Pléchâtel: Walking Trails, Heritage and Views

Pléchâtel combines marked trails for a range of hiking abilities with historic buildings and viewpoints. As you plan your trip, you can decide whether a shorter loop, a longer hike or a cultural focus best suits your plans.

Hiking Trails for a Range of Abilities

The Circuit de la Croix des Jeunes is a five-kilometre loop marked in both directions. Yellow markers guide you along a route that takes about one hour and 40 minutes to walk. It is considered fairly easy for hikers, but technically challenging for mountain bikers. The assessment therefore depends on the activity you choose.

At ten kilometres and about two and a half hours of walking, the Circuit de la Pierre Longue is longer. This trail is also marked in both directions; its marker colour is red, and it is considered very easy. During periods of high water, some sections become wet and are partly impassable. The starting point is in a car park on the right, just before the La Halte du Volcan restaurant. Another option is the Circuit de Mainténiac, which is considered easy for everyone to walk and has two wet sections.

The Circuit du Rocher d’Uzel requires more time and stamina: this hiking trail is 12 to 13 kilometres long, climbs more than 300 metres and passes through woodland and countryside to the Rocher d’Uzel viewpoint near the Vilaine. From there, you can look out over the Vilaine Valley. The route details come from a municipal notice dated 8 October 2023; check the current trail markers on site.

Culture and History in Pléchâtel

The Levée de Pléchâtel is a high path cut into the rock, with benches made from exposed stone, as well as chapels and statues. It was created in the winter of 1812 as a promenade carved into slate. Father Lohier de La Motte employed people in need and unemployed workers to carry out the work. The Levée combines a high path cut into the rock with its history, which dates back to the winter of 1812.

The Église Saint-Pierre also features several architectural details: the present church was built further south from 1885 by Henri Mellet and completed around 1894. It is in the Neo-Romanesque style and has a porch tower and a semicircular apse. Its stained-glass windows, dating from 1890, were made by the Meuret workshop in Nantes. The Chapelle du Châtellier is also Neo-Romanesque; its features include a ribbed vault, a bell tower on the façade and a semicircular apse.

The priory’s history goes back further. Church services were held from 1086 in the chapel dedicated to Saint Martin; monks lived in the priory until the end of the 17th century. It was formerly owned by the monks of Redon and passed into the ownership of the lordship of Plessis-Bardoult in 1688. The Moulin de Quenouard tells a different story of change: the building dates back to 1383; the mill was initially used for fulling cloth and later for grinding grain.

In the hamlet of Le Châtellier, the menhir La Pierre Longue stands beside a hiking trail, 400 metres south of the Moulin de Quénouard. Its visible height is 4.80 metres, and its mass is estimated at 12 to 15 tonnes. The Chêne de Breslon oak is another remarkable natural feature: its short trunk has a circumference of more than six metres.

Viewpoints, Water and a Cycling Route

From the Pont de la Charrière, you can see where the Vilaine and Semnon rivers meet; the Pont de Cambrée offers panoramic views over the Vilaine Valley. These viewpoints offer different perspectives: one looks out over the confluence of two rivers, while the other takes in the Vilaine Valley.

For water-based activities, La Plage in Pléchâtel offers canoeing, kayaking, pedal boating and stand-up paddleboarding. It operates seasonally, so check the opening dates before visiting. There is also a clearly described option for a cycling trip: the challenging Vélo Promenade® No. 19, “Entre Vilaine et Semnon,” starts in Pléchâtel and is 25 kilometres long. You can plan your trip around the activity and the route details provided for it.

Discover more destinations: Dingé, Cuguen, Pipriac, La Fontenelle, Saint-Pern, Saint-Onen-La-Chapelle, Saint-Germain-En-Coglès, Saint-Pierre-De-Plesguen.

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