In the footsteps of the Tacot

Starting from Mognéville; you can park your car at the side of the road near the D997 between Mognéville and Couvonges.

(S) Take the unpaved track heading south-east to quickly reach the ‘spider’ embankment.

(1) Carry on straight ahead until you reach a new crossroads where there is a former railway station, now converted into a house, on the right.

(2) Continue due south to reach the resurgence point of an underground river.

(3) Carry on straight ahead, passing under a bridge, and you’ll see the terminal siphon of a karst system, the Rupt-du-Puits. Stay on the path until you reach the area near the cemetery.

(4) Turn left, then right towards the D997; turn right onto it to reach the other side of the cemetery.
Carry on straight ahead to the junction leading to Baudonvilliers (a rare stretch of road on the route).

(5) Turn right towards Baudonvilliers (D3); you’ll soon come to a junction with a path.

(6) Turn left onto this track and cross the Saulx twice. Ride past the village of Jean d’Heurs. Make a large circular loop around the village of Lisle-en-Rigault. At the end of the loop, rejoin the junction with the D117 or Rue du Maréchal Foch.

(7) Continue straight ahead along Rue du Tacot. Then make two further circular loops, the first to the right and the second to the left, to reach the Carrefour du Sarcophage.

(8) Take the path on the right to discover, in the middle of a meadow, the remains of a Merovingian cemetery.

(9) Head back down the path to this crossroads.

(8) Take the path on the right again and, via another circular route, reach the village of Saudrupt. Opposite, take a short stretch of road towards Saint-Dizier (D635).

(10) Turn left almost immediately onto the Chemin du Tacot at the picnic benches. Follow the River Saulx to reach the junction with the D4 at a fountain.

(11) Turn left towards the wash house and the 12-arched bridge spanning the Saulx, dating from 1618, to reach the Haironville car park (E).

(1) On the embankment, on the limestone grass, lives a protected species of spider.
Between (4) and (5), look out for two water towers on the right, built to supply steam locomotives, as well as the station.
Between (5) and (6), on the left, you can see the monument dedicated to the victims of the massacre of 29 August 1944.

Throughout the route, you can see the remains of the old railway lines (stations, bridges, water towers for supplying steam engines, etc.).

These trains played a major role in the industrial boom of the Saulx Valley from the late^19th century onwards (transporting paper, timber, foundry castings, ultramarine blue… and passengers).

Further information at and