Ruisseau des Moulins Trail

Park near the Pierre de Coubertin sports complex. Follow the blue markings.

(S/E) Go around the tennis court and take the path along the left side of the lake.

(1) Turn left and after about 250 m, leave the road and turn right. Then follow the eastern edge of the vineyards.

(2) Turn left, then right at a right angle, walking alongside a small wood on your right. At the T-junction, turn right, then right again to cross the small copse and continue for about 100 metres.
(3) Turn right onto the path in the middle of the vineyards. After 250 m, turn left and then right.

(4) At the intersection of the paths, turn left to reach a tarmac road. Follow it to the left, then turn right immediately afterwards towards Les Pressoirs. Cross the hamlet and reach a four-way crossroads in front of the vineyards.

(5) Turn right and walk for 200 m, keeping the vineyards on your left. Then take the path on the left between the vineyards. Cross the D151 carefully and continue straight ahead until you reach the next junction.

(6) Turn right onto the path and continue walking until you reach Les Mazières. Cross it, then turn left at the farmhouse towards Moulin des Forges.

(7) Turn right and cross Moulin des Forges. Continue along Ruisseau des Moulins and then take the path on the left to La Traversière.

(8) Continue right on the GR® and, after a series of bends, you will reach Moulin du Bois Gelé.

(9) Turn left, staying on the GR® (red and white markings). Then turn right before the private property and take the stairs. Follow the D131 for about 200 m, then cross it carefully and take the path on the left to Les Béhuards.

(10) Continue to follow the GR®3, reaching the road junction shortly after the equestrian centre.

(11) Leave the GR® 3 here and turn right to follow the road for a good hundred metres, then turn left onto the grassy path. Turn right at a 90° angle and continue to Rue de la Chapelle. Turn right, then immediately left and left again a few metres further on. Cross Allée des Petits Bois, go straight ahead to quickly reach the Morcière district and Rue d'Anjou.

(12) Cross the street and continue straight ahead, following the edge of a grove on your right. Turn left onto the path, cross Rue Paul Cézanne and continue straight ahead until you reach Rue Vincent Van Gogh. Turn right onto this street and continue straight ahead until you reach the water tower.

Turn left onto the path and continue until you reach Chemin de Vaujou, where you turn right. At the T-junction, turn right to go around the buildings. Then turn left and then right to return to the crossroads you passed on the way there.

(1) Turn left to reach the car park of the Pierre de Coubertin Sports Complex (S/E).

The mills:

Mill owners usually had two mills. The first, a water mill, operated mainly in winter, while the second, a windmill perched on the promontory, ran all year round. Some of the mills stopped grinding grain after the First World War following the arrival of electricity in the countryside. However, they started turning again during the Second World War in order to meet the needs of the population.

The Châteaupanne lime kiln complex:

The largest lime kiln complex in the Lower Loire region included a quarry in operation since 1666, five kilns, offices, warehouses, workshops, stables, a forge and the foreman's house. 150 boats lined the quayside of the Canal de la Guesse to transport up to 40,000 tonnes of lime per year.

The oldest wood in the world:

In 2006, two plant fossils called Armoricaphyton chateaupannense, whose stems were made of wood, were discovered in the Châteaupanne quarry. The significance of this discovery is that it pushes back the date of the appearance of wood by 10 million years, to 407 million years ago. The plant is only 10 to 20 cm tall. However, it proves that wood appeared before leaves and seeds.

The Fours aux Moulins hike: a 15.3 km hike that takes you past some of the lime kilns that made Montjean-sur-Loire the largest port on the Loire in the 18th and 19th centuries.