The Brioleux Trail in Issoudun

Park in the spaces along Boulevard de Stalingrad.

(S/E) Head towards Place du 10 Juin, cross it to reach the Tourist Office, not far from Saint-Cy Church.

At the Tourist Office, with your back to the starting sign, head slightly to the left towards the statue.
At this point, leave the square via Rue Foulerie. At the bottom of the street, continue straight on into Rue des Lavandières. Cross the Théols and head towards the François Mitterrand Park opposite.

(1) Just before the footbridge, turn left and walk alongside the River Théols. As you leave the park, follow the river towards the Hospice Saint-Roch.

(2) Turn right, cross the Théols, then turn left into Rue du Moulin Saint-Paterne and carry on straight ahead until you reach Avenue de la Caserne. Cross at the pedestrian crossing and continue straight ahead on the same road. After Rue de la Greletterie, continue along Chemin des Charmelons, which leads out of town and through farmland.

(3) At the end of the track, take the small road on the right. At the end of this road, turn right onto a main road (D 19) and continue for about 400 metres.

(4) Turn onto the track on the left. Walk for about 400 metres, cross the Route de Thizay and continue almost directly opposite onto another small road. Carry on until you reach a residential area. Stay as close as possible to the railway line on your left, ignoring the streets on your right. Continue along Rue de Chantejot.

(5) At the roundabout, take the pedestrian crossing almost directly opposite. Continue to the left along Rue des Alouettes. About ten metres further on, cross Rue des Alouettes at the first pedestrian crossing and continue along it for a good hundred metres.

Turn right onto Rue Grande Saint-Paterne. At No. 28, carry on for 30 metres and turn left into a small lane lined with maple trees that passes under a porch. At the first junction, head slightly to the left towards the footbridge and cross it.

(1) Turn left after the footbridge, veer left onto the wooden walkway to stay as close as possible to the river, then turn right at a right angle to move away from it.

(6) After 100 metres, opposite the Tour Blanche, where the wooden walkway ends, take the gravel path on the left which leads back up towards the town. Cross the footbridge and follow the lane to the right. Cross Boulevard Champion, turn right, then head up Rue des Poulies, a cobbled street, on the left. Continue to Place du 10 Juin, then along Boulevard de Stalingrad to reach the car park (S/E).

In days gone by, the ploughmen would ‘brioler’: they would sing to accompany the heavy tread of the oxen in the fields. Ultimately, it is a slow-paced song, intended to sustain the oxen’s effort whilst ploughing. By the end of April, everything must be finished. So, to encourage his animals and sustain their effort, the brioleux sings at the top of his voice, pausing and resuming in time with the rhythm of the work. His song is called ‘Briolage’ in Berry, ‘Thiaulage’ in the Nivernais, or ‘Grandes’ in Auvergne. In *La Mare au Diable*, George Sand describes it as follows: ‘This song, whose origin may once have been regarded as sacred, and to which mysterious influences must once have been attributed, is still reputed today to possess the power to sustain
the courage of these animals, to soothe their discontent and to charm away the tedium of their long labour. It is not enough to know how to guide them well by ploughing a perfectly straight furrow, or to ease their labour by lifting or pressing the ploughshare into the earth at just the right moment: one is not a perfect ploughman unless one knows how to sing to the oxen, and this is a science in its own right which requires a particular flair and specific skills’.

The Berry Green Lentil

The green colour of the lentils is due to the variety grown locally. This ‘Lentille Verte du Berry’ is cultivated in accordance with a dual set of specifications: Label Rouge and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication). Grown since the 1950s, lentil cultivation is on the rise. Indeed, the clay-limestone soils and the local climate are particularly well suited to them.