Mills and locks from Orval

Park in the square by Orval Church.

Yellow markings

(S/E) From the church square in Orval, head up Rue de l’Église towards Cité Saint-Omer. Pass a roundabout and take a footpath, heading towards Les Bouillons then Pont des Delles.

(1) Follow the railway line and join Rue des Écluses via a footpath.

(2) Turn left onto Rue des Écluses, then leave the road by taking small paths running alongside rows of trees and fields; cross the Soulles via a small bridge and then rejoin the Voie Verte.

(3) Continue along the Voie Verte, keeping to the left and ignoring a road on the right.

(4) After passing Les Moulins, leave the Voie Verte and take a small path branching off to the left along the banks of the Soulles.

(5) Before a left-hand bend on the path, turn right and cross the Soulles towards the Moulin de Paillasse. Then follow the small path to the road leading to Les Fourneaux. Turn right to reach Rue des Moissons.

(6) Here, turn left, then take the first left onto a road branching off (Rue des Écluses). Continue to La Gatière, then take the path on the right. Cross Rue des Moissons carefully and go straight on along the path towards Cité Saint-Omer.

(7) At the roundabout, turn right then left towards Rue de l’Église. Cross this road and take the next right. Continue straight on until you reach the path turning left at the end of this road. Cross Rue du Pois de Senteur and follow the path to Rue des Pêcheries.

(8) Turn right. Walk past La Motterie and continue to the Pont Neuf on the banks of the Sienne. Here, turn left to stay on Rue des Pêcheries. Ignore the path branching off to the left at the bend and continue to the next junction.

(9) Turn left, cross the level crossing, then turn right onto Rue des Carrières towards Les Mulots.

(10) Before reaching this point, turn left onto a path towards Claids.

(11) Turn left, then take the first right onto a new path. When you reach Rue des Forges, turn left towards La Piléterie. There, take the path.

(12) At the end of the path, at the level crossing, turn right onto Rue du Pont Guidon. Continue along this street until you find a path on the right. Follow it until you reach a small road. Turn left and continue straight on to the Place de l’Église, the starting point of this walk (S/E).

Difficulty: none.

Picnic table at the Paillasse mill.
Public toilets between the town hall and the school.
Water point in the toilets.

You can join route no. 21 at Village Claids, Rue des Carrières, then by crossing the D971 and the hamlet of La Campagne.

The Pont des Delles
This bridge spanning the railway line between Rennes and Caen is a fine example of late 19th-century railway architecture. Opened in 1879, this is a single-track railway line. From the bridge, there is a magnificent view over Coutances and its cathedral.

Orval Church and its crypt
It is one of the oldest churches in the Coutances area, dating back to the 11th century. The most distinctive feature of the Church of Sainte-Hélène is the presence of a Romanesque crypt. This is very rare in Normandy, as all the saints’ remains were removed during the Viking raids. The architecture combines Romanesque and Gothic styles. Its Romanesque lantern tower bathes the church in magnificent light. Six elements of the church are listed as historic monuments “as individual objects”: the medieval baptismal font, two 16th-century stained-glass windows, two paintings – one depicting the Virgin and Child, the other Saint Helena – and the eagle-shaped lectern made by a local carpenter.

The mill-locks of the greenway
The Soulles Canal, 5,462 metres long, was built by Alfred Mosselman between 1834 and 1840. It enabled the transport of tangue (limestone fertiliser) extracted near Regnéville-sur-Mer to Coutances, where it was sold. The canal is dotted with three mill-locks: the Gruel mill, the Sauvagère mill and the Moulins lock-keeper’s house. A fourth, the Roque mill, was removed in 2018 to restore the river’s ecological continuity. The decline in sand extraction gradually reduced use of the canal until navigation ceased completely in 1886. Today, a greenway has been created alongside the canal to allow everyone to enjoy this former towpath. Walkers, sports enthusiasts and curious visitors can explore this path along the Soulles. This greenway connects Coutances and Regnéville-sur-Mer by bike, as well as Orval, thanks to the installation of several footbridges to cross the river. Several information boards explaining the history of the canal and the area’s attractions can be found along the greenway.

The lower Soulles valley
In the heart of the bocage, the lower Soulles valley boasts a variety of wetlands home to remarkable biodiversity. In the Orval and Bricqueville-la-Blouette area, where the oxbow lakes of the river’s former course remain following the creation of a canal in the late 19th century, 25 of the 33 dragonfly species recorded in La Manche can be found. As for amphibians, 11 of the 15 species recorded in Normandy are found here.