The lands of Chilperic from Trilport

A varied and easy hike that will take you along the Marne to Poincy, through the former estates of Chilperic, a high-ranking Merovingian dignitary. It continues through Germigny l'Évêque and its château, which was much loved by Bossuet. It ends with a route to Trilport through the woods of Montceaux-les-Meaux, the hunting grounds of Gabrielle d'Estrée.

This walk is part of a multi-day hike: Le Chemin Européen de Saint-Colomban

Details

2868819
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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 15.09 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 4h 25 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 31 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 23 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 83 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 46 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Park in the car park at Trilport station, Chemin d'Armentière, north of the railway line. There is another car park on the pastureland by the Marne at the bottom of Rue du Bac.

(S/E) Head west, with the railway line on your left. Follow the GR® (red and white) markings.
Turn left at the junction with the D17, then right at the next crossroads onto Rue du Bac to go down to the banks of the Marne. Go left across the pasture to the bridge.

Use the stairs to climb up to the national road, cross the Marne, then turn right onto the path that runs north along the river. PR® (yellow) markings. Pass under the railway bridge and you will arrive near the small river port of Moulin de Poincy

(1). Turn left onto Rue du Moulin. Walk to Place de l'Église, follow Grande Rue and reach the cemetery. Come out onto another road and follow it to the right for a few dozen metres until you reach the bridge over the Canal de l'Ourcq.

(2) Turn right before the bridge and take the towpath. Stay on this path and walk along the canal on your left.

(3) Leave the towpath before the wooden barrier (protecting the spillway) and take a fairly steep path on the right that descends into the woods. When you come out of the woods, turn right to reach the banks of the Marne.

(4) Then turn left and follow the river on your right.

(5) Turn onto the second farm track on the left (yellow markings to Germigny-l'évêque) and join the D97 road from Varredes to Germigny. Follow it to the right.

(6) Cross the bridge and the Marne (Route de Germigny, yellow markings). 200 metres after the bridge, turn left onto the steep path that descends to the riverbank. Turn right onto the towpath, follow the Marne on your left to the Germigny-l'Evèque pasture, turn right at the pasture and follow Rue de l'Église to the church.

(7) In front of the church façade, first turn right then left and take the Ruelle au Loups. Continue along the edge of the woods to reach a crossroads at Fond de l'Épine, at the end of a boundary wall.

(8) Continue slightly diagonally to the left. Quickly turn onto the first path on the right, Route de la Belle Laie.

(9) Turn left (leaving the marked trail) and continue straight ahead (south-east). Cross a road and reach Carrefour de la Marche.

(10) Take thesecond path on the right, via Route de la Marche. Then take thefirst path on the right.

(11) At the T-junction, turn left (yellow markings). Take thefirst path on the right. At the end, turn left and you will come to a crossroads near the railway line.

(12) Turn right. Walk south-west through a wood and then along the edge of fields. Go through a gate and continue along the tarmac road to Trilport station (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 62 m - Gare de Trilport
  2. 1 : km 2.68 - alt. 48 m - Poincy Mill
  3. 2 : km 3.56 - alt. 61 m - Bridge over the - Canal de l'Ourcq
  4. 3 : km 6.53 - alt. 58 m - Weir at - Canal de l'Ourcq
  5. 4 : km 6.83 - alt. 47 m - Path along the edge of the - Marne (la)
  6. 5 : km 7.76 - alt. 48 m - Farm track running alongside a small stream.
  7. 6 : km 8.86 - alt. 49 m - Bridge over the - Marne (la)
  8. 7 : km 9.63 - alt. 50 m - Église Saint-Barthélémy (Germigny-l'Évêque)
  9. 8 : km 10.45 - alt. 55 m - Fond de l'Épine behind the Château park
  10. 9 : km 11.21 - alt. 70 m - Junction
  11. 10 : km 12.04 - alt. 83 m - Carrefour de la Marche
  12. 11 : km 12.73 - alt. 78 m - Laie de Dancy
  13. 12 : km 13.53 - alt. 80 m - Railway
  14. S/E : km 15.09 - alt. 62 m - Gare de Trilport

Notes

the train is an easy way to get to Trilport station (Transilien line P, between Paris-Est and Château-Thierry). Information about Trilport station
All food shops in Trilport.
Hotel and restaurant in Germigny-l'Évêque.

Worth a visit

The lands of Chilperic in Poincy bear few traces of this period. INRAP has worked to uncover Merovingian substructures on the heights of Poincy, which were covered over for posterity!
Places to visit: church, priory, small hand-operated water pump.
Germigny-l'Évêque Castle, its grounds, the banks of the Marne.
Montceaux-les-Meaux Forest.
Trilport: The word "helicopter" was invented by Gustave de Ponton d'Amécourt, a friend of Félix Nadar and Jules Verne, who was a pioneer of heavier-than-air flight.

 Always be cautious and plan ahead when you're outdoors. Visorando and the author of this route cannot be held responsible for any accidents occurring on this route.

