The Canalised Somme and the Fargny Ponds

Departure from the mobile bridge at Éclusier-Vaux. Small car park (4-5 vehicles) located at Place du Canal, on the left bank of the canalised Somme.

Red and yellow + red and white markings

(S/E) Head south-east (do not cross the bridge) and follow the canal on your left, keeping to the grassy bank. Pass an isolated building.

Red and yellow markings

(1) At a marker post, continue straight ahead along the canal (leaving the GR®800 trail on your right). Walk either on the grassy bank or on a small road next to it.

(2) At the fork near the Lower Frise lock, keep left on a gravel path, as close as possible to the canal.

Yellow markings

(3) Cross the canal via the Upper Frise lock bridge. Continue straight ahead along Rue Mony and leave the village.

(4) At the fork, take the cul-de-sac on the right and leave a campsite on your left. Continue between the fields, ignoring a turn-off on the left (elevation 52). Further on, the tarmac gives way to a path.At the crossroads at the edge of a wood, continue straight ahead along the path that leads into it and you will soon reach the edge of a pond (bench).

(5) Then turn left and walk along the pond on your right. Ignore a footbridge on the right. Then take two metal footbridges close to each other. Further on, cross two small brick bridges in succession and continue up an uphill street. Walk along a beautiful building on your left.

(6) At the crossroads (painted EDF post), turn left onto the small road.

(7) When the road turns left, leave it and take a path on the right. Climb gently towards a wood, enter it and climb more steeply. Leave the wood and continue on fairly flat ground along the edge of the field until you come to a small road.

(8) Follow it to the left, ignore a track on the right and descend to the Vaux viewpoint on the left, after a small statue of the Virgin Mary (superb panorama of the Somme valley and its ponds).

(9) Continue down the road.

(10) Shortly afterwards, turn right onto a path that goes uphill. Continue along a flat grassy path between the fields (note a large isolated building some distance away on the left, which is the town hall of Éclusier-Vaux). Then go down the path to a road.

(11) Follow it to the right, and at the triangular crossroads that immediately appears, turn right towards Éclusier-Vaux and follow Rue de la Fontaine Ferrée. Cross two weir bridges over ponds, then the mobile bridge, and you will immediately reach the car park (S/E).

Hiking boots recommended.

No water sources identified along the route.

Hike designed and marked by the Somme departmental committee of the French Hiking Federation (FFR). Detailed map useful (at least the one accompanying this description).

Hike completed by the author on 29 December 2025.

- Pleasant walk along the canalised Somme between (S/E) and (3).
- Very beautiful section along the Fargny ponds, between (5) and (6).
- Superb panorama over the Somme valley and its ponds (9).