A path, a school: Les Lavoirs

School car park

(S/E) From the school complex, head uphill towards the RN152. Continue north-west until you reach the crossroads.

(1) Turn right and follow the grassy path until you reach the high-voltage power lines. Turn right just before the power lines and continue along the grassy path towards the water treatment plant. Walk alongside the plant and descend to the road (Rue Creuse). First turn right then left onto Rue Basse. Pass in front of the Abats wash house and continue to the Fontaine de la Croix Blanche fountain (at the old salt store). Go straight on to the Bas de Solaire passage and climb the steps on the left. Head towards the church.

(2) Turn right (Grande Rue) and cross Square Edwige Feuillère. Go down the steps, turn left and continue to the Amont wash house. Immediately afterwards, turn right, follow a grassy path to the Loire and turn right onto the GR®3. When you reach the junction that goes back up to Lestiou, leave the GR®3 and continue along the Loire towards Avaray until you reach the EDF power station at Saint-Laurent des Eaux.

(3) Pass in front of the EDF power station dam, continue to a footbridge slightly to the right, cross it, and rejoin the GR®3 on the left. Pass under a portico, continue on the GR®3 on the right, do not climb the embankment, continue on the path below. At the end of the path, climb up to the road (de la Loire).

(4) Continue to the right, towards Avaray, walk past a picnic area, cross a bridge, turn right (Rue de La Vallée). Barely 30 metres further on, take a dead-end street, admire the oval wash house, go back up, turn right. Above (crossroads), go straight ahead (Rue Creuse). A few metres further on, take an alleyway on the right and pass under a small arch.

(5) At the car park, go around the church, go down the steps, cross Rue de l'Église (be careful at the crossroads), go straight ahead towards the wash house, Rue de la Fontaine. Continue to a footbridge, turn immediately left onto a path that runs alongside the stream (Le Pisse-Vache).

Continue, do not take the second footbridge, go straight ahead until you reach Ruelle du Bourg Est.

(6) Turn left, walk along a fence to the Mousseau wash house. Continue straight ahead, cross Grande Rue carefully and take the path opposite. Go up a grassy path to Rue du Sentier du Tertre (country lane).

(7) Turn right, ignoring the two paths on the left. Continue to the path on the right and follow it to the Tertre wash house. After the wash house, turn immediately left. Before a private property (stairs), turn left and join Rue du Brenot. Turn left and continue straight ahead to the school complex (S/E).

Departure possible, or even preferable, from the town centre: see points II or III below

II - Departure from Avaray
Car park behind the church
Start the route at point (5).
Then continue in the following order:
points (1)-(2)-(3)-(4) of the school route.
OR
III- Departure from Lestiou
Town centre
Start the route at Point (2)
Then continue following, in the following order:
the points (3)-(4)-(5)-(1) of the school route.

Charming hotel and restaurant in Avaray: Les Trois Maillets.
Bar/restaurant in the centre of Avaray.
Picnic area not far from the wash houses in Avaray.

St Sulpice Church (^{16th century}) in Lestiou: note one of the few gravestones that has not been destroyed in front of the threshold.

Notre Dame Church (^{12th century}) in Avaray, rebuilt around 1835 on the site of an^11th-centurychurch, which itself stood on the site of an earlier Gallo-Roman temple.

On the banks of the Loire, a weir ensures the smooth operation of the EDF power station at St-Laurent des Eaux.