Through Vaux and through the woods

Car park at the town hall.

Yellow signposting

(S/E) Walk down Rue de la Marne, keeping the town hall on your right.

(1) At the crossroads, turn left up Rue de l’Église and walk past the church. Continue straight on until you reach the hamlet of Les Rabottes.

(2) Leave the road and take the path leading uphill to the left. Reach the ridge and turn right (two parallel paths). At the four-way junction, head down to the right along a tarmac path. Pass a curious gravestone lantern and arrive at a T-junction.

(3) Turn right onto Rue de la Maltière. At the junction immediately ahead, keep left onto Rue Porte d’Aquin. Go round the bend, then at number 11 on the street (with the pumping station behind it), turn right and go up the path alongside the house. Turn left at the fork, take the ramp, pass by the playground and arrive at the Croix de Pierre.

(4) At the junction by the cross and its remarkable tree, head straight on into Rue de la Mairie (ignore the path down towards the stadium). Walk past the book box. Further down, at the bend before the little bridge over the Auxoise, turn left onto Chemin de Pise Vieille. Head up towards the wooded countryside. Ignore the path on the left between the fields. You’ll reach a junction with a sign for route a55.

(5) At the next crossroads, go straight on, following the sign for route a55. Ignore the paths on the left.

(6) At the edge of the woodland, at the junction with the Bois de la Côte, keep going straight on. Continue south-west through the countryside, staying on the same path. Ignore two paths on the left and one on the right, and carry on to the edge of the woodland.

(7) At the edge of this woodland, head down the wide path to the left. Take care on the descent, as the ground can be slippery, often being greasy and muddy. At the end, at the T-junction, turn left and walk past the isolated house and its bamboo grove at La Rabellerie. Follow the path below until you reach the bottom of the rustic hamlet of Le Grand Vau.

(8) Follow the road for about 200 metres. After a large electricity pylon, alongside a stone wall, head up the path on the left. Then, veer right along the hedgerows. When you reach the road, climb gently to the left up the lovely Côte de Vaux.

(9) At the top of this slope, turn right, heading due north, leaving the path that goes straight on towards Grand Vau. Walk along the path with its view over the Vienne valley and beyond. Enter the lovely Bois de la Côte with its oak trees and moss-covered stones. Follow the same path (surrounded by private property). At a small fork further up, veer left and rejoin the cross-country path you took on the way there.

(5) Turn left and continue to the sign for route A55.

(6) Head down a stony lane to the right and walk past a small pond. Turn right at the three-way junction (not shown on the map) which appears immediately.

(10) Turn right onto Rue de l’Abbaye, which leads to the village centre. Walk past the gardens, enjoying a lovely view as you approach the village. Pass the former Priory and its outbuildings.

(1) At the Stop sign, opposite the church, turn left to return to the starting point (S/E).

- Lanterne des morts.
- Notre-Dame Church.
- Croix de Pierre.
- Viewpoints over villages and plains.
- 4 different woods (La Côte, Le Bondillet, Croix du Chêne and Bodin).
- Wash house and fountain.