Vexin and the cliffs of the Seine

de fr

This hike takes you across the agricultural plateau of the Norman Vexin, wooded valleys andGR® along the cliffs of the Seine, with superb panoramic views of the Seine valley.

Details

n°59518
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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 21.84 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 7h 25 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Difficult
  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 419 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 418 m
  • ▲
    Highest point: 156 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 13 m
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Photos

View of the rocket

Description of the walk

Departure from the car park of Heuqueville church (27) located next to the château.

(S/E) Take the path running alongside the church grounds and descend towards the Bois de la Couronne.

(1) At a crossroads, you will find a calvary. Continue straight ahead towards the Bois de Cocherel, ignoring all the paths branching off to the right and left.

(2) At the edge of the woods, opposite a farmhouse, take a small grassy path on the left and follow the road on the left to go around the farm. You will come to a crossroads (with a pond on your right). Turn right onto a tarmac road (D150) and continue for 200 metres, which will take you to the edge of the village of Fretteville.
On your left, take a path across the plain for 250 metres, which leads to a tarmac road (Rue de la Plaine), turn right onto this road.

(3) Take the first gravel path on your left, which will take you past a quarry. The path turns sharply to the right,

(4) then left, then left again towards a wooded area, which you will cross. The path leads to a tarmac road. Continue straight ahead until you see theGR®2trail markers.

(5) At the crossroads with a water tower on your right and a traditional white stone farmhouse on your left, turn left and follow the road (GR®2) for about 1.5km.

(6) Leave the road and take the path on the right (GR®2) which leads into the undergrowth. You will gradually descend to the level of the Seine.
Once you have finished descending, follow the road (D313) on your left for 500 metres, keeping to the left.

(7) A path and then a trail (GR®2) take you back up to the cliffs via La Roquette.

(8) At the end of the climb, the path turns left to return to the plain and the village of Le Thuit.
Continue straight ahead, then turn right, walk along a pond and then left towards the church, turn right and cross the village. At the crossroads on the left (D126), follow this road for 100 metres.

(9) Turn right onto a dirt track in the middle of the plain, which will take you to the Thuit woods.

(10) After 1.5 km, on your left, the path leaves theGR® and heads through the woods, climbing back up to the plateau.

(11) At the edge of the woods, the path turns sharply towards the plain, then joins a small tarmac road. Turn right and follow this road until you reach the entrance to Cuverville.

(12) Before the first houses, take a grassy path on the left, then turn right to arrive in front of the church.
Turn left onto the road (Rue Nouvelle) towards Houville-en-Vexin. In the village, turn left (Rue des Iris).

(13) Turn left again at the pond (Rue des Rosiers), then right, follow Rue des Primevères to La Plaine.

(14) At the entrance to the plain, take the path on the left, then turn right, pass through a grove and you will arrive in Heuqueville.
Take the street on the left, then turn right and you will arrive opposite the pond, with the church (S/E) opposite.

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 139 m - Heuqueville Church
  2. 1 : km 1.8 - alt. 73 m - Straight ahead
  3. 2 : km 3.52 - alt. 52 m - Path on the left
  4. 3 : km 4.91 - alt. 62 m - Path on the left
  5. 4 : km 6.52 - alt. 68 m - Turn left
  6. 5 : km 8.19 - alt. 58 m - On the left
  7. 6 : km 9.45 - alt. 74 m - Path on the right
  8. 7 : km 10.31 - alt. 13 m - Path on the left
  9. 8 : km 12.68 - alt. 81 m - Left turn
  10. 9 : km 13.7 - alt. 133 m - Path on the right
  11. 10 : km 14.86 - alt. 46 m - Path on the left
  12. 11 : km 16.91 - alt. 130 m - Left turn
  13. 12 : km 17.77 - alt. 150 m - Path on the left
  14. 13 : km 20.04 - alt. 147 m - Street on the left
  15. 14 : km 20.67 - alt. 141 m - Path on the left
  16. S/E : km 21.84 - alt. 139 m - Heuqueville Church

Notes

Several cemeteries along the route with water points.
Bus shelters in villages, no shops.
Walking sticks are recommended.
This route should be completed in dry weather, as the limestone cliffs become slippery and dangerous in wet weather.

Worth a visit

Panoramic view of the cliffs.
Listed churches along the route.
At the foot of the Bois du Quesnot water tower, beautiful white stone farmhouse (the white farm).

 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

4.4 / 5
Based on 19 reviews
Reliability of the description
4.3 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.3 / 5
Route interest
4.5 / 5
Walker2
Walker2

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 17, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful hike, best done in dry weather as some sections are difficult on the narrow paths along the cliffside.
Difficult hike.

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PLMaillard
PLMaillard

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : May 28, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

I agree with many of the opinions shared here: some places are not particularly interesting except for the walk itself; they are fairly well signposted everywhere except for two or three points of interest where you have to pay attention to veer slightly off the path (Notre Dame de Bellegarde, for example).

Overall, it's nice and pleasant, and you get to see several different types of landscape.
however, there are two negative points:
1. The first forest, on the other hand, was almost impassable due to heavy rain the day before.
2. After Le Thuit on the cliffs, the GR was also almost impassable because it was rarely used and vegetation had invaded the path.

