28, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

A very nice walk, except perhaps for the passage through the town. It's a shame we arrived a bit early, as the paddlewheel restaurant was very tempting.

I found the part after the hallage path much more interesting than the beginning.

Thank you for taking the time to write this report to share this beautiful place.

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immercurien
immercurien

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : May 09, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

Hello,
I did this route in the morning in heavy, dry weather.
I enjoyed riding along "la petite sensée" (point 6 to point 7) which makes you want to have a picnic this summer.
Pretty villages crossed
I recommend this route, completed in 2 hours.

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BEA 59
BEA 59

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 22, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Nice route except for the passage through the village
not very busy at this time of year and bring good shoes as the path is very muddy

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anyrob
anyrob

Overall rating : 3 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 23, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Very busy route : No

We did it yesterday! and I honestly thought we'd be walking much closer to the ponds! the first part was superb, but once we'd crossed Paluel and walked alongside the pond, we couldn't see a thing of the marshes. The paths were very practicable but without any visibility of the wildlife around us. We were frustrated with this outing.

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mhasse
mhasse

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 02, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

Same as the last 3 reviews... An air of Canada We're still looking, even if we weren't convinced of the resemblance. On the route description, you see water everywhere... in fact you can only see the marsh in places... you're often right next to the water but there are bushes or trees preventing you from seeing the water.... too bad! And the same goes for the mosquitoes, I got eaten!
A rather long crossing of Arleux, without much interest except for the barge in town.

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leroy.michel
leroy.michel

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 30, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

hiking in dry, sunny weather, beware of voracious mosquitoes.

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abcpc
abcpc

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 23, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

Lovely ride. The only criticism would be the rather long crossing of villages.

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Cam*
Cam*

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 21, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing

The directions and map provided by Visorando were clear and we had no trouble finding our way around, but we were disappointed with the route: it bore no resemblance to Canada (although we weren't expecting the same scenery, of course, we were hoping for some fine viewpoints) and above all we were very disappointed to have seen so little of the marshes; this walk takes you around the marshes but you rarely get to the edge. All in all, a nice country walk if you live nearby, but not worth the diversions.

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