Orbais l’Abbaye, Le Breuil and La Verdonnelle

The route starts at the large car park in front of the late Romanesque Abbey of Saint-Pierre d’Orbais.

(S/E) With your back to the abbey, take Rue Notre-Dame to the right. Walk to the next junction.

(1) Take the first street on the left. From this point to the village of Le Breuil, the route follows the^GRP® du Surmelin. Turn right, walk past the nursery school, then continue to the wayside cross (bus shelter).

(2) Turn right, then take the path opposite and continue in the same direction along the Chemin du Moulin de la Ville. After a while, the path crosses fields and a wooded area. Walk to the ford.

(3) At the ford, cross over and then turn right after the buildings. Cross the small bridge and enter the woods. Then turn left and cross a second bridge. Walk to Lohan Farm.

(4) In front of this farm, turn left and continue along the small road. Walk past the wash house and keep going in the same direction. The path reaches the vineyards and runs alongside them. Shortly after the retention basin, look out for a crossroads.

(5) At the junction, turn left towards the village of Le Breuil. Walk to the end of Rue de la Blatrerie.

(6) At the junction with Rue du Vieux Moulin, turn left. You’ll leave the^{GRP® trail.} Then turn right onto Chemin de la Prairie, just before the bridge. Stay on this path, which follows the Surmelin stream at a distance, until you reach the first houses in Baulne-en-Brie.

(7) Enter Baulne-en-Brie via Rue Mortehaie. Then turn left onto Rue du Pont. Cross the bridge and walk past the sports ground (picnic area). Walk to the road (D4) and continue 50 m to the left along the road. Do not take the^GR® opposite at the junction.

(8) Look out for the entrance to a narrow path on the right and take it. This path climbs through woodland and crosses a small road. You are now on the^GRP® Tour de l’Omois, which is not always signposted. The path comes out onto the small road a second time; follow it for a few metres.

(9) Return to the path on the left and continue through the Bois de Faët for about one kilometre until you reach a T-junction.

(10) Turn right at the junction. Walk through the woods, then across fields until you reach a small road.

(11) Continue to the right, following the small road.

(12) Before you reach the first houses in Romandie, turn left. The path descends towards the bottom of the Verdonnelle valley.

(13) One hundred metres before the bridge over the Verdonnelle, take the path on the left, which follows the riverbed. This is the Chemin de la Bocquetterie. Walk past the Bocquetterie, then turn right and cross the bridge. Carry on straight ahead to the village of Violaine. In the village, you leave the^{GRP® route.} Turn left onto Rue du Lavoir, then, opposite, take the Chemin de la Sente.

(14) Follow the Chemin de la Sente, which passes through a nature reserve. Walk past the isolated house and continue straight on. Walk to the village of Verdon.

(15) At the first houses in Verdon, turn left. Cross the bridge and take the first street on the right after the town hall (Le Fort). The street bends left, then right, and passes a farm. Walk to the crossroads where there are bales of straw and caravans.

(16) At the Hazeau crossroads, turn left onto the dirt track. Then turn right, then left into the fields. The track joins a woodland and runs alongside it. Walk to the edge of the woodland where the fields end.

(17) Enter the woodland and walk a few metres to a crossroads. Continue straight ahead (the second path on the left) and walk to a T-junction.

(18) At the crossroads, turn right. After 200 m, the path reaches some fields. Walk on to the small road.

(19) Cross the road and carry on straight ahead into the woods. Walk to Ferme le Tremblay.

(20) At the farm, turn left and walk alongside the buildings. Stay on this path as it passes through a wooded area. Walk 500 m until you reach a path entrance on the left.

(21) Take the path on the left and walk to Orbais-l’Abbaye. Turn right onto Rue Saint-Pierre, then left onto Rue Notre-Dame to return to the abbey car park (S/E).

Please note: the unmarked section is not easy. You’ll need to be able to read a map or use the app.

The path from (21) may be overgrown with nettles. If so, carry on straight ahead.

In wet weather, the woodland section from (9) to (11) may be impassable. In this case, you can take the small road from (9) to (12). There is very little traffic, and it is a shortcut.

Picnic area at Baulne-en-Brie by the sports ground, on the route.

One restaurant in Baulne-en-Brie, and two restaurants with terraces in Orbais.

In Baulne-en-Brie (a few metres from the route):

Saint-Barthélémy Church, listed as a historic monument since 1920, features one of the last remaining coffered wooden ceilings with criss-crossed slats in the world. This ceiling and the pulpit are listed as Historic Monuments.

Place Daniel Beaucreux in front of the church. In memory of the men and women of the canton of Condé-en-Brie and the surrounding region who were deported and died in the camps. The ‘Died in Deportation, Alive in Our Memories’ trail.

On the high street, a wash house has been decorated with a design based on the fable *The Milkmaid and the Milk Jug*.

In Orbais-l’Abbaye:

Saint-Pierre d’Orbais Abbey, situated in Orbais-l’Abbaye in the Marne department, was built in the late 12th and very early 13th centuries. Its abbey church is in the late Romanesque style.