The Séauve-sur-Semène Water Trail

Starting point: car park at the Séauve-sur-Semène Socio-Cultural Centre (43140), accessible to all vehicles.

(S/E) Head down Rue des Droits de l'Homme and keep the Allée du Canal on your right.

(1) Leave the sports fields on your right and continue straight on, behind the wooden posts, until you reach the path leading down to the Semène, which you take on the right. Cross the Semène via a small bridge, then follow the path branching off to the right.
Follow the fitness trail (path at the bottom of the Bois de Vaujalat) to the abbey, which you cross. The abbey is the headquarters of the Loire et Semène Community of Communes and houses a museum area which can be visited during office hours.

(2) You pass under the RD500, then turn immediately right. You follow the river to Mathevard along a path.

(3) Stay on the path without taking the road on the left towards the sewage treatment plant. Continue along the river to Mathevard, where there is a Napoleonic sundial, i.e. with decimal divisions.

(4) Then take the tarmac road that climbs (12% gradient over 160 m) to Le Bouchet (ignore the road leading to Les Mazeaux on the right).

(5) From Le Bouchet, follow the road straight down towards the sewage treatment plant (do not take the road on the right) and you will come to a junction you passed on the way there.

(3) Continue along the same route as on the way there (for 320 m), in the opposite direction, until you reach the exit of the bridge under the D500 (trout steps on the left).

(2) Immediately after the bridge, turn left onto the grass to reach the river, then head right along the river and you’ll arrive opposite the abbey. Turn left to cross a bridge. At the end of the bridge, turn right to follow the Semène to the leisure area (with benches, tables, play equipment, toilets and a lake).

(6) You then head up through the meadow, passing between a football pitch and some tennis courts, to rejoin the path taken on the way there.

(1) Take it to the left and continue, in the opposite direction to the outward journey, straight on to Rue des Droits de l’Homme and follow this road up to the car park of the Socio-Cultural Centre (S/E).

At the leisure area: benches, tables, games and toilets.
You can take shelter under the bridges.
This route is accessible to pushchairs and people with reduced mobility, making it ideal for a family outing.

In Mathevard, on the ruins of a weaving mill, you can also see a Napoleonic sundial with its decimal scale (a rarity).
See a trout ladder allowing the fish to swim upstream to spawn where they were born.
Make the most of the leisure area with benches, tables, games, toilets and a lake.
During the week, at office hours, visit the museum area at the Abbey (Community of Communes).