The Vaucouleurs valley around Dammartin-en-Serves

A beautiful walk through stunning and varied landscapes. Historic detours along the way.

Technical sheet

210153
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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 11.72 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 3h 40 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Return to departure point: Yes
  • ↗
    Vertical gain: + 125 m
  • ↘
    Vertical drop: - 124 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 131 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 60 m

Photos

Description of the walk

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

(S) 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::.

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 129 m - Square adjoining Rue de l'Eglise
  2. 1 : km 0.57 - alt. 116 m - Leaving the Rue de Tilly
  3. 2 : km 0.73 - alt. 109 m - Take the grassy path
  4. 3 : km 1.07 - alt. 112 m - Rue de la Côte aux Amants
  5. 4 : km 1.9 - alt. 78 m - At the crossroads, turn right - Vaucouleurs (rivière)
  6. 5 : km 2.11 - alt. 84 m - Grille of the Château des Trois Fontaines
  7. 6 : km 2.6 - alt. 100 m - Montchauvet church square
  8. 7 : km 2.84 - alt. 88 m - Rue Aux Prêtres and Rue Phernaux crossroads
  9. 8 : km 3.46 - alt. 75 m - Leaving the tarmac road
  10. 9 : km 5.38 - alt. 100 m - La Côte du Seigneur
  11. 10 : km 7.1 - alt. 69 m - Path leading up to the plateau
  12. 11 : km 7.54 - alt. 100 m - Leaving the forest edge
  13. 12 : km 8.62 - alt. 109 m - Turn left towards the tarmac road
  14. S/E : km 11.72 - alt. 129 m - Square adjoining Rue de l'Eglise

In the nearby area

::6: On the Place de lÉglise de Montchauvet, there's a bench around the beautiful central tree on which to enjoy a pleasant picnic.

Reviews and comments

4.6 / 5
Based on 30 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.6 / 5
Clarity of route map
4.8 / 5
Route interest
4.5 / 5
Jean.Taverne
Jean.Taverne

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of walk : Sep 20, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Clarity of route map : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Busy trail : No

Very pleasant, well described and personable on this sunny Saturday in September. Many thanks to the author.

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NONOTTE
NONOTTE

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of walk : May 02, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Clarity of route map : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Busy trail : No

Discovering Courgent, it's really superb, a pleasant surprise despite the muddy paths.
Our group really enjoyed it.

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ThierryMilhé
ThierryMilhé

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of walk : Sep 30, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Clarity of route map : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Busy trail : Yes

A very nice walk. The end, in the middle of the fields, is a little long, but after 9km, that's to be expected.

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ealet
ealet

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of walk : Jun 24, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Clarity of route map : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Busy trail : No

itinerary well described, varied with a part in the undergrowth along the river and another in the plain, crossing pretty villages, parish specific to Brittany, thank you to the author for sharing.

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sc.didier
sc.didier

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of walk : May 20, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Clarity of route map : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Busy trail : No

Thank you for this very pleasant walk in the Vaucouleurs valley!
The description is good, but we didn't use it much: the very practical application on our phone enabled us to follow the route without any difficulty.
Finally, the walk is really very beautiful, very varied and... very quiet: you really don't feel like you're in the Paris region! We set off from Montchauvet, and the shady bench around the tree is well worth a stop
We'll certainly be doing it again.

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Jsal
Jsal

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of walk : Mar 31, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Clarity of route map : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Busy trail : No

A very good walk. Everything is well signposted and the route is very pleasant!

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bourjack
bourjack

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of walk : Apr 03, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Clarity of route map : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Busy trail : Yes

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hemaso
hemaso

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of walk : May 30, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Clarity of route map : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Busy trail : No

very pleasant walk; thank you very much.
The forest and field paths all to ourselves!!! and a quiet stroll through Montchauvet.
At the start, you can park at the Dammartin cemetery: you start out in nature straight away.

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gmevel
gmevel

Hello,
I am the author of this hike.
I had taken gwenned56's comments into account to modify the description, but it seems that it still needs to be improved.
I'll have a look.

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gwenned56
gwenned56

I did indeed mention it. Here's a copy:
Rue des Lavandières is not mentioned. I mentioned it in my August 2019 CR.

"I'm copying and pasting what I wrote at the time.
"- Point 7: Rue des Lavandières is not mentioned by a plaque. It is the small road downhill on the RIGHT when you are in Rue des Phernaux. At the bottom of this little road, the wash-house is on the left. It is magnificent and well integrated into a pretty landscape of well-kept lawns, beautiful trees and even a bench. It's well worth a look before turning right into the Rue des Lavandières to continue the route."
Sincerely,
Gwenned56"

I hope yyopisteur can incorporate this tiny problem.

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yoyopisteur
yoyopisteur

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of walk : Mar 13, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Clarity of route map : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Busy trail : Yes

Lovely walk. The only problem is that you have to go through Montchauvet to get to the Rue des Lavandières, so perhaps this part of the route should be modified (e.g. go past the church and take the little path downhill that leads to the Rue des Lavandières).

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Jean Pierre Duplan
Jean Pierre Duplan

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of walk : May 24, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Clarity of route map : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Busy trail : No

A very pretty walk. Beautiful villages. We did this walk after the lockdown and during the week, so it wasn't very busy. It was very hot and the last part, through the fields, was in the open, so be careful of sunburn.
I recommend this walk.

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gwenned56
gwenned56

Rue des Lavandières is not mentioned. I mentioned it in my August 2019 CR.

I'm copying and pasting what I wrote at the time.
"Point 7: Rue des Lavandières is not mentioned by a plaque. It is the small road downhill on the RIGHT when you are in Rue des Phernaux. At the bottom of this little road, the wash-house is on the left. It is magnificent and well integrated into a pretty landscape of well-kept lawns, beautiful trees and even a bench. It's well worth a look before turning right again into the Rue des Lavandières to continue the route."
Sincerely,
Gwenned56

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gmevel
gmevel

I have taken into account the comments made by Visorandonneurs to improve (I hope) the description of this walk.

Gérard, author of the walk

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paulandro
paulandro

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of walk : Sep 22, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Clarity of route map : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

The first part was very pleasant and interesting. The monotonous return at the end of September, when everything has been harvested and sown.

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