Walk along the River Èvre from the Étang de Trémentines

Park in the small car park at the top of Rue Jean-Baptiste Lully, below the A-road near the roundabout at the Hameau du Moulin junction.

(S/E) Take the path that goes round the top of the Étang du Hameau and joins Rue Maurice Ravel. Walk down to the junction with Rue Lully.

(1) Turn right. After 200m, take the pedestrian crossing through the hamlet. After passing the former Cathy shoe factory, you’ll come out onto Rue des Mauges; follow it to the left.
After 200m, go down the steps on the right. The path leading down towards the Èvre runs alongside a park where Ouessant sheep graze.
Reach the Vieux Pont by passing in front of the mill.

(2) Cross the Old Bridge and immediately turn right onto the Sentier Végétal de l’Èvre.
Cross the small wooden bridge and continue along the path that runs alongside the Èvre.

(3) When you come out onto the road, turn right into the tunnel that goes under the D160.
At the junction, turn left to quickly leave the road via a path that continues to follow the Èvre, with a brief return to the La Roche Verdon road. Continue along the river.

(4) When you reach Chemin de La Chaussée, turn onto the path on the right. You are now very close to the Forêterie farm, at the foot of the ruins of Château de la Forêterie, the Old Castle.
Cross the Èvre and immediately take the path on the left, this time following the right bank of the stream for 200m.

(5) Continue along the path up a fairly steep slope that goes round the Vieux Château.
Turn right onto the Route du Vieux Château, then left onto the grassy path. Follow this path to the Étang de la Florancière, which you will walk alongside for part of the way.

(6) The path turns right to head back towards Trémentines. It is best to walk along the grassy path that runs alongside this track.

(7) When you reach the D147, turn right and cross the bridge over the D160. Keep to the left-hand side, which is easier to walk on.

(8) At the roundabout, turn left into Rue Jean-Baptiste Lully and head for the car park (S/E).

The path that follows the meandering course of the River Èvre is well maintained but muddy after heavy rain.

The ruins of Château de la Forêterie are no longer accessible as they are situated on private land, surrounded by fenced pastures, with two gates on the north side.

It is regrettable that these ruins have been left to fall into disrepair and continue to deteriorate.

You can have a picnic by the Étang du Hameau.

The Vieux Pont offers another option for parking, as a starting point, but also as a picnic spot.

The Château de la Forêterie was probably built between 840 and 877, at the same time as the castles of Cholet and Chemillé. It was destroyed in the^15th century.
Today, overgrown with vegetation and surrounded by deep ditches, significant remains can still be seen, notably the bridge abutment.

"There are places that can inspire dreams. In the commune of Trémentines, there is one that has particularly captured the imagination of those interested in the past. It is the site that the elders called the Tour Guyonneau, which maps refer to as Forêterie and which we know best as the Vieux Château.
At the site of the Old Castle, there is neither a tower, nor a forest, nor a castle, but the remains of a feudal motte. This can be glimpsed in a few granite stones still sealing a loophole, and in the undulations of the meadow to the north, which reveal collapsed fortifications beneath the grass. What remains are mainly ditches half-filled by the fallen walls, the dimensions of which are still astonishing. The stone bridge spanning these ditches features two fine pointed arches, one of which is intact."
Extract from a manuscript by Pierre Lallemand circa 1860, reproduced in the municipal newsletter in 1988.