The Vaucouleurs valley around Dammartin-en-Serves

Description

Park on the small square in the centre of Dammartin-en-Serves, to the side of the Eglise Saint-Martin church.

(D) Take the Rue de la Halle, which has a bakery on the corner. This street turns right and then becomes the Rue de Tilly, passing close to the small cemetery.

::1: Just after the cemetery, take the path that goes off slightly to the left. Do not take the perpendicular street to the left.

::2: Before the houses, turn left on the first grassy path.

::3: A the end of this path, descend right on the Rue de la Côte aux Amants. At the bottom of this street, just before the bend, turn left onto the small path. This path follows the Ravin de Vaucouleurs. On your right you'll see a large property on the other side of the water. This is the Château des Trois Fontaines.

::4: When you cross another path, turn right and go down to meet an old Roman bridge called the Pont de l'Arche. Cross this bridge and go back up to the entrance gate to the Château des Trois Fontaines.

::5: When you get to the gate, take the asphalt road to the left. This road goes back towards the village of Montchauvet. At the entrance of the village, turn left on the street that leads to the ruined château of Luis VI Le Gros. On your right, you can see the Porte de Bretagne (Gate of Brittany), a vestige of the ramparts that surrounded the village.

::6: Continuing on, you arrive at the charming church square, a church of which a fair part is in ruins.
Carrying on straight ahead, you'll find the Rue aux Prêtres which you go down.

::7: At the junction with the Rue Phernaux, take the road to the left.
Then go down the Rue des Lavandières, on the right. Just before the wash house, turn right.

::8: Take the first path to the left. Follow this path to the entrance of the village of Courgent, then continue on the asphalt road up to the track called the Côte du Seigneur.

::9: Go down the Côte du Seigneur on the left. This follows a sloping path. At the end of the path, continue straight on to cross the Vaucouleurs river. Go past the church and then the old mill.
Pass by small wooden bridge and follow the Rue de l'Église, a long hair-pin bend that climbs up to the right. At the fork, turn right on the Rue Neuve. Follow it up to the crossroads and turn left on the Rue du Moulin de la Planche. Cross the Route de Dammartin.

::10: Climb up to the plateau via the small path to the left. This is where the return leg starts via the plateau. The landscape is obviously less varied than the previous part. At the top of the path, turn right.

::11: Take the first path to the left. Follow this path.

(12: Shortly after the section running along a small forest, turn left to join a tarmac road on which you turn left. Shortly after the bridge over the water, turn right on a path that leads to the Carnette farm. When you get to the farm, turn left, and then after 100m, turn right on the first path. This path leads to Dammartin-en-Serves. Continue ahead through Dammartin, up to the Grand Rue that you take to the left. This street takes you back to the car park)D/A::.