The Charles Péguy Memorial

Parking is available in the town hall car park, opposite Saint-Barthélémy Church in Neufmontiers, a few kilometres north-west of Meaux.
N.B. The commune is the result of the merger of the former communes of Chauconin and Neufmontiers, and there is still a building in Chauconin with "Mairie" written on the pediment, but the starting point is in Neufmontiers.

No signposts
In the first sections of the hike, you follow a small part of the Sentier de la Brigade Marocaine (Moroccan Brigade Trail), abbreviated to BM in the following description. This trail is signposted with numbered stages on signs illustrated with the silhouette of a Moroccan soldier from 1914.

(S/E) Head for Saint-Barthélémy Church, opposite the town hall. Look for the BM arrow on the left-hand corner of the façade pointing to stage 3, "Military Graves". Follow the direction indicated by the arrow and take the lane that branches off to the right of the Espace Michel Colluci, bordered by a wall on the right.

(1) At the corner of a sports field, continue straight ahead, following the BM arrow towards stage 4 (you will visit the military graves mentioned above on your return). Take the paved path at the beginning. After about 200 metres, take the first path on the right that leads to some houses, behind which you can see the Butte de Montassis and the Bois de Penchard. At the T-junction that follows, level with the houses, turn right.

(2) At the crossroads, turn left into Rue Georges Frisez. The street climbs gently through a residential area: stay on the main street, heading north. After No. 35, turn left onto Sente de la Loge.

(3) Just after a right-hand bend, go through a forest gate (information sign) and follow a path northwards, first between two fields and then along the edge of woods or wasteland on your right. Pass at the foot of an electricity pole on your left and reach stage 6, "German positions". Continue north on the path towards stage 7 and you will come to an information panel about the witness mounds. Then turn right at a right angle and enter the woods. The path (not shown on the map) is not very well marked; it winds a little, while keeping a general eastward direction.

Red and white markings

(4) Take the^GR®® on the left and descend gently into the woods. At a T-junction, turn left at an angle (do not follow the BM arrow to stage 7 on the right). Go past a forest barrier and leave the woods. Continue descending gently, the path being framed by two rows of trees. Pass a metal cross on the right-hand side of the path.

(5) Cross a stream and go under the bridge of the TGV Est railway line. Walk gently uphill with the church of Monthyon clearly visible to the north-west. Shortly before a high-voltage power line, ignore a path leading off to the right. Go around a group of buildings (palisade topped with barbed wire) on the right and come out onto a lane in a residential area.

(6) At the crossroads, cross the D97 road and take Rue Gambetta opposite. Stay on this street and climb towards the church.

(7) When you reach the church, turn left onto Place Carruel and walk past the town hall. Continue along the street, passing the Ferme de la Recette (on your right) and then the Château de Monthyon behind a low wall (on your left). At the stop sign, turn left down Rue Thiers. At the next stop sign, continue straight ahead on a small road, still going downhill.

(8) At the bottom of the descent, pass a pond on your left (possible stopping point) and continue along a path that curves to the left further on and heads west between the fields.

No markings

(9) Look for a dark red cylindrical post on the right-hand side of the path, stuck in the ground and bearing a^GR®® marker^. Then turn left at a 90° angle onto a path between cultivated fields (let the^GR®® continue west). This path heads south towards high-voltage power lines. At a crossroads before the high-voltage power lines (elevation 119), turn right. Pass under the high-voltage power lines, where the path becomes wider and more stable. Shortly afterwards, you will reach the Ru de la Sorcière stream. Continue straight ahead, keeping the stream on your left.

(10) After about 100 metres, leave the wide, stable path, turn left to cross the stream and head south on a grassy path that climbs towards Iverny. The path curves to the right and leads to Ruelle Bichette. Cross the larger D27 road and continue straight ahead (there is a "no parking" sign on the right-hand side). Cross Rue du Tillet on the right-hand side.

(11) At the stop sign (church on the right), turn left onto Rue du Fresne. Pass the small monument commemorating the soldiers of September 1914 and continue south. After leaving the village, continue along the small road, which has very little traffic.

