Montfort-le-Gesnois walks

The present-day commune, formed by the merger of two former major market towns, stretches out parallel to the Huisne valley across uneven terrain. The old Pont de Gennes is at the lowest point (60 m), whilst the highest point (100 m) is at Montfort-le-Rotrou. The former is a crossroads village situated at the mouth of an old crossing point over the Huisne. The latter, situated on a strategic defensive site, is a linear settlement built under the protection of the castle. The two were joined by a gradual urban expansion in the 19th century. The walk takes you past the starting point of the first major motor race organised by the Automobile Club de France (ACF) in 1906, the forerunner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Situated in the Huisne valley, inhabited since prehistoric times, Connerré developed in the Middle Ages around a religious centre comprising the Church of Saint-Symphorien and a priory. The town, enclosed by a wall at the end of the 16th century, opened up at the end of the Ancien Régime thanks to the construction of bridges replacing fords and the expansion of transport links: the construction of the Paris–Nantes royal road around 1780, followed by the opening of a station on the Le Mans–Paris line in 1854. These developments fuelled the economic boom of the 19th century through fairs and markets and the growth of industry. The market town modernised and expanded gradually, then more rapidly from the 1970s onwards. Today, Connerré is an attractive small town, situated halfway between Le Mans and La Ferté-Bernard.

Although local tradition places the first village at Bresteau, the Church of Saint-Martin, rebuilt by the monks of Saint-Vincent in the early 12th century, provides clear evidence of the antiquity of the village of Lombron. This beautiful church, open during the day, is well worth a visit both for the quality of its architecture (Romanesque choir and lantern tower, nave and chapels remodelled in the 14th and 15th centuries on their original foundations) and for its furnishings (16th-century statues including the Crucified Christ, the seigneurial bench of the Montmorency family, lords of Bresteau, terracotta bas-reliefs by Lebrun, circa 1760, 18th-century nave pews, etc.).

This route owes its name to the shape of its route, which evokes the silhouette of a leprechaun for dreamers. It offers a path between Jalais, a bocage plain on the Soulitré side, and the Huisne valley.

Nuillé-le-Jalais, first mentioned in the9th century , still has a small Romanesque church. Surprisingly, many of the local place-names refer to birds: La Pie qui Couette, La Grande Oiselerie and Le Chardonneret. The route’s signposting is a nod to this unique feature.

Le Breil and Nuillé are two villages of ancient origin. In the Middle Ages, Le Breil, or Breuil, was a seigneurial hunting ground. Nuillé, first mentioned in the9th century, still has a small Romanesque church.

Parigné-Lévêque is a very large and heavily wooded commune: northern pines with sand dunes, and southern chestnut and birch trees. The route allows you to discover the charm of numerous woodlands, vast moors and ponds. The Loudon Stream is crossed in several places.

This circular walk allows you to discover a site not far from Le Mans that is rich in natural beauty. Ponds, peat bogs, wet and dry heathland, and marshy woods... all form a mosaic of landscapes that are home to species rare in the region: harriers, hobby falcons, goshawks, purple herons (among the birds); and royal ferns, marsh marigolds and sundews (among the plants).

The village of Duneau is located in a dominant position on the left bank of the Huisne, on a route that has been highly sought-after since prehistoric times. The Pierre Fiche menhir and the Pierre Couverte dolmen, dating from the Neolithic period (around 4000 BC), bear witness to this. These are the only visible archaeological remains among many others covering the periods of Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

The first mention of the parish under the name “Siliaco Philippi” dates back to the years 1145–1187. From the Middle Ages onwards, the parish seigneury was annexed to the Château de Passais, which itself fell under the barony of Touvoie, owned by the bishops of Le Mans, situated on the border between Savigné-L’Evêque and Saint-Corneille. Sillé-le-Philippe gave rise to the creation of a linear village; long remaining modest in size, it is now expanding due to its proximity to the Le Mans conurbation. This development also benefits the hamlet of Chanteloup (situated on the old royal road from Le Mans to Paris via Mortagne, now the RD 301), which once boasted several cafés and inns.

This walk follows the Huisne Valley and crosses the meadow where an American airfield was set up following the liberation of France in August 1944. A sign on site recounts the history of this temporary airfield.

The parish underwent a re-demarcation in 1836: certain farms such as La Bardouillère and houses in the village were part of Volnay. Since then, the south-eastern boundary has been formed by the Ruisseau la Sourice. Under the Ancien Régime, the parish seigneury was annexed to the Château du Coudray, which you will see to the right of the hill as you head towards La Bardouillère. The village still has traditional houses near the church; it has gradually expanded towards the crossing point over the Sourice, where the roads from Surfonds to Bouloire and from Le Breil to Volnay used to meet, later transformed inthe 19th century into the main road from Tuffé to Le Grand-Lucé.

A few archaeological finds attest to human presence in Thorigné as far back as the Neolithic period. In Gallo-Roman times, a large agricultural estate (villa) is thought to have been the origin of a permanent settlement, which is better documented from the Middle Ages onwards. Despite the destruction of its medieval castle, which was replaced by a bourgeois house in the19th century, Thorigné stands out as a fairly large village offering a wide variety of civil architecture, spread out along the main axis linking the Dué valley to the church. Probably of Romanesque origin, the church was enlarged in the16th century and remodelled inthe 18th century . It houses interesting stained-glass windows and furnishings, such as the high altarpiece dating from 1669 and the18th-century side altarpieces.

The earliest evidence of human settlement in Saint-Célerin is linked to the discovery of ancient coins, including a Gallic stater (1st or2nd century BC) and a Carolingian hoard dating from around 833, the year the locality of Caliniaco (known in French as Chahanay) was first mentioned.

Known successively as Ecclesia de Torciaco, then Torcey and Notre Dame de Torcé, the former parish has been called Torcé-en-Vallée since 1926. The documents first mentioning it relate to the construction of the priory and the church. However, it is clear that Torcé’s history predates this, as evidenced by the megalith located at the western entrance to the village, known as the ‘Dolmen de Torcé’ or ‘Palet de Gargantua’. Human occupation may date back to the Middle Neolithic period.

The route through the countryside around Tuffé takes us to the Château de Chéronne and the church of Saint-Denis-des-Coudrais. The Chéronne, which feeds the Tuffé lake, crosses and recrosses the sunken paths several times. This route is best enjoyed in good weather as the dirt tracks can be quite wet.

Tuffé-Val-de-la-Chéronne is a new commune formed in 2016 from the merger of the communes of Tuffé and Saint-Hilaire-le-Lierru. Inhabited since the Neolithic period, as evidenced by the Grandes Brières dolmen, Tuffé began to develop in the Early Middle Ages with the founding of an abbey around 650. From the Middle Ages to the Revolution, the monastery of Tuffé was also a large seigneurial estate bearing the title of barony; its power sparked emulation and, at times, rivalry with the neighbouring lay lords of Chéronne. At the end of the 19th century, the railway gave the village a new lease of life; it encouraged the establishment of an industrial estate on which the town’s current economic vitality still partly rests.

A good twenty kilometres of peaceful walking through the countryside along sunken lanes, with almost 100% of the route on footpaths (less than 1.5 km of tarmac!!!) in the Beaufay countryside.