The Marne Valley between the Ourcq Canal and Monceaux forest

Hiking along a bend of the river Marne. The circuit follows along streams in its first part, then crosses part of the Montceaux forest. There are beautiful panoramic vistas at every break in the tree cover.

Details

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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 20.00 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 6h 00 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 93 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 88 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 121 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 46 m

Photos

Description of the walk

‘’Start''
The hike begins at the Trilport (Seine et Marne) train station car park, at Chemin d’Armentière (north of the railway track). It can be reached by car or train.

GR (Red and White) markings
Head to the west, the railway line is on your left.
At the junction with the D17 (1), then turn left at the next crossroads, then right down to banks of the river Marne. Go left to the bridge (2).

PR (Yellow) markings
Use the stairs to go up to the road, cross the Marne, then turn right onto the path along the river to the north. This road passes under the railway bridge and ends near the small river port of Moulin de Poincy, on Rue du Moulin (3).

‘’No markings''
Turn left onto Rue du Moulin, go up Rue de l'Aqueduc, follow it to the end and climb the trail to the Canal de l’Ourcq towpath (4).
Turn right and follow the towpath for 2 km. In the wide bend to the right, you will see a small weir on the other side built into the concrete wall of the canal. It is easily recognisable as it is topped by a concrete wall in an L-shape about 1 m high. In addition, a high water mark was placed on the right of the channel wall (5). A hundred meters away, the canal crosses a ravine (6).
Just before the ravine, turn right onto the path down to the edge of the wood. Turn right onto a farm track and then turn left. It runs through a large field and reaches the river Marne at a crossroads. Turn 90° to the left in the direction of a treatment plant. Continue straight ahead to arrive at Varreddes (7).
Turn left then, 300 m further on, turn right to reach the D405 at a service station.
Cross the road and turn left, walking on the hard shoulder (get behind the guardrail as soon as possible) on to the towpath of the Ourcq Canal at which turn right (8).
Continue following the lock and turn left at the bridge to join the D97.
After a succession of two left-right turns, at a further left turn, head onto the path that rises sharply to the right (9).
Walk up the wide path along the TGV rail line and continue ahead . Shortly after passing next to a bridge, where the track widens into a large junction with three roads leading off to the right, take the second right downwards (10) (pay attention to the map which does represent the reality of what is on the ground because of the works that took place recently).
Follow this road to the D405 (11) near the Ourcq Canal bridge.

PR (Yellow) markings
Cross the bridge and take Chemin de la Couture l’Évêque (12) to the left. At the junction with the D121 (Rue des Otages), continue straight ahead along Chemin des Garennes as far as the D97, and then follow this to the end of the bridge over the Marne (13).
Turn left onto the path down to the river and turn right onto the Rue de l’Église de Germigny-l’Evèque (14).
At the church, take Ruelle au Loups to the right. Arriving at the crossing located at the end of the boundary wall (15), take the second road on your left and then, 100 m further on, bear right and continue to a crossroads where the paths cross (16).

‘’No markings''
Take the path that goes diagonally to the left. Continue until you cross the D17 to arrive at the La Marche crossroads where the is a car park and picnic area (17).

GR (Red and White) markings
Bear right and follow the GR markings. After 300 m turn right, then 300 m further on turn left and, after 150 m, right again. Continue on to a large track where you veer left to reach the edge of the ditch of a railway line. Turn right and continue to Trilport train station.

The hike ends.

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 61 m - Gare de Trilport
  2. 1 : km 0.28 - alt. 65 m - Railway bridge
  3. 2 : km 0.82 - alt. 53 m - Bridge over the D603 - Marne (la)
  4. 3 : km 2.9 - alt. 48 m - Moulin de Poincy
  5. 4 : km 3.45 - alt. 58 m - Towpath - Canal de l'Ourcq
  6. 5 : km 5.91 - alt. 58 m - Weir
  7. 6 : km 7.48 - alt. 49 m - Arrival at Varreddes
  8. 7 : km 8.34 - alt. 61 m - D405 canal junction
  9. 8 : km 9.76 - alt. 105 m - Path on the right at the D97 bend. Near the - Cimetière allemand de Chambry
  10. 9 : km 11.13 - alt. 111 m - TGV line, turn right
  11. 10 : km 12.25 - alt. 62 m - Bridge over the D405
  12. 11 : km 12.5 - alt. 57 m - Chemin de la Couture l'Evèque
  13. 12 : km 14.17 - alt. 58 m - Marne bridge
  14. 13 : km 14.73 - alt. 49 m - Rue de l'Eglise
  15. 14 : km 15.62 - alt. 55 m - End of the wall
  16. 15 : km 16.37 - alt. 70 m - Crossroads, turn left
  17. 16 : km 17.21 - alt. 83 m - Carrefour de la Marche
  18. S/E : km 20 - alt. 61 m - Gare de Trilport

Notes

Worth a visit

 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

4.3 / 5
Based on 21 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.3 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.4 / 5
Route interest
4.3 / 5
NICA
NICA

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 17, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

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Yannick Barbeau
Yannick Barbeau

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 27, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful and varied walk: the Marne, the Ourcq canal, the villages and the forest. I do everything with GPS to be safe, so I have an external battery for my phone because the GPS consumes power for 5 or 6 hours.
Worth noting:
at level 4: the climb up the Ourcq canal is really steep, it must be difficult in wet weather.
at level 6: the descent from the canal is a mess, with no path and trees in the way; I recommend going straight down if possible and following the edge of the fields.
between 8 and 9: after the Varreddes lock, you cross the canal and tackle a fairly steep slope straight onto the road, with lots of cars and no pavement. I advise you to ride against the direction of the traffic and to keep your feet on the ground.
Apart from that, it's a magnificent route.

