Étang des Noës in Québriac

A varied route between the peaceful Ille-et-Rance canal and the steep-sided Moulin-Neuf valley, with beautiful architectural heritage to discover along the way. A very shaded route with very little tarmac.

Details

n°3193967

Creation:
06 May 2020

Last update:
02 Mar 2026

Last review:
01 May 2026

Activity: Walking
Distance: 8.17 mi
Average duration: 3h 55
Difficulty: Moderate
Back to start: Yes
Ascent: + 217 ft
Descent: - 203 ft
Highest point: 266 ft
Lowest point: 85 ft

Country: France
City: Québriac (35190)
Start/End: N 48.344489° / W 1.827324°
IGN map(s): Ref. 1117SB, 1217SB
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Photos

Description of the walk

Park in the car park located between the town hall and the church.

Yellow^PR® markings

(S/E) Leave the church square with the church on your left, turning right onto Rue Dames and then left onto Rue de la Gromelais. At the roundabout, take the start of the greenway (shared path: pedestrians/cyclists) which runs alongside the road to join it. Turn left and continue to the Gromillais lock.

(1) Cross before the bridge and take the greenway on the right to follow the Canal d’Ille et Rance for 3.5 km. Pass the Gué de Noëlland lock, then the Pont Houitte lock, and continue until you find a path on the right leading to La Haie de Terre.

(2) Follow this path to the right and continue along the road which runs alongside the Ruisseau du Moulin Neuf on your right.
At the crossroads, continue straight ahead, then turn onto the path on the left and keep to the left. Further on, on the left-hand side, you will see the old Ville Gouin mill, now without a roof or sails.

(3) Immediately after the mill, turn right. At the fork, take the path on the right, which is very steep, to rejoin the Ruisseau du Moulin Neuf after a few dozen metres. Head up towards the east-northeast and reach the hamlet of Launay after turning right (note the wayside cross on the right, accompanied by a plaque indicating the hamlet’s name). Reach the crossroads.

(4) Please note: change to the route – see note below
Cross the junction and continue straight on through the hamlet. Continue along the road which curves to the right and reach the first houses of La Mariais
After the houses, turn right towards La Gerdais.
Off the route: allow 20 minutes for the round trip; continuing along the road and then turning left very quickly, you will reach the Croix de la Mariais (see photo).

(5) After crossing the Ruisseau de Talouarn, rejoin the^PR® by turning left onto a path. Follow it to the end and continue left onto the road.

(6) Turn left, then right 120 m further on. Continue along the same route and cross Ringadan. The road becomes a path. At the T-junction, continue to the right.

(7) Follow the road to the left, then, after passing under a power line, take the path on the right. At the crossroads, continue straight ahead and reach the Haute Vendée. Continue slightly to the left towards the south-west, then towards the north-west.

(8) As you approach a road, under a high-voltage power line, turn left onto a south-westerly path. Cross a road and continue straight ahead. It will run alongside a business park on your left before veering right and ending at a road. Follow this road to the left. At the T-junction, continue to the right.

(9) Turn left towards a housing estate and enter Québriac. Follow Rue de la Landelle to the left. After the school, turn left onto Rue de la Liberté and return to the car park on the right (S/E).

Waypoints

S/E : mi 0 - alt. 161 ft - Car park between the town hall and the church
1 : mi 0.44 - alt. 112 ft - Gromillais Lock – on the right - Canal d'Ille-et-Rance
2 : mi 2.69 - alt. 89 ft - Leave the greenway – take the path on the right
3 : mi 3.36 - alt. 243 ft - The old windmill – straight ahead
4 : mi 4.3 - alt. 230 ft - Launay – road on the right
5 : mi 5.3 - alt. 223 ft - Junction with the PR
6 : mi 5.61 - alt. 262 ft - La Mare
7 : mi 6.05 - alt. 249 ft - Étang des Noës – turn left
8 : mi 7 - alt. 236 ft - High-voltage power line – on the left
9 : mi 7.77 - alt. 167 ft - Turn left towards the housing estate
S/E : mi 8.17 - alt. 161 ft - Car park between the town hall and the church

Notes

Following a request from the owner in March 2021 – Route modification: as the Moulin Neuf site is private property with no access permitted, do not follow the^PR® markings from (4) but instead follow the instructions in this description. Rejoin^{the PR®} at (5).

Warning: this route shares many sections with other routes. All these routes are marked in yellow. The signposting is excellent and where routes merge or diverge, posts bearing signs with the route names are always present. Therefore, follow the signs for the “Circuit de l’étang des Noës”.
If in doubt, please follow the description above.

Worth a visit

At the windmill and Étang des Noës, there are picnic tables.

The church of Québriac: it is dedicated to Saint Peter. Dating from the 12th or 13th century, it was remodelled in the 14th century. The bell tower was erected in the 17th century. It is topped by a bell tower with a curious twisted frame, known as a ‘tors’ bell tower. The top of the bell tower is actually twisted by one-eighth of a turn to the right and is one of around fifty ‘tors’ bell towers recorded to date in Europe and the only one in Brittany.

