Handisport des Treize Ponts

Parking at the Etoile du Pavé de Meudon, a roundabout at the centre of which stands an imposing radio mast. Access is either from Chaville via the Route du Pavé de Meudon, or from Sèvres or Meudon via the Route des Bois Blancs. At the start of the Route Forestière des Treize Ponts (south side, signs reading ‘Dead end’ and ‘Road closed / Reserved parking’), there is a car park reserved for holders of a ‘disabled’ badge (6 spaces available). For any accompanying persons who do not hold this badge, there is another car park located at the start of the Route Forestière du Pavé de Meudon, on the Meudon side (east, ‘Dead end’ sign).

Apart from a detour to the Chêne des Missions, the route is linear: it follows the Route des Treize Ponts there and back. The route is marked by four ‘clearings’, which are actually areas laid out at the roadside (see the ‘during the walk’ section).

(S/E) Take the Route des Treize Ponts with your back to the radio mast (heading south-southeast). There is an information sign at the start of this road. Cross a path and then pass through clearing no. 1, known as the ‘clearing of the senses’. Then pass through clearing no. 2, known as the ‘clearing of knowledge’.

(1) Cross another path and then pass through clearing no. 3, known as the ‘relaxation’ clearing.

(2) Just before a roundabout, take the wooden path on the right, with wheel guards, which leads to the Chêne des Missions (clearing no. 4).

(3) Turn around and return to the Route des Treize Ponts.

(2) Follow the road to the right and reach the Carrefour des Fonds de la Chapelle.

(4) Then turn back and follow the Route des Treize Ponts straight on to the starting point (S/E).

The time indicated (45 mins) is for walking with brief stops in the clearings. The information board at the start indicates a 30-minute walk and 30 minutes in the clearings.

The road is tarmac but closed to motor vehicles. Whilst not exactly ‘smooth as a billiard table’, the surface is sufficiently even for cycling. From the Etoile du Pavé de Meudon (S/E) to the Carrefour des Treize Ponts (1), the road is flat. Between the Carrefour des Treize Ponts (1) and the Carrefour des Fonds de la Chapelle (4), the gradient is very gentle.

Once you reach the Carrefour des Fonds de la Chapelle (4), you can continue along the Route des Treize Ponts to the Carrefour des Encoignures, near some houses. There, you come to a crossroads that is impassable in a wheelchair, so you must turn back. Allow an extra 500 metres for the return journey.
N.B. Between the two junctions, the road is more cambered and the surface is worn in places: this additional section is therefore less smooth than the adapted route.

Hike undertaken by the author on 30 March 2015.

Four ‘clearings’, numbered 1 to 4, mark the route. There are information boards, including a Braille version:
- No. 1 Clearing of the Senses: recognising the scents of the forest and the sound of certain types of wood.
- No. 2 Knowledge Clearing: history of the Meudon Forest and identification of tree bark.
- No. 3 Relaxation Clearing: tables with benches.
- No. 4 Discovery Glade (3): the Oak of the Missions, remarkable for its size (over 30 metres in span), surrounded by pseudo-megaliths erected from millstone in 1895.