A circular starting from Courçay

de fr

From Courçay to Reignac along the banks of the Indre and crossing the Guignardière stream. Discover the mills and fountains as you walk up the Indre to Reignac.

Details

n°2978665
Creation:
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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 11.82 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 3h 40 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate
  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 104 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 106 m
  • ▲
    Highest point: 93 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 60 m
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Photos

Bell tower of Courçay church

Description of the walk

Park in the car park at Courçay church.

(S/E) Go behind the church and take the street on the right (Rue des Rochers) towards Les Rochers. Continue along the path on the right bank of the Indre and join a road at a place called La Doué. Turn right and keep to the right immediately afterwards towards Chemin Neuf. 

Just before No. 14, take the path on the right, ignoring the various paths on the right, to make a large circular loop to the left and rejoin the road you left earlier.

(2) Take the path on the right, ignore the direction of La Thibaudière and reach the next path on the right at the corner of a copse (elevation 91). Follow this path down to the bridge over the Ruisseau de la Guignardière. Discover the dolmen (elevation 61).

(3) Take the path on the left, join the Indre and its tributary, the Ruisseau de la Guignardière. Walk along the left bank of the stream, then cross it via the footbridge. Turn left onto the path and continue between the stream and the Indre. This will take you to Reignac-sur-Indre. Turn right onto the D58 and cross the bridge over the Indre.

(4) Turn right onto Rue du Gué Romain for a few metres, then follow the path on the right that runs alongside the Indre towards the water treatment plant and joins the D17. Turn left onto the D17 for about 100 metres, then turn right onto Rue des Sables. Leave the village and continue straight ahead until you reach the next path on the right (GR®®46).

(5) Turn right onto this path, follow the Cornilloux Valley and you will reach a road. Follow it to the left and join the three-way junction that follows.

(6) Turn left uphill and then right at a place called Chemallé. Continue straight ahead until you reach the right-angled crossroads at Les Chêneaux, then leave theGR®® by turning right towards Le Vau.

(7) At Le Vau, turn left towards La Gagnerie. At the next crossroads, rejoin theGR®®, make a quick first turn left then right to follow a path that leads to the D17. Cross with caution, cross the bridge over the Indre and return to the car park at Courcay church (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 63 m - Courçay church car park
  2. 1 : km 1.33 - alt. 89 m - 1st road junction
  3. 2 : km 2.39 - alt. 80 m - La Croix de Vau crossroads
  4. 3 : km 3.94 - alt. 60 m - Cote 61, La Guignardière stream footbridge
  5. 4 : km 5.47 - alt. 62 m - Reignac-sur-Indre - L'Indre
  6. 5 : km 6.64 - alt. 92 m - GR 46
  7. 6 : km 7.87 - alt. 74 m - GR 46
  8. 7 : km 10.2 - alt. 91 m - Les Chêneaux
  9. S/E : km 11.82 - alt. 63 m - Courçay church car park

Worth a visit

Fountains and mill, dolmen at elevation 61 on the Guignardière stream.

 Always be cautious and plan ahead when you're outdoors. Visorando and the author of this route cannot be held responsible for any accidents occurring on this route.

The GR® and PR® markings are the intellectual property of the Fédération Française de Randonnée Pédestre.

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Reviews and comments

4.3 / 5
Based on 13 reviews
Reliability of the description
4.3 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.2 / 5
Route interest
4.4 / 5
ludorene
ludorene

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 17, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A pleasant and varied hike, with cliffs, forest and farmland. You may spot white deer in a park on the plateau.

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christophe 37
christophe 37

Does this hike still exist? If so, it should be better signposted from the start.

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christophe 37
christophe 37

Hello, the trail is very poorly marked, making you wonder if it still exists.

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bernadus
bernadus

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 13, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

I recommend doing this hike in reverse order to end with the best part: the passage by the Moulin de la Doué mill with its clear springs, the overhanging passage over the Indre river and the arrival in the village with the stone bell tower church in view. What's more, on Thursday afternoons from 4pm, there is a small local market with local producers selling vegetables, cheese and dairy products, bread and various types of brioche.

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Le Jacquaire
Le Jacquaire

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 20, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Very pleasant and varied. If there is one thing that could be improved, it would be the more precise location of the starting point, on the apse side of Courcay Church.

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BOSSER
BOSSER

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 14, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

If you start in the morning, it is better to do the hike in the opposite direction to the one suggested. You can easily avoid taking the main road (see IGN map). Where is the famous dolmen?

