24 April 2011

Wednesday 27 April on the rivière du Roi Soleil

Etang de la Tour at Vieille Eglise en Yvelines

La Rivière du Roi Soleil

This week our hike will be 17 km through fields, villages and the beautiful Rambouillet Forest from Le Perray en Yvelines to Rambouillet. We will walk along a channel and three ponds which were dug in the 1680’s for Louis XIV. This channel and many others in the region were part of his ambitious plan to divert water from the Eure River for his chateau and fountains at Versailles. That plan was abandoned in 1688 because Louis needed his men to wage war. We will pass through the delightful village of Vieille-Eglise-en-Yvelines before entering the Foret de Rambouillet, another of the former royal hunting grounds. The walk will be on flat terrain.
Not far from our itinerary is a farm, Les Trois Ponts, which some (or all) of us might want to visit, although they are not open during lunch hour except for groups with reservations. Check out their web site.


Getting there We will take the 9:33 train from the Gare Montparnasse, train 62477, direction Chartres, to Rambouillet, zone 6.  This train stops at the gare de Versailles Chantiers at 9:47 where I will board. I will look for you in the last car going out from the Gare Montparnasse. At Rambouillet we will change trains for a short hop up to Le Perray, arriving at 10:16. There is the possibility of taking the RER C1, direction St. Quentin en Yvelines, to Versailles Chantiers to catch the Montparnasse train to Rambouillet en route.

Our return will be from Rambouillet on the 17:05 train which arrives at Montparnasse at 17:34. I advise purchasing your return ticket in advance.

You will need good walking shoes, rain gear “au cas où” and a picnic lunch.

L’Espace Rambouillet is also not far from our itinerary. Check it out too.
If you want additional information about the hike you can email me at the address below. See you on Wednesday!


06 70 88 18 59                                mlfich@yahoo.com
01 47 41 98 20

The étang  d'Or in another season

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