The Ille and Rance Canal: It links Rennes to Saint-Malo over a distance of 84 km and was built between 1804 and 1832. Initially, it was used to supply military ports threatened by the English blockade, utilising a network of navigable inland waterways. Goods were thus transported from the port of Saint-Malo to the ports on the southern coast of Morbihan and Loire-Atlantique without having to sail around the whole of Brittany. Nowadays, it is used only by pleasure boats.

The Étang des Noës: around the communal pond, a spot for walking and fishing, the ground is pitted with dozens of gaping holes one to two metres in diameter and just as deep. This veritable Swiss cheese landscape was dug out in the 19th century: clay was extracted from here to make flat tiles and bricks used in buildings across 40 surrounding communes.

Reviews and comments

4.5 / 5

Based on 7 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.3 / 5

Ease of following the route
4.4 / 5

Route interest
4.7 / 5

trio35

01 May 2026 at 18:24 7200

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : May 01, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A very pleasant walk, well shaded and offering a wonderful immersion in the heart of nature. The first section along the canal is straightforward. However, between points 2 and 3, we enter a small wood with paths everywhere, and thankfully we were able to follow the GPX track. A bit more tarmac afterwards (following the route change mentioned, I think), but these remain very narrow, quiet roads that lead to new sunken paths. Nothing spectacular, then, but a green landscape in a very peaceful setting.

Note: some sections are likely to be difficult on a rainy day or during wet weather. In the woods, it does climb quite a bit towards the end.

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louis35

27 Apr 2026 at 13:49 7200

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 23, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

We were a small group of eight walkers and found this walk to be excellent, enjoyable and varied.
At point 3, we had a picnic out of the sun – a table was waiting for us! What more could you ask for? We then followed the directions, particularly regarding the ‘detour’ – no trouble following the route description. A lovely day ending at the village pub with its Thursday market at the end of the day. Highly recommended.

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claudie35

16 Dec 2024 at 11:13 3600 • Edited: 16 Dec 2024 at 11:35 3600

A hike that turned into a nightmare.
To start with, the downloaded GPX track didn’t match the route – probably a different hike starting from Québriac – so we had two options: the GPS or the map route with directions. So we ditched the GPS. But during the hike, which is fairly well signposted – although the old sign still directs you to go via the Moulin Neuf – we started to struggle around La Mariais; we had to find our own way as there were no more signs. It was a Sunday at 4 pm, night was falling, and there wasn’t a soul to be seen. Eventually we switched the GPS back on and, before reaching Gerdais, we decided to follow the small path to the left after the stream – there was a lot of mud – and at La Mare, the directions were wrong, so we decided to take a shortcut towards the Étang des Noés and walked through a stream of mud for at least 1 km, with vegetation blocking the way. We met some locals who finally put us on the right track – thanks to them – and we continued on the tarmac. To finish off, we admired the work of the association that had created a miniature village near the church, had some mulled wine, and headed home for a well-deserved hot shower. We’d come to see the miniature village and were absolutely delighted.
This walk is best done in very dry weather, or simply avoided altogether. It took us 3 hours in total.

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Foudekat

15 Jan 2024 at 09:52 3600

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jan 15, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very pleasant 13km walk of moderate difficulty; the route is thoroughly enjoyable, with 90% of the trail running through woodland and along the water’s edge, passing through small, traditional hamlets.
In short, a walk I’d happily do again.

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Le Moulin Neuf

22 Mar 2021 at 20:23 3600

Hello Marinono,
Access to Moulin Neuf is indeed closed. The mill and its pond are private property, as is the adjoining farm. They are not intended to be visited.
We look forward to seeing you on the many other paths in Québriac,
The owners

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Marinono

05 Mar 2021 at 09:18 3600 • Edited: 05 Mar 2021 at 09:18 3600

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 04, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Please note that the route is currently blocked by a private individual: it is impossible to take the path leading from Launay to the Moulin Neuf site. As a result, you must take a circular detour from Launay via La Mariais. We were therefore unable to see the Moulin Neuf site as we would have had to retrace our steps; we preferred to join and continue the route, as time was short during this period of an 18:00 curfew... The route was nevertheless extended by 25 minutes, along a tarmac road, with a few dogs running free in the hamlets we passed through... We notified the town hall upon arriving in Québriac; we were told the Mayor was already aware of the situation and the matter was being dealt with... Despite this inconvenience, the route is very pleasant and varied; it must get quite muddy in wet weather, which wasn’t the case. We only encountered a bit of mud. We completed the circuit (including the extension) in about 3 hours and 25 minutes.

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carlo?eric

29 Jun 2020 at 09:41 7200

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 29, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

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gerard payelle

08 Jun 2020 at 09:40 7200

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 08, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely, very well-signposted route

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