The best walks and hikes around Coignières

Ideal parking for a starting point for the Girouard circuit This circuit covers three municipalities: Lévis-St-Nom, Les Essarts-le-Roi, and Dampierre. It covers a length of 7.9 km, including 380 m in the municipality of Les Essarts-le-Roi, 4.02 km in the municipality of Dampierre, 3.25 km in the municipality of Lévis-St-Nom, and 250 m between the latter two municipalities. This circuit runs in the same direction as the Pommeret circuit on their shared section. Therefore, its direction of travel is clockwise, for the sake of the view and ease of travel. This circuit passes by the Church and the Cemetery of Lévis-St-Nom, climbs to the crossroads of the Six Croix, crosses the Bois de Maincourt and runs along the marsh, then passes into Maincourt, then into the hamlet of Mousseau, crosses the Bois de l'Etrille along the Ravin then the Haras, to finish in Girouard. The environments crossed are: forests, fields, meadows, wetlands (Yvette, Marais de Maincourt, Ravin de l'Etrille, Ru du Pommeret). In terms of topography, this circuit crosses plateaus, hillsides and valley bottoms, with a maximum difference in altitude of 60m.

"Over fifty years ago, on 26th July 1944, a 49 Squadron Lancaster bomber was returning from a raid on Stuttgart and, according to eye-witnesses, appeared to try to make an emergency landing. The aircraft crashed into a wood near the village of Coignieres in northern France, killing all seven of the crew. The mayor at the time gathered together a seach party and went to the crash site with the aim of retrieving the bodies, and thus preventing the Germans from having access to them. Despite warnings from the Germans that the bodies should be buried where they fell, they were brought back to the village.The mayor, M Godot, requisitioned seven coffins and a burial service took place, conducted by the village priest. A large crowd attended, including many from other villages. Word had got around, despite the fact that the Germans were in occupation. A memorial was erected and the Tricolour flown, again in defiance of German regulations. Immediately after the funeral the Germans called at the mayor's house to demand the location of the crash site. Inside the house were the dignitaries from local villages who had taken part in the funeral ceremony. Whilst the mayor was trying to convince the Germans that nothing unusual was going on, and indicating very approximately the area of the crash on a map, his daughter secretly left the house to remove as many of the wreaths and flags as possible from the graves and the memorial. Fortunately the Germans did not leave by the town square, otherwise they could have seen the remains of the decorations. The villagers took great risks in retrieving the bodies and burying them with honour, and had they been found out would have suffered the consequences. "

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The Port Royal Abbey was destroyed by the orders of Louis XIV. This Jansenist landmark had attracted the wrath of the Jesuits who were very influential at Court at the time.

Nestled in the Chevreusee Valley, the Maincourt-sur-Yvette washhouse is a beautiful piece of rural heritage. This stone washhouse, carefully restored, is surrounded by greenery. A little gem to discover during a stroll in the region.

expanse of ferns reflecting the trees and providing a touch of green

supervision on the meadow with multiple horses running free

This circuit is recommended by FFR. It is marked in blue and white.