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Thierry 37
Thierry 37

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 13, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

This walk is very pleasant, shaded and allows you to discover the Indre valley.
The starting point is difficult to find, but after that it's easy going until Reignac, where things get tricky and we got lost several times. There are no signposts in some places. We didn't see any dolmens.
When we reached the D17, we couldn't find the direction to the Cornilloux valley, so we ended up returning via the D17. What a shame...
To sum up, the start is very nice, but the route from Reignac needs to be reviewed. Best regards.

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Denis C.
Denis C.

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 24, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

At the start, behind the church, do not follow the yellow markings but the path indicated by the sign.
On the map, just before 1, there is a kind of z to reach the road. We probably should have gone up to the left, staying on the wide path, before turning right. But we continued straight ahead on a narrow path that was a little slippery when wet, very nice, and which joins the circular loop between 1 and 2.
At 3, we didn't see any dolmens!
At Reignac, we made a detour to the left to see the castle and have lunch in the stands of the football stadium behind the town hall.
After point 5, the description does not match the red route, as we had to leave the GR 46 and then rejoin it by turning left through the Cornilloux valley, but we couldn't find this left turn, which would have saved us from walking along a short stretch of the D17 road.
Point 7 is incorrectly placed on the map in relation to the description. It should be placed at Le Vau when you reach the road. The explanation is not very clear. After turning left at Le Vau, go straight ahead and after the La Gagnerie sign, take the path downhill to the right, before the houses at La Gagnerie.
A very pleasant walk, especially the first half.

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damich.meunier
damich.meunier

Hello Filou 37, your comments have been taken into account.

Thank you for your help,

Damich

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Filou37
Filou37

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jan 10, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

The start of the hike along the Indre from Courcay to point 1 is great (houses attached to the cliff, troglodytes, view of the Indre, small path).
To avoid losing the path at the hamlet of La Thibaudière, I recommend avoiding it and turning right a little further on (elevation 91 on the map), before the large white shed. You go downhill along the stone wall of a property and come to the small bridge that crosses the Guignardière stream.
(We missed the dolmen at point 61, but we were running, which may explain why).
When you reach the Reignac bridge, you have to take the detour to the left towards the castle and the town hall.
The return journey from Reignac to Courcay is of little interest, especially the second half: crossing a long field exposed to the wind.
I recommend turning right before point 7 to avoid walking on the D83 and passing through the hamlet of Le Vau.

For runners: We did a 22 km loop in 2 hours starting from the church in Truyes, passing through the village of Cormery, taking the Cormery-Courcay junction of the Visorando trail: "The Indre Valley between Esvres and Courcay", crossing the Courcay bridge for the first time, then the "circular starting from Courcay" route, crossing the Courcay bridge for the second time, and returning to Truyes via the Courcay-Truyes junction of the "The Indre Valley between Esvres and Courcay" trail.
Exhausted, but very satisfied with this discovery of the Indre between Cormery and Reignac.

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francis.gauthier
francis.gauthier

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 26, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

There is a problem reaching the hamlet of La Thibaudière. I suggest changing the route by going up the slope along the castle grounds and then joining the route via the road (turn left at the top) on the plateau.
Thank you for publishing this route, which is very beautiful at the beginning of autumn.

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jll7237
jll7237
• Edited:

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 11, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

Hello, a suggestion for a change to the route: just before point 7, turn right towards La Vallière before the road and continue to a place called Le Vau, cross the D83 and take the small path on the right just after crossing the road.

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grandin
grandin ★

Thank you, Thibaud37, and I'm sorry if that bothered you. I will check with the author to correct the description.

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Thibaud37
Thibaud37
• Edited:

Hello everyone,

We regularly come across hikers who have strayed into our fields because there is an error in the description of this route in stage 2. Here is the correction:

(2) Take it to the right for a few hundred metres. A little further on, there is a first road on the right with a sign for La Thibaudière. Do not turn , but continue straight ahead and turn at the next road a little further on (in front of a large white hangar and a few rows of vines). Take this path, which runs alongside a stone wall and passes in front of a horse paddock before descending towards the Ruisseau de la Guignardière. This brings you back to stage 3 of the original route towards Reignac.

This path is accessible on foot or by bicycle!

Enjoy your hike!

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isou37
isou37

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 31, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful route, especially the first part up to the Thibaudière mill. At this point (3), we couldn't find the path indicated on the left at the hairpin bend. We took a path (with our backs to the hairpin bend) on the right that descended to the stream, which we followed through the tall grass (no marked path) before rejoining the route.
Otherwise, very good, varied route. I recommend making a detour to the centre of Reignac to admire the château and the town hall.

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