Country:
District:
Departure from the church in Briarres-sur-Essonne. Parking is available in marked spaces either at the foot of the church or across the street, near the town hall.
In addition to the markings, there are hiking signposts at various points along the route.
Yellow + red and white markings
(S/E) Head north, leaving the church on your left and the town hall on your right. Follow theGR®®32and the main street (Rue de la Gare on the map), and cross the disused railway line.
(1) Immediately afterwards, turn right down Chemin des Parès (dead end). At the bottom, the tarmac lane gives way to a path that is closed to motor vehicles. Walk along the Essonne on your right and take two footbridges over weirs. After the second footbridge, walk between two branches of the river. At the end of the path, turn right and cross another footbridge. You will come out into a gravel courtyard. Reach a road and follow it to the left for a few metres (nice view of the river, information board).
(2) Turn right (east) and follow the small road uphill towards Orville (sign). Cross the hamlet of Buisseau and, before the exit sign, turn left onto a grassy path that descends. Pass a pond on your right, walk along the edge of a wood on your left and then enter the wood. Walk through the undergrowth with a wetland area on your left, followed by a reed bed. Continue in the same direction through more open terrain, with a few clusters of pine trees on your right. At the end of the path, walk along the right-hand side of a public garden (bench, water point). Continue along a tarmac lane until you reach a junction with the D831 road.
Yellow markings
(3) Follow the road to the left. Cross a main branch of the Essonne, leave Orville and then cross a second branch of the river. Turn left with the road and, before a right-hand bend at a place called La Traverse, leave the road and take a grassy path on the left. Head south between the fields with the small church of Dimancheville clearly visible. At the first house, the path gives way to tarmac. At the end of the lane, turn left and walk downhill with the church on your left. At the bottom, cross the mill courtyard (private property, pedestrians allowed; please respect the premises).
(4) Cross the Essonne again and turn right to follow it on your right. Take a footbridge over a weir (wash house on the opposite bank) then follow the Essonne to the Moulin de Buisseau.
(2) Continue along the small road opposite which climbs towards Châtillon (sign). Note the beautiful view of Briarres church on the right and leave the hamlet of Buisseau. Pass under the railway bridge (caution: narrow passage) and, on exiting, ignore the two paths on either side. Continue along the road and enter Le Pont. At the stop sign, cross the D27 and follow Rue du Moulin de Charreau (dead end) opposite, slightly to the left. Follow the street to its end at the mill (no. 380), ignoring all the paths on either side.
(5) Then turn left and go up a grassy path along the edge of the field on your left. At the top, continue east-southeast between the fields. At the first crossroads, turn right (south) towards a strip of woodland on the right (no signpost here). Walk along the edge of the woodland on your right. Continue south, descending slightly, and pass some bushes on your left and then a copse on your right.
(6) At the crossroads by a solitary tree, turn right (south-south-west) towards a wood. Walk uphill through the wood. At the crossroads just outside the wood, turn right (ignore the "PR®® de Châtillon" sign which tells you to turn left). Walk along the edge of the wood on your right, then between the fields towards a village. At the T-junction (farm shed on the right), turn left. At the next junction, turn right. Note the hiking map on the left and leave the track on the right that leads to the Moulin de Châtillon (information sign). Continue along Rue du Marais de Châtillon, which turns left to cross the hamlet.
Yellow + red and white markings
(7) At the gate on the left (no. 25bis), turn right towards Francorville and rejoin theGR®®32. Pass between two reed beds and cross a branch of the river. Turn right (information board) and cross the Essonne river at Moulin de Francorville. Walk up the road, passing an orchard on your left and the Francorville farm on your right.
(8) Before the top of the hill, at the corner of the farm, turn right onto a grassy path that starts at the foot of the building (be careful to spot this start). Then walk along a hedge on your right (through a gap at the start of the hedge, note the farm's dovecote on your right). Further on, descend with a copse on your left. At the bottom (reed bed on the right), turn left and walk through the undergrowth. Then climb up on the left, leave the woods and stay on a grassy path at the edge of the field on the left and the woods on the right.
(9) At the corner of the field, turn left at a right angle and go up along a plantation of conifers on your right (not shown on the map). Before the top of the hill (signpost without a sign in December 2016), turn right. At the end, the grassy path gives way to a trail. Walk through the undergrowth with views of the reed beds below on the right and the bell tower of Briarres church opposite.
(10) At a fork, take the grassy path on the right with an embankment on your left and a fence on your right. At the end, follow the road to the right. At the stop sign, turn left and then immediately right into Rue des Coquereaux (no entry). At the next stop sign, turn left and you will immediately come to Briarres church (S/E).
Association / Club / Walk leader
Easy 