The GR® and PR® markings are the intellectual property of the Fédération Française de Randonnée Pédestre.

Reviews and comments

4.4 / 5
Based on 22 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.5 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.5 / 5
Route interest
4.3 / 5
gege0697
gege0697

OK, thank you, but it depends on the age of the hikers. I accompany people aged between 63 and 78, and I can't take them along paths that are too rough

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kikidu19
kikidu19

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 07, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

hike enjoyed under beautiful sunshine. Many sections are shaded. The route is very beautiful, alternating between the banks of the Marne and the Ourq Canal, passing through pretty traditional villages and a forest. An easy and enjoyable route. The only slight difficulty is at point 3, where fallen trees make the passage a little tricky. You need to be careful, take it slowly, take the detour and you'll get through!

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gege0697
gege0697

Hello Sylvie922 and everyone, to avoid the inconvenience of crossing point 3 and the fallen trees, I continued along the canal and between point 3 and the D405, roughly halfway, i found a path that crosses the deciduous trees. There are several options: either return parallel to the canal and find the original path, point 4, etc., or take one of the two paths across the fields and return to the original path. To avoid taking the D97, I continued from point 5 to point 6, following the Marne, and after a steep climb up to the bridge to cross the Marne

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sylvie922
sylvie922

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 20, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very pleasant route, with no tarmac.
Many trees have fallen across the path, but it is still possible to get through, although one tree requires you to duck down low in the foliage.
The passage from the canal to the Marne ("at points 3-4, the descent from the canal to the PR is made tricky by fallen trees") is also quite difficult to find, so I preferred to stay on the banks of the Marne.

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Carabin.didier
Carabin.didier

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 23, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

As already mentioned, be careful at points 3-4, where fallen trees make the descent of the canal at PR difficult. It is still possible to pass, but you will need to bend down for about 20 metres (or even crawl on all fours). In fact, when going uphill, this passage is marked "tunnel".
The rest of the route is straightforward.

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gege0697
gege0697

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 23, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Hello, at point 3 you cannot go right (path blocked by fallen trees; continue further on and there is another path on the right that will take you back to your route at point 4
At point 5, I followed the Marne to get to bridge 6 and climbed a steep slope to get to the D97

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narvalix
narvalix

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 14, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

beautiful route, very wet and even muddy at the moment, especially after crossing the bridge over the Marne: we preferred to continue on the departmental road and rejoin the trail between 7 and 8.
Nice picnic spot at 10.
Thanks to the designers and other contributors.

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ageep
ageep

Thank you for your comments. I will review the route and modify it at that point. There has also been some tree felling, etc

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Kraumignon
Kraumignon

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 29, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

This is the second time we have done this hike.
We didn't take the precaution of reading the comments and took the spillway passage too late to turn back. This forced us to perform a few acrobatic manoeuvres to get under the many fallen trees on the path, but we managed it without any damage.
From now on, we'll read the comments before setting off. That'll teach us.
Otherwise, it's a very pleasant walk along the Marne and the Canal de l'Ourq.
We'll definitely do it again.

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libertysurf
libertysurf

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 06, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A beautiful, varied walk, but effectively impassable between points 3 and 4 (called "the tunnel") unless you crawl on the ground; it is therefore better to continue a little further to find an easier path that leads to point 5.
If you are in a group, be careful on the D 97, which is very dangerous at point 6 before the steep slope hidden in the woods a little further on!

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bestouen
bestouen

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 15, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

passage between no. 3 and 4 impassable. Continue along the canal for a few hundred metres and take a path on the right that descends

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KB
KB

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 02, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A walk with no elevation gain and a good variety of terrain.
However, please note point (3): the forest between the Ourq and the Marne has been cleared. The path that started from this point is impassable. Continue along the Ourq for about 500 metres and take the next path on the right. It is then possible to return to the indicated path, with a short detour.

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croux74
croux74

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 02, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A peaceful, very pleasant walk through wooded countryside, especially along the Ourcq Canal and the Marne.
Difficulty encountered between points 3 and 4 in finding the path along the canal and then following it.

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Uncle Den's
Uncle Den's

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 06, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

The hike is very pleasant, varied and well described. Arriving by direct, fast train from Paris's Gare de l'Est station is very convenient. The only downside is the noise and visual pollution caused by the constant passage of aeroplanes (1 to 2 aeroplanes per minute).

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la boétie
la boétie

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 24, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

regarding point (3) on the sheet, I would like to point out that, following the storms, a tree has fallen and getting out of the woods requires some acrobatics (climbing over wet tree trunks).
Regarding point (6), I would suggest saying to turn left immediately after the safety barrier. Otherwise, it can be difficult to see the start of the path.
In point (8), make it clear that you have to follow the yellow markings, otherwise you risk turning right very quickly onto a small path that leads to a dead end quite a long way on (at least 1 km, ending at some beehives).
I admit that I did not identify the Marche crossroads. From there, I deviated from the map and walked along the railway line, first on my left and then, after crossing a small bridge, on my right along a rather pretty path overlooking the railway line.

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