The banks of the Seine at Venables

Starting point: Place de la Libération, 27940 Venables-Les Trois Lacs
Parking: Town hall car park

Markings: Blue

(S/E) On leaving the car park, turn right. Go past the traffic lights and you’ll come to a junction shortly afterwards.

(1) Take the path on the right, between the walls, and continue until you reach the railway line.

(2) Turn left and follow the track until you reach the railway bridge.

(3) Go under the railway line. Take the road on the left and enter Lormais to reach the banks of the Seine. The Priory of Lormais is not far away.

(4) Turn right and follow the towpath to Bernières-sur-Seine, near the ferry crossing over the Seine.

(5) Turn right at the fence, follow it, carry on straight ahead and go round the back of the Château Gaillard campsite in Bernières-sur-Seine.

(6) At the road, turn left, then immediately right, until you reach a junction.

(7) Keep right at the Fork in the road and turn right again onto Route des Plantes until you reach the D135.

(8) Cross the road carefully and take the path opposite that leads into the forest. Continue straight on, then go through the first gate. Keep going until the path joins a track running along the edge of the forest. Turn left and continue to the second gate. Go through it on the right and follow a path down through the lowlands to the road near a chimney.

(9) Cut across the road and, at the wayside cross, take the path and turn left onto the track which runs along the left-hand side of the Bois de la Fayel and goes round it. Keep to the right all the way to the stream. Cross it to reach the crossroads.

(10) Turn left and head back up towards Venables, following the D135 on the left until you reach Rue des Sources.

(11) Follow it to the right and take the footpath on the right. At the traffic lights, use the pedestrian crossing on the left to cross the D135 and head back to the car park. (S/E)

Steep descent at the 1.5 km mark (a circular route of 16.3 km).
The walk is impassable if the Seine is in flood.

Check with the local council or theONF for information on hunting seasons from September to the end of February

The Priory of Lormais (100 m from the route): a complex comprising a chapel, a bread oven, a storeroom, wells and 17th-century buildings. The second storey of the main building was rebuilt in brick in 1913. The fief was granted in 1221 by Philip Augustus to Richard Syme. The chapel was restored in 1672. Private property.

The feudal motte was probably built before 1042. The strategic position of this vantage point was a key factor in its construction. It offers a breathtaking view of the meandering Seine. In the 11th century, it comprised a moat protecting a palisade.

The ventilation shafts of the railway, which runs largely underground. Trains of that era were coal-fired, and the smoke from the locomotives had to be vented through these shafts.