On the lands of the Marquis de La Fayette

In Reignac-sur-Indre, park in a small car park below the dyke and just below and south-west of the bridge (playground).

Please note! This route is not signposted.

(S/E) Go back up the road and follow it to the left to cross the Indre river via the bridge. Note the beautiful mill on your right. Just after the bridge, take a path on the left (motorhome area). Continue straight ahead on this path, ignoring the paths on the left, through a floodplain area of the Indre river alternating between meadows and woods. On the right, across a large field, you will see the boundary wall of the large estate of Château de Reignac.

(1) Further on, follow the path as it turns right and cross the Ruisseau de la Guignardière stream. Continue straight ahead on this path until you reach a T-junction and turn right.

(2) Further on, walk along the castle's surrounding wall. At the intersection, at the Coin du Mur, continue to the right and you will come to the D58.

(3) Turn right for a round trip to the old village of Reignac. Before the bend, cross to the left side of the road. On the right: the Château de Reignac.

(4) Turn left onto Rue du Vieux Bourg. Further on, rejoin the D58. Take it to the left until you reach the bridge over the Ruisseau de la Guignardière, cross the road, then go up to the right towards the château, passing in front of the church. Note the red and white^GR®®46markings to follow until otherwise indicated. Return to the crossroads you passed on the way out.

(3) Continue on the left side of the D58. Turn onto the first road on the right. You will soon reach a small cemetery. Go around it on the left. At the corner of the cemetery, continue along the wall on the right, ignoring a path on the left. Continue along this beautiful path through the undergrowth. Ignore all the paths on the left and right, which are closed to the public anyway. You will come out onto a wider path

(5). Follow it to the right. Further on, this path turns left.

(6) Leave it and continue straight ahead. At this crossroads, notice a magnificent old oak tree on the right with a large stone at its foot: the Chêne du Congrès. At the next intersection, follow the wide path to the right, which soon turns into a small road near a beautiful renovated farmhouse, La Piquetterie.

(7) Continue along this road, which soon approaches a beautiful pond.

(8) Continue until you reach a slightly larger road.

(9) Follow it to the left. Further on, the road curves to the left. Shortly afterwards, ignore a small road on the left and cross a stream.

(10) Turn right immediately. Continue straight ahead through the woods, along the floodplains of the Indre.

(11) At a small cemetery, you will come to a road. On the right is the beautiful village of Azay-sur-Indre. Take the road on the left for a round trip to the Moulin de la Follaine. Take the first road on the right and continue below the Château de la Follaine to the mill site. Turn back to the cemetery crossroads.

(11) Follow the road on the left. Cross the first bridge over the Indrois, which flows into the Indre a few metres further on. On the right, just before the second bridge, there is a picnic area. Leave the red and white markings of^{the GR®®46}, which branches off to the left. Cross the second bridge over the Indre. Note the large mill on the left.

(12) Cross the D17 and climb up opposite, veering slightly to the left. Leave the town hall and its spring on your right, then shortly afterwards continue climbing this small road, enclosed by the walls of the estate and below the Château d'Azay. At the intersection, turn right. Don't hesitate to climb the embankment on the left of the road to get a view of the Château d'Azay-sur-Indre and its keep. Turn onto the first road on the left, following the yellow markings (which you will follow until they disappear). Further on, the small road curves to the left.

(13) Shortly after this bend, take a path on the right (markers on the ground) then turn onto the next path on the left (markers on the ground). Continue across the fields of the Indre valley highlands. Pass a copse on the right and, just after, you will come to a copse on the left, at a crossroads.

(14) Turn right. Soon, walk along a small copse on your left. Notice the jumble of rocks inside. Further on, still walking along your left, a second copse hides another jumble of rocks.

(15) Shortly afterwards, at a fork marked by a large rock, the Roche aux Lièvres, take the path on the right. The yellow markings stop here. At the next intersection, turn left and then follow this path as it turns right to reach a road. Leave the hamlet of Vrilly on your right and turn to follow the road on the left. Cross the hamlet of La Bruère. Continue on this road. Ignore a road on the left before coming out onto a slightly wider road.

(16) Follow this road, Rue du Jonceray, to the right.

(17) Further on, turn left onto a small road, Rue du Battereau, which, a few metres further on, crosses the small Rochette stream, near a pretty house with grey shutters. Just after the small bridge, take a path on the right to a small lock. Cross the stream over the lock and rejoin Rue du Jonceray. Turn left to follow the stream, which has been turned into a canal. Pass in front of the old Moulin de la Fosse mill. Continue along this street, which runs alongside the canal and then veers away from it. Ignore a street on the right to reach the village of Reignac. Cross the D17 and head towards the bridge opposite to find the car park on the left (S/E).

The route is not particularly difficult. Some paths are muddy in winter. And I cannot guarantee that there will be no mosquitoes in fine weather, as is the case everywhere near the Indre.

Between (S/E) and (1) is the first mill on the Indre.

The old village of Reignac and the Château de Reignac, which belonged to the Marquis de La Fayette.

(7) The Oak of the Congress.

(12) Château de la Follaine, Moulin de la Follaine. Until the Revolution, the Château de la Follaine belonged to the Marquis de La Fayette and his cousin, the Marquis de Lusignan.

Between (12) and (13) L'Indrois, the Indre and a mill upstream.

(13) Village ofAzay-sur-Indre. Source: Town Hall.
Château d'Azay-sur-Indre: this château, described as a fortified house in a confession made in 1572, belonged to the Château de Loches. It is a 16th-century building, restored in the 17th and 19th centuries. It is flanked by a square tower crowned with battlements and machicolations of excessive fantasy. Its dovecote-porch, built in the 19th century, takes the form of a pointed arch gateway surmounted by an octagonal brick dovecote. It contains glazed pottery nesting boxes. In the 11th century, Azay sur Indre was a fief belonging to Hyrvisius Cabruns, who donated it to the Abbey of Noyers. The abbey owned the building until the end of the 12th century. This fiefdom became a castellany in the hands of the Azay family, whose head in 1215 was a banneret knight, Guillaume d'Azay.

(17) La Rochette stream and its locks.
Le Moulin de la Fosse: this 15th-century mill was once owned by the Marquis de La Fayette. It was used as a wheat mill until 1780, then as a paper mill with two pairs of millstones, and finally as a secondary cereal mill until 1977. For a long time, it belonged to the Abbey of Saint-Julien de Tours.
The previous owner had undertaken major work to highlight the main shaft of the bucket wheel, which is now visible in the kitchen. The current owners, a Franco-Scottish couple, have restored the wheel.