Monthault: Hiking Trails, Granite and Cultural Heritage

Monthault brings together hiking trails, a distinctive granite landscape and traces of rural architectural and cultural history. For your planning, a direct comparison is useful: two hikes described as easy differ considerably in length, while a shorter discovery trail offers a different type of activity. There are also details about the landscape’s past and present uses, as well as its architecture, Stations of the Cross and granite art.

Hiking Trails of Different Lengths

The Circuit Entre Vallée et Rocher is an easy 3.1 km hiking route from the Vallée du Bois Ainaux to the Rocher de Monthault. The Circuit paysages et couleurs is also described as easy, is 7.7 km long and is located in Monthault. The two routes differ by 4.6 km: although both are described as easy, they vary considerably in the distance to be covered. This comparison is more useful when choosing between them than their shared difficulty rating. The first route explicitly leads from the valley to the rock; the second bears the FFRandonnée quality label and is available in the free MaRando® app. Check the app listing before setting out, as digital availability may change.

The Sentier Secret de Vallée is 1 km long, very easy and well signposted. As a playful, sensory discovery trail, it offers a different focus from the two hiking routes. It is considerably shorter than the Circuits, which are 3.1 and 7.7 km long, so you can take both route length and activity type into account when choosing. Check local trail conditions before travelling.

Landscape and Activities

The Vallée du Bois Ainaux was once a granite quarry and was later used for agriculture. Today, it is a wetland habitat for the fauna and flora of damp environments. The succession of quarrying, agricultural use and wetland habitat connects the valley’s past uses with its present character without conflating the two.

At the summit of the Buttes de Monthault, woodland and more or less rounded granite boulders shape the landscape. The Rocher de Monthault is home to four legendary stones. The landscape features described here thus draw attention both to granite formations and to culturally transmitted motifs.

There is also a geocaching treasure hunt in the Vallée du Bois Ainaux, with the cache “Monthault tout en haut”. As app availability and cache status can change, check both before your visit.

Culture and Architecture in Monthault

The present-day Chapelle Notre Dame de la Délivrance was rebuilt in 1877 in the Neo-Gothic style. The Stations of the Cross at the Rocher de Monthault comprise 15 stations and were created in 1892. The four legendary stones are also located at the same Rocher. The building’s history, the Stations of the Cross and the stones provide distinct points of reference for the cultural history of the place.

Almost seven granite artworks line the Circuit paysages et couleurs. They were created as part of three sculpture symposiums organized in the Pays de Louvigné a few years ago. The artworks add another way of seeing granite to the hiking route: here, the material appears not only in the landscape but also as art along the trail.

Monthault has preserved its rural architecture; many of its houses date from the 16th and 17th centuries. Chronologically, these houses predate the chapel’s reconstruction in 1877 and the creation of the Stations of the Cross in 1892. This makes it possible to distinguish the older residential architecture from the later dates associated with the two religious architectural and cultural features.

Discover more destinations: Tremblay, Cancale, Lillemer, Le Theil-De-Bretagne, La Chapelle-Des-Fougeretz, Clayes, Quédillac, L'hermitage.

For the regional travel overview: Ille-Et-Vilaine.