Circular route around Villeny via Les Thouards and Le Tapinet

Park in the car park by the church or Villeny Town Hall

(S/E) With your back to the church, turn right onto the Grande Rue; at the Fork in the road, leave this road and continue straight on along Rue Eugène Laurenceau, towards Bonneville. About a hundred metres past this junction, Rue Eugène Laurenceau splits into two. Keep to the right-hand lane.

White and red markings (^GR®31)

(1) Turn right onto the gravelled track, Rue de Bellevue, heading towards La Ferté-Saint-Cyr. At a place called La Plaine, the track becomes grassy. Ignore the various offshoots until you reach a crossroads just after a pond on your left.

No markings

(2) Turn right at the crossroads. The grassy track crosses a first stabilised track running across it before intersecting a second one.

(3) At the junction, turn left onto the hard-surfaced track to walk alongside the Étang des Thouards on your right, then past the large Thouards mansion on your left. At the crossroads, continue straight on along the grassy path between two remarkable oak trees (illuminated at night) and then turn immediately right onto the gravel path, about fifty metres past the crossroads.

(4) The hard-surfaced track crosses the D113 and leads to the hamlet known as Les Mulottières. Continue along the well-marked forest track until you reach a hard-surfaced track.

(5) At the junction, turn right onto the stabilised track, then take another sharp right onto the forest track heading towards Villeny. Stay on the well-marked track until you reach another stabilised track on your right at the hamlet known as Le Tapinet (SCI).

(6) Turn left onto the stabilised track. This crosses the D88. Continue straight ahead.

(7) At the Fork in the road, keep left until you reach a crossroads offering a view of Mont Collier Castle. With your back to the château, walk along the pond on the compacted track. This is followed by a forest track through the Agro Bio la Grille research centre and its pond. The forest track eventually intersects with a compacted track running across it; take this track to the right.

White-red markings (^GR®31)

(8) At a place called La Bouteillerie, the compacted track meets the^GR®31, then leads to a crossroads. Turn right onto the hard-surfaced track towards Villeny. Ignore the side paths. The track becomes tarmac as you reach the first houses in Villeny, becoming Rue du Stade. Keep right at the junction, then turn immediately left onto Rue des Acacias, which leads to a crossroads.

(9) Continue along the Grande Rue towards the Maison du Cerf to reach the church car park (S/E)

The route can be shortened to 12.3 km by heading straight back to Villeny from the SCI le Tapinet (6). To do this, do not take the compacted track on the left but continue straight ahead along the forest track.
After 400 metres, keep to the right at the Fork in the road onto the grassy track, which you’ll follow all the way to the hamlet of Le Petit Villiers, ignoring any side paths. At Le Petit Villiers, take the gravel track on the right, which becomes Rue des Mésanges before joining the Grande Rue.

Don’t miss the Maison du Cerf in Villeny