Country:
District:
Starting point and access: Lizy-sur-Ourcq station
- Transilien - Line P, on the section between Meaux and La Ferté-Milon.
Take the only exit, on the side of track 1, in the direction of Meaux to La Ferté-Milon (if arriving in the opposite direction, track 2, take the underground passage).
No signposts
(S/E) With your back to the station, follow the road that branches off to the right. Keep to the right-hand side of the road, on a small tarmac track. Cross the railway line on the small footbridge reserved for pedestrians. At the roundabout, take the first road on the left (D401). Ignore the street that branches off to the right and continue to a fork in the road.
Yellow markings
(1) Turn right onto the D401, towards "A4/Cocherel". The road climbs and, near the top of the hill, after an electricity pole, leave the road and turn right onto a path that starts between fields. The path is lined with hedges and then enters the woods. At the edge of the woods, with the Ru de Méranne on your right, turn left and climb gently up a sort of hill, making a series of wide first turn right then left turns.
(2) At the corner of a wall (sign for "La Trousse"), you will come out onto a small road. Continue straight on this road and walk along the wall of the Château de La Trousse on your left. Pass in front of the castle's outbuildings, turn left following the road and arrive in front of the main entrance to the castle (beautiful view of the castle).
Yellow markings are extremely patchy (due to the scarcity of markers).
(3) Leave the small road and continue along its extension before it turns right: head towards an electricity pole (east-north-east) on the path that starts with a field on the left and a copse on the right (do not take the path furthest to the left, which leads to a road). Look for a few pollarded trees lined up in the distance on the left. At the junction with the path lined with these trees (no signposts here), turn right, cross the Ru de Méranne stream, head south towards an electricity pole and the red roof of a farm shed that can be seen in the distance. Walk alongside a horse farm on your right, descend slightly and you will come to a crossroads in Crépoil.
(4) At the crossroads (stop sign), look for a reservoir on the left (marked "Station de Cocherel"). Take the small road that starts on the right of the reservoir, which is not the main road. After a few metres, when this road bends to the right, continue straight ahead on a gravel path that passes to the left of a green shed. At the three-way junction, continue straight ahead towards a grove of trees; note the church of Cocherel in the distance on the left. Climb gently and, at the top of the hill, with a solitary tree on the right, turn left. After a slight descent, you will come to a road, which you take on the right to Montsoutin (sign on the right, pond and shed on the left).
No markings
(5) Leave thePR® trail, which continues straight ahead on the road, and turn right (the "no entry" sign is only for motor vehicles). Walk past the Montsoutin farm on your right (admire the dovecote porch). Pass a few houses and follow a good stabilised path to the west. Walk between the fields with extensive views (particularly on the right, view of the Château de la Trousse). At a three-way junction, continue straight ahead (south-west). You will come to another three-way junction where you rejoin thePR® trail coming from the left (yellow cross on a tree on the right, copse on the left).
Yellow markings (not very dense)
(6) Turn right and continue west on a wide path. Cross the D3 road (take care) and continue straight ahead on a small road. After a bend to the right, you will come to a T-junction at the entrance to Tancrou.
(7) Turn left and walk gently downhill into Tancrou, staying on the main street. Just after No. 7 on this street (Grand Rue), turn right onto Rue de l'Eglise and continue to the church itself. At the end of the small square, turn left onto the wooden staircase and then, on the right, take the path lined with wooden logs that descends to a picnic area near the banks of the Marne.
(8) Turn right onto the small road with the Marne on your left. The road becomes a path, which then leads to a street (Avenue Trois Vallets), still along the Marne.
No signposts
(9) At a sort of public park on your left (benches, litter bins), leave the street and turn left onto a narrow road, go around a barrier prohibiting access to motor vehicles and cross a bridge over a branch of the Marne to reach a small island. Continue for a few metres then turn right. At the first fork (small pseudo-menhir), take the right-hand path and cross a footbridge. At the second fork, ignore the footbridge on the right and take the left-hand path. Stay on the main path and climb up to the bridge over the Marne. Turn right onto the bridge, pass Avenue Trois Vallets on your right and you will come to a crossroads.
Yellow markings
(10) Turn left onto Rue du Port. At the next fork, turn left, still on Rue du Port. When this street bends to the right, turn left, pass in front of a restaurant entrance, go past a hedge and turn right to follow the Marne on a concrete path. Join the street to pass under the railway bridge.
No markings
(11) Just after the bridge, ignore the yellow arrow pointing to the right and continue straight ahead on a path that runs close to the Marne. Follow this path to the confluence of the Marne and the Ourcq (do not cut across the field on the right, as some signs unfortunately suggest).
(12) Turn right to follow the Ourcq (on your left). Cross a small bridge over the Ourcq, turn right, continue along the Ourcq (on your right) and head towards the pumping station (white building). Go around the pumping station on the right and you will come out onto a wideGR® path (red and white markings).
(13) Turn left. Do not follow theGR® but take a path that veers right and climbs up to the towpath of the Canal de l'Ourcq.
(14) On the towpath, turn right (north) and walk along the canal on your left. Pass the "downstream" river station at Lizy-sur-Ourcq (silos). When you reach a bridge, go up the road on the right and then back down the towpath on the other side of the bridge. Further on, the towpath joins a street (Allée du Canal).
(15) Shortly before another bridge, at a "private road" barrier, turn right into Rue du Canal, which descends to a roundabout. Cross the roundabout on the left, pass in front of the town hall of Lisy-sur-Ourcq and cross the Ourcq. Continue straight ahead along the avenue to the station (S/E).
Visorando member
Moderate 
Association / Club / Walk leader
