The Davrey Route

Park opposite the town hall on Rue de l’Abreuvoir (just before the church).

(S/E) Leave the car park by turning left onto Rue de l’Abreuvoir towards the Church of the Assumption. Walk past the church and you will come to the Landion. Admire the Davrey washhouse, on the right-hand side of the road, which turns into a footpath at this point (see the ‘During the walk’ section).

(1) After crossing the Landion, continue straight on along the farm track, which bends to the right shortly afterwards and passes through the Grand Pré area. Further on, the track runs alongside the Landion on the right-hand side for about six hundred metres before veering away from it and joining the D89.

(2) Turn right and follow this road with care. Just after crossing the Landion via a bridge, turn left onto a stony farm track.
After about four hundred metres, turn right and join a track near the hamlet of Rue des Chênes.

(3) Turn left onto the track heading eastwards away from the hamlet. Continue until it joins the D171.

(4) Turn right and follow the D171 with care for about one kilometre until you reach the Croix de Saint-Nicolas, on the left by a small, low hedge (see the ‘During the walk’ section).

(5) Turn left onto the farm track and follow it for about three hundred metres. Turn left again onto the grassy path leading towards the Bois des Ruelles.

(6) Just before the woodland, turn right onto a dirt track and head towards the hamlet known as Rue de l’Aps. The track turns into a small road as soon as you reach the first houses. Walk straight through the hamlet and, a little further on, in front of a small copse, turn right and join the nearby D92. At the crossroads there is an underground water tank.

(7) Turn left and follow the departmental road to the junction with the D443. There, turn left and follow the road carefully for about four hundred and fifty metres.

(8) Turn right onto a forest track which enters the Bois de la Vacherie just as the road curves slightly to the left. One hundred metres further on, turn right again onto the first track heading south-west.
Follow this track for about six hundred metres before turning right onto the seventh track. Continue to a T-junction.
Turn right onto the track that joins the D443.

(9) Turn left and follow this departmental road carefully until you reach the crossroads with a T-junction just after the small Bois des Bruyères.

(10) Turn right onto the track at the corner of the Bois des Bruyères. The track winds gently through farmland until it joins the D89 south of La Basse Vacherie.

(11) Turn right and follow the road carefully, passing through La Basse Vacherie.

(12) At the junction with the D92, which leads to Ervry-le-Châtel on the left (with a large farmhouse on your right), turn left towards Champ Verger.
As you enter this small hamlet, turn right into Rue du Marraud. The small road curves to the right. Turn left immediately to head for the Lavoir de la Vacherie (see the ‘During the walk’ section).
Cross the Landion and immediately take the path on the right which runs alongside the river on your right. The route passes through the nature observation area (see the ‘During the walk’ section).
Continue along the bank of the Landion until you reach the entrance to Davrey.

(1) Turn right to return to the front of the church and reach the car park on Rue de l’Abreuvoir (S/E).

The car park is opposite the Town Hall, on Rue de l’Abreuvoir (just before the church).
Access: From Ervry-le-Châtel, take the D374 northwards and turn right onto the D92, then left onto the D89 which leads to Davrey. In the village, turn left into Rue de l’Abreuvoir.

This walk, which covers varied terrain, requires suitable footwear.

This walk presents no real difficulty in terms of navigation as it is signposted in yellow (PR®) – in both directions – and follows the “Circuit de Davrey” route published by the Grand Est Regional Tourism Agency and the Othe-Armance Tourist Office. In addition, it is advisable to follow the instructions in the description and on the map, whilst keeping a close eye on the landscape. The waypoints (with their GPS coordinates and the distance from the starting point) serve as aids for walkers exploring the route for the first time.

Davrey
In a charter dating from 1096 – possibly from the cartulary of Saint-Michel Abbey in Tonnerre – it is recorded that Davrey was donated to the abbey by Ermanjart, the widow of Hermuin.
The motte at Davrey is mentioned in 1390 as being surrounded by ditches. The only property known to the villagers was in the Brossotte or Montigny woods, but they stopped paying the ‘pichet’ of oats per household as a usage fee, perhaps because they had to cross the Coudre parish boundaries and the Brossotte meadow to reach it.
Until 1789, Davrey fell under the jurisdiction of the Intendance and the Généralité of Paris, the Élection of Saint-Florentin and the Bailiwick of Troyes.

Places and monuments
Religious architectural heritage
The Church of the Assumption, dating from the 12th, 16th and 19th centuries, features magnificent 16th-century stained-glass windows, a statue of the Virgin and Child, and a beautiful processional cross.

On the road to Avreuil stands a rogation cross, the Cross of Saint Nicholas, which has recently been restored. In days gone by, during the three days leading up to Ascension Day, processions would make their way to this cross to ask for divine blessing for the harvests and livestock. Offerings were placed on the base of the cross, which then served as a small altar.

The two washhouses in Davrey, known as the Lavoir de Davrey and the Lavoir de la Vacherie, have been restored in the traditional style and were built in 1913. They feature a movable floor to adapt to rising water levels and are linked by the Chemin de la Prairie, which runs alongside the River Landion.

Former dairy in the hamlet of La Vacherie.

Davrey Nature Observation Site
A flagship project for the region
Historically, the area’s watercourses and their catchment areas were developed for various purposes (harnessing hydraulic power through mills, agricultural development via drainage, and the straightening of watercourses).
These developments have led to a significant deterioration in the ecological quality of the watercourses, resulting in particular from:
- a loss of biodiversity in aquatic and wetland habitats;
- a disconnection between wetlands and their watercourses;
- a deterioration in the physico-chemical quality of the water;

However, these environments have a major role to play both in maintaining the local ecological balance (acting as ecological corridors, habitats and food sources for wildlife) and in terms of public health (filtering diffuse pollution) and public safety (mitigating flood risks).
Consequently, thanks to a collaborative effort between the Municipality of Davrey and the Chaourçois and Val d’Armance Community of Communes (CCCVA), the Armançon Catchment Area Joint Authority has launched an ecosystem restoration project that is unprecedented in its scale and organisation, with the aim of halting the degradation of natural habitats in the area.
As a significant portion is situated on public land (CCCVA and the Municipality of Davrey), a tourism initiative has also been developed.

A look back at the development of the site
The hydromorphological restoration of watercourses is a crucial environmental issue.
The restoration of the Armance and Landion rivers at the Davrey site has reconnected the wetlands, notably by creating:
5 ponds;
A three-hectare wetland plateau;
5,000 m² of swales and spawning grounds;
...

An educational programme, integrated into the local area
The main aim of opening the site to the public is to enable visitors to discover and learn about aquatic and wetland environments, their ecology, as well as their heritage and landscape value.
To find out more:
Source: Wikipedia and the Armançon Basin website (excerpts)