Points 5 to 11 are really interesting and beautiful.

Enjoy your hike!

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martine.morel36 @ orange.fr
martine.morel36 @ orange.fr

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 25, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful hike with magnificent views of the Seine. We climbed up to Notre Dame de Bellegarde, which offers a beautiful viewpoint.
After the village of La Roquette, the GR 2 is no longer very well maintained, with tall grass on either side of the descent, then the climb up to the village of Le Thuit is sometimes dangerous: small rockfalls on the side can cause falls - fortunately the weather was dry on 22/04/2022. Good footwear is recommended.

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Katuf
Katuf

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 30, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very pleasant route through charming countryside. The landscape is varied, with woodland, cliffs and plains. We really enjoyed the area.
It's a bit of a shame that the end of the route is on the road, but the villages we passed through were pretty.
The explanations are very good, but I think the map is a bit out of date, because we got a little lost at the beginning. The paths through the undergrowth have changed and no longer correspond to the map provided by VisoRando. We couldn't find the calvary at point 1. There were lots of paths going in all directions, and we came out of the woods on the little path that leads to the hamlet of Roncherolles without understanding how we got there ^^. Retracing our steps, we finally found the calvary at point 1, so it's still there, but we got there by a different path and resumed the route from there.
The rest of the route went smoothly, and we recommend having a picnic at the viewpoint, which is a superb spot! It took us 7½ hours, not counting breaks, walking at a leisurely pace.
Thank you for this lovely walk

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karkad
karkad

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 20, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

A brisk 5-hour hike including breaks, pleasant in the undergrowth (watch out for baby ticks) but not very interesting before point 6 and after point 9, apart from walking for the sake of walking! We shortened the hike slightly from point 11 to reach Heuqueville directly by passing between two fields and then on the D126. Beautiful view of the Rocher de l'Homme and Notre Dame de la Garde, pretty pond in Heuqueville, and climbers on the cliffs of Le Thuit.
You really have to keep your eyes peeled to find the GR trail that descends to the right of the church in the middle of the Roquette cul-de-sac! Thank you for this guide, which would have been a great warm-up for the Paris-Mantes hike!

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martine petel
martine petel

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 25, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A magnificent but difficult cliff passage, reserved for experienced hikers, as this section of the GR2 is more like a mountain trail.
There is a bit too much tarmac for the flat section, especially towards the end.

The description is often too vague and lacks precise visual and kilometre markers; unfortunately, the Visorando app was not working properly that day, so we had to use Google Maps to find our exact location at times...

However, it is still a very beautiful hike to do in dry, but not too hot, weather, given the challenging cliff section.

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NANCYDRIF
NANCYDRIF

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 25, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average

Lots of plains... and few cliffs

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21-0-deux
21-0-deux

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 12, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

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Philippe martial
Philippe martial

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 23, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average

Problem on the GR2 between La Roquette and Le Thuit (too narrow and even dangerous)

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grandin
grandin ★

Thank you, Errol95, for your comment and for bringing to our attention the fact that this "old" hike does indeed lack waypoints (and therefore kilometre markers). I will endeavour to rectify this.

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Errol95
Errol95

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 20, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

The description lacks precision because the distances between two events are not indicated. For example, the distance between the starting point and the Calvary (knight's cross) is approximately 1.5 km.

At the bottom of the first valley, keep to the right and follow the stream bed.
The path that crosses the woods following this stream returns to its natural state (overgrown with brambles and nettles).
The path between La Roquette and Le Thuit along the cliff side becomes increasingly narrow (about the width of a foot) and can be dangerous for children in some places (should be avoided in rainy weather)

This route is very good and has the advantage of crossing woods, fields and cliffs, and the view of the Seine is well worth the detour.
This hike is recommended for experienced hikers who enjoy distances of around 20 km or more.

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le coeur
le coeur

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 25, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

lack of details on how to access unmarked viewpoints (rocher tête de l'homme, la roche percée, lavoir dans le bois du Thuit)
slightly treacherous section on the GR2 cliffs leading to Le Thuit
however, I did not enjoy the section from Cuverville to Houville en Vexin on the road at all: it was dangerous and I found it uninteresting
i think I will avoid Houville and take the paths and small roads between Cuverville and Heuqueville
beautiful route
it took us 6½ hours to reconnoitre

lc

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armenjp
armenjp

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 09, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

Provide details on the most interesting and difficult part:
After the white farmhouse, on the GR2, don't miss the path with a barrier on the right
You can continue for 200 metres to admire the view on the right (unsafe site) and return to the GR2
From the level of the Seine, on your way back up, don't miss the short detour to the view and the statue of Notre Dame de La Garde. This is the highlight of this hike, then return to the trail.
At La Roquette, don't miss the path on the right with a barrier to follow the GR2 along a narrow, steep path to Le Thuit.

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bouchery mireille
bouchery mireille

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 02, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

Magnificent scenery along the Seine, which you can see from above. But difficult.

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gazok54
gazok54 ★

Thank you, Lucedu27.
The author will certainly update their description.

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