The port of L’Ilon from Guernes

Start from the car park at the Foyer Neyens on Chemin Saint-Martin in Guernes.

(S/E) With your back to the car park, head left, north-east along Chemin Saint-Martin. As you leave the village, at a Fork in the road, keep to the left. Continue until you reach the first crossroads (model aeroplane field on the left).

(1) Turn left, heading due north, and follow this track straight on until you reach a tarmac road.

(2) Take this road to the left. After about 200 m, leave the Route de Guernes on your left and continue towards Sandrancourt. Pass a shed on your left and turn left at the next street towards the lake car park.

(3) Turn left and, at the car park, turn right (at the barrier) then follow the path alongside the lake. Pass the^first path on the right, then the^second, keeping to the lakeshore; turn right twice until you reach the next junction.

(4) Turn left, go through the barrier and continue along the path that runs alongside the lake until it ends. You’ll come out onto a small road.

(5) Follow it to the left, cross a bridge and, shortly afterwards, take a small path on the right which leads down towards the pond. Follow the main path, which initially runs alongside the pond before eventually crossing the woodland until it joins a track suitable for vehicles.

(6) Follow this track to the right and continue straight on to Flicourt Farm. In front of the farm, turn right, go round the farm and, about 250 metres further on, at the next crossroads, turn right again. Cross a bridge over a backwater of the Seine.

(7) At the end of the bridge, turn right and follow the riverbank until you reach the spillway of the backwater (the village of Rolleboise is on the opposite bank of the Seine).

(8) Retrace your steps for about fifty metres and, at the Fork in the road, take the path on the right which follows the Seine for nearly 3 km until you reach a commemorative plaque marking the US Army’s crossing of the Seine.

(9) Take the road on the left which leads back to Guernes; cross two bridges to reach a crossroads at the entrance to the village.

(10) Faced with two roads, take Rue André Mendon on the right, which climbs up behind the church. At the top, turn left onto Rue des Caillouets and immediately right onto the tiny Ruelle du Point du Jour, which then widens. At the end, turn left onto Rue des Clos, then take the first right and the first left. Cross Rue Émile Ledebt and head for the car park (S/E).