Wednesday 4 April at Cormeilles and La Frette

Paul Louchet, the Seine at La Frette

This week Mary Lynne will lead us on a17.5km hike in the Val-d’Oise, along the Seine and in the woods and parks above Cormeilles-en- Parisis and La Frette sur Seine. (altitude difference 140 m., IGN map 2313 OT).

With the advent of the railroad in the 19th century, artists came out to La Frette and Herblay to set up their easels. The town of La Frette has posted reproductions of their paintings in various places in the town. Bourgeois families came here to build country homes; we will see a mix of architectural styles from Art Nouveau to modern. 

Our picturesque walk will begin on a path overlooking the river and will gradually descend to the quai which we will follow for a few km before climbing up to the 12th century church of St. Martin in Herblay which should be open and is well worth a visit. From there we will head back to Cormeilles where we will have our picnic before ascending the “Montagne”, a wooded hill where we will visit the Fort de Cormeilles-en-Parisis before going on to the Parc Schlumberger.  

Cormeilles is famous for its gigantic open pit gypsum quarry which is not on our itinerary. But you could visit the Musee du Plâtre which is open until 18.00.

Getting to Cormeilles: Gare Saint Lazare, SNCF train TOCA at 9.27, direction Pontoise. Arrival at Cormeilles-en-Parisis, zone 4, at 9.45. At Saint Lazare, meet at the end of the quai to board the last car going out. At Cormeilles we will exit on the side of the parking lot, rue de Nancy.  There will be the possibility of leaving the walk at Herblay at about noon and again at La Frette at about 13.00. We will pass both of these stations before our lunch break.

Be forewarned: There is no discreet place for a technical stop for the first two hours! Since we will stop for lunch rather late, not before 13.15, we will have a 5-minute snack break beside the Seine.

Our return will be from Cormeilles where there are frequent trains for Saint Lazare. 16.05, 21, 31, 39, 49.

Here are a few websites to give you a taste of what we will see on our visit.

http://www.ville-cormeilles95.fr/Culture-patrimoine-sport-associations/Sites-et-lieux-de-memoire

http://www.commando-air.fr/147.html  

http://www.museeduplatre.fr/contact.html

Please bring a picnic lunch, plenty of water, sunglasses, sun and rain protection.

Hope to see you Wednesday with the sun!

Mary Lynne

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