(12) Take the bridge over the TGV Est railway line to reach Villeroy. As you pass, look out for a white well in the middle of a field on the left: this is the Puits de Puisieux, also known as the "Puits Charles Péguy". At the stop sign, turn sharply left onto Chemin de Puisieux. At the bottom of the lane, there is an information panel about the Puits de Puisieux and the closest view of the well.

(13) Leave the tarmac road and take a grassy path slightly to the left. Follow this path, which bends to the right and is lined with a row of trees on the left-hand side. Come out and walk along a football pitch on your right. At the corner of the pitch, turn left at a 90° angle. If the ground is not too muddy, take the side road to the left of the road, which is lined with two rows of trees. You will reach the Charles Péguy Memorial (cross, orientation table).

(14) Cross the D27 (busy road, caution advised) and follow the D129 towards Chauconin-Neufmontiers, towards the National Necropolis, which is clearly visible.

(15) From the National Necropolis, follow the D129 road for about 1.7 km: this road is moderately busy, but busy enough that it is recommended not to walk side by side. Pass a sign for "right-left turns", an intersection with paths blocked by a barrier (elevation 94), and an electricity pole.

(16) Shortly after the electricity pole, when the road curves to the right, take a path that branches off to the left (north-east) between two cultivated plots. Descend slightly, pass a reed bed on your right, cross a stream and climb gently up the opposite side.

(17) At a three-way junction, turn right onto a pleasant path lined with hedges (in the distance on the left, you can see the bell tower of Neufmontiers church). A few metres before a forest barrier, turn left onto a path that climbs between the fields. Walk past the cemetery (on your right) and then the sports fields (on your left).

(1) At the T-junction, turn right, come out onto the church square and immediately reach the town hall car park (S/E).

In wet weather, several paths between cultivated plots may be slippery or muddy, particularly between (3) and (4), between (10) and between (16) and (1). The other paths appear to be well stabilised.

Café-bar in Neufmontiers at (2). Café-bar and pharmacy in Monthyion, behind the church (after (6)).

For the most part, this route is not marked. It is therefore strongly recommended that you bring a 1:25,000 map (at least the one accompanying this description).

Hike completed by the author on 13 March 2015.

The Battle of the Ourcq began on 5 September 1914. On that day, in the area covered by this hike, the^6th French Army (Army of Paris) and the^1st German Army faced each other on either side of the Ru de la Sorcière (which you cross shortly before (10)). Hikers will thus be able to get a clear idea of the view of the battlefield that the two armies had: from (1) to (10), we are in the German sector, particularly on the heights of Penchard and Monthyon, and from (10) to (16), we are in the French sector.

Memorial sites encountered along the way:
- Iverny, shortly after: Monument in memory of the soldiers of September 1914.
- Villeroy "Village mémoire 1914-1918" (Memorial Village 1914-1918), near: Musée 14-18, 10 Rue du Puits, 77410 Villeroy.
- Villeroy, near: Puisieux Well, also known as "Charles Péguy Well". At this well, on 5 September, the company commanded by Lieutenant Charles Péguy made its last water reserves before going into battle.
- Villeroy, in (14): Charles Péguy Memorial. Stone cross, orientation table indicating the precise location where Charles Péguy was killed at the head of his men, and plaque with some of the poet's verses.
- Chauconin-Neufmontiers (15): National Necropolis, known as the "Grande Tombe de Villeroy" (Great Tomb of Villeroy) due to its proximity to the latter commune. Military burial site of around a hundred soldiers who fell on 5 September 1914, including Charles Péguy and 34 unknown soldiers.
- Chauconin-Neufmontiers, just before returning to (1): Chauconin Cemetery, military graves of officers from Moroccan regiments engaged in the sector.

Numerous web pages recount the death of Charles Péguy in combat. Among them, we would like to mention the page dedicated to him by the Villeroy Museum. You may also be interested in reading the book simply entitled "Péguy", published in 2015 by Anne Bouvier Cavoret, which recounts the last days of Charles Péguy from the eve of general mobilisation until his death.