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Discovery trail through the Trélazé slate-mining area.
Park in the Attibert car park (Hervé Bazin Cultural Centre; Slate Museum).
Yellow-marked route, FFRP standard. Circular route can be walked in either direction.
(S/E) From the car park, head east and walk past the media library on your right. Cross the Square de l’Union and emerge onto Rue Raymond Lefèvre. Follow this street to the right, then turn left into the Cité des 7 Parcelles, onto Rue Émile Zola. Enter the Parc du Vissoir.
(1) Walk round Parc du Vissoir anti-clockwise. At the corner by the Salle Louis Aragon, turn left. Further on, turn left again and walk alongside the lake on your left. Pass between the Moulin du Poirier on your left and a second, smaller lake on your right.
(2) Exit onto Rue du Poirier and follow it to the right as far as the Gentric roundabout. Go round the roundabout on the left and join Boulevard Bahonneau (D117). Follow it up to the next small roundabout. Go round it on the left to take the path leading uphill opposite (a branch of the “Loire à Vélo” cycle route), which leads to the Parc des Ardoises.
(3) Enter the Parc des Ardoises (a former slate quarry) and continue straight on for about a hundred metres. When you reach the slate bench, turn left onto a path running parallel to the cycle route. Wind your way between the ‘bonsai’ oaks towards the slate table.
Then rejoin the cycle path on the right, cross it and continue straight ahead to reach the Brémandière lake. This lake, known as the ‘vieux fond’, is a former slate quarry.
Turn left, walk along the ‘Vieux Fond de la Brémandière’ on your left, and head towards the stone ‘snail’ (an arrangement of schist stones laid on the ground to resemble a snail). Head down the path opposite.
At the junction, turn left and head back up towards the highest point of the site. Walk alongside the ‘Vieux Fond de l’Aubinière’ on your left. Cross the cycle route and head for the viewpoint on the left. Climb to the highest point of ‘l’Enfer’, known locally as a ‘butte’ (a mound of slate waste resulting from slate quarrying), and admire the panoramic view over the slate quarries and the Angers conurbation.
(4) Head back down and follow the “Loire à vélo” route to the right towards Saumur. Continue skirting the old Aubinière quarries. Then walk alongside the Brémandière lake on your left. After passing a metal cube – a sort of iron chimney – take the path leading uphill to the right and head for the park’s exit. Leave the park by passing through the standing stones. Go round the Saint-Lézin roundabout on the left.
Take Rue Édouard Vaillant, the second exit from the roundabout, heading left. After about a hundred metres, cross the road at the pedestrian crossings and head down Chemin du Buhau, opposite. Carry on and enter the Petit Pré site.
Turn left, go through the gates, and cross the site towards the brick chimney visible on the left. Leave the site, go through the gates and return to the starting point (A/D).
Visorando Member
Moderate 
Tourist office