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guyhubert.fontaine
guyhubert.fontaine

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 06, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

👌😀✅

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randosro
randosro

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 20, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

At the time, work was being carried out in the south car park of Trilport station, but it was possible to park in one of the north car parks on the Chemin d'Armentière, which is also on the way back.
Nobody on the route this Saturday apart from a few groups on bikes.

1st problem: point 3 refers to a weir embedded in the concrete of the canal, which is better described in the visorando "The Marne Valley between the Canal de l'Ourcq and the Montceaux Forest". One thing's for sure, I didn't see any weir (I didn't check before setting off what it looked like!), just 2 paths that were too steep where there was concrete, I'm going to do this route again during the week to check.
I think the path at point 3 starts from the towpath at 1 o'clock, just before a wooden fence. There hasn't been a concrete wall in front of it for a long time, and there's no spillway... Uncertain, we continued as far as the main road.

The 2nd problem was the same as for Guy Friedmann on 15 June: the climb up to the Vareddes bridge in Germigny, which was too steep and slippery on the concrete at the bottom for several of us, even though the weather was fine that day. Some of us had to walk along the field below to the end of it. It would have been impossible to climb if the ground had been soggy, on both sides of the bridge. I propose the following alternative with no impact on the heritage, sorry for the Marne riverbank: after the Île aux Boeufs, stay on the yellow markings and head north, to bypass the Grands Prés and reach the D97, then walk up it until you cross the bridge.

In paragraph 5, make sure you take the Rue de l'Eglise "to the left". In Germigny, in this street and the adjacent street (rue Saint-Fiacre), there are several castles or hunting lodges of remarkable size, one of which is being restored. All that remained of Bossuet's château was a wall in the park.

All in all, a very fine walk under semi-covered skies, then blue in the afternoon, with a little more track than planned, no doubt due to a lack of attention. Thank you

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VincentLafon
VincentLafon

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 29, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A beautiful, varied walk (Marne, Bear Canal, fields, forests, villages), with little traffic (few mountain bikers, few walkers).

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eric bourjot
eric bourjot

Overall rating : 2.7 / 5

Date of your route : May 25, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

We got lost in the bends between points 8 and 9, which were not precise enough.
Sincerely

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ageep
ageep

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 22, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

A route in autumn colours and sunshine.
Beautiful views,

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ovil
ovil

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 27, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

Easy walk, the only nuisance being the nettles on the way up to the Ourcq canal and along the D97. Long sleeves are recommended.
At point 6, there is now a wooden barrier along the gully just before the path. This is a more obvious landmark than the weir on the other bank.
At point 9, the path up is marked GR and starts between piles of rubble.
In Varreddes, the Chemin des Garennes is actually called the Chemin des Cardennes.

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Micaspe
Micaspe

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 20, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A very pleasant and varied route. Limited road sections

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gege1946
gege1946

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 21, 2017
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

The first part of the route is pleasant, along the Marne and then the Ourcq canal. Then the Varredes bypass is less pleasant, with danger on the stretch of the D97 after the lock, rubbish on the path leading up to the TGV tracks and the deafening noise of the air corridor over Roissy. Nice finish in Germiny l'évèque. Crossed the Montceaux forest without any problems.

Two points to highlight:
- At point 6, we didn't see the path leading down to the right. Was this the result of our distraction? Tired of the towpath? We continued along the canal to point 8.
- Point 10 - After the TGV bridge, we didn't understand which was the right path. We went down the secondary road that joins the D405.

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gege1946
gege1946

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 21, 2017
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

The first part of the route is pleasant, along the Marne and then the Ourcq canal. Then the Varredes bypass is less pleasant, with danger on the stretch of the D97 after the lock, rubbish on the path leading up to the TGV tracks and the deafening noise of the air corridor over Roissy. Nice finish in Germiny l'évèque. Crossed the Montceaux forest without any problems.

Two points to highlight:
- At point 6, we didn't see the path leading down to the right. Was this the result of our distraction? Tired of the towpath? We continued along the canal to point 8.
- Point 10 - After the TGV bridge, we didn't understand which was the right path. We went down the secondary road that joins the D405.

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Waldeny
Waldeny

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 14, 2016
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

Minor drawbacks:
The overhead corridor in this area, whose regular noise spoils the nature walk a bit.
Passage on the unsecured departmental road, which is not really reassuring (sharp bend after coming up from the canal), there is surely a way to go through the wood between the bends, but as I was alone I preferred to follow the instructions.
The "crossroads" of paths after the bridge over the TGV line is not really clear, I couldn't really make out the paths; luckily the clearest one going down was the right one.

The plus points :
Variety of the walk, really nice!
The section near the lock is an ideal spot for a picnic (tables available).

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bepondeup
bepondeup

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 10, 2016
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

The proposed route takes the D17 from the Varreddes lock bridge; after reconnaissance, I judged this section to be dangerous with a group, so I opted to go on the opposite bank of the towpath for 420m. From this point (49.009712°N,2.921007°E), I branched off, azimuth 333°, to rejoin the original route at 49.013072°N,2.918047°E by taking the path, including an area at 15%, passing by the Fontaine d'Orteuil.

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JM.lambert
JM.lambert

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 10, 2016
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

Pomenade along the Marne, the Ourcq canal and in the forest.
No unpleasant surprises.

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Nobodyisperfect
Nobodyisperfect

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 03, 2016
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

This hike went off without a hitch. However, I would like to point out that after point 6, when you leave the path at the edge of the wood, we did not find any farm tracks (there are only cultivated fields). We then made our way back to the water treatment plant by taking the path that runs alongside the wood and turning right towards the plant.

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