Randonnée La Foye-Monjault – À la recherche du vignoble perdu
Route details
Description
Happy hiking and remember that you are not alone on the trails you are about to travel. We therefore invite you to respect nature: avoid picking flowers and plants, do not leave any trash behind, respect inhabited places, stay on the trails, keep dogs on a leash. For your safety while mountain biking, wearing a helmet is strongly recommended.
La Foye-Monjault Hike – In search of the lost vineyard
Distance:33,0 km
Your itinerary
Step 1: La Foye-Monjault
This village, made up of six hamlets, takes its name from the ash tree (faia), thus confirming that at the end of the 1080th century, La Foye was covered with wood, especially beech trees. This word then became Faya Monacalis, the beech grove of the monks, then later La Foye-Monjault. From 1, the monks cleared land to cultivate cereals and grapes. The village has long produced the most famous wine in the department, the wine from the lips of kings, consumed at the courts of the monarchs of France (Francis I, Henry IV) and England.
Stage 2: Route de La Rochénard and its small oak grove
La Roche-Aynardi was mentioned for the first time in 1287. But its name certainly appeared between the 40th and XNUMXth centuries at a period when people settled on the heights for defensive reasons and its founder was named Enard. Located in the heart of a limestone plain, the rural commune rises to XNUMX m.
On this road, on your left, you will see a plantation of truffle oaks and the vineyard producing the “cuvée des aïeux” with its Négrette grape variety. Négrette is a red grape variety, it produces very dark colored, low acid and richly aromatic wines. Strawberry, licorice, violet and black fruits are the associated smells.
Step 3: Vallans
Located at the southern tip of the canton of Frontenay-Rohan-Rohan, in a rural setting, on the edge of the Marais Poitevin, the town, made up of three hamlets, is nestled in the Courance valley, a tributary of the Sèvre Niortaise. The lordship, cited for the first time in 1093, is linked to the election of Saint-Jean-d'Angély and to the generality of La Rochelle.
Step 4: Alleux Path
This path is the limit between the municipalities of Vallans and Foye Monjault. It follows the ridge line.
Step 5: Fief of the "Roasts"
Evocative name reminiscent of great wines in other famous vineyards. The stronghold was also once a vineyard.
Step 6: La Mothe
On the right, La Mothe and the Bois de la Foye on the horizon. La Mothe designates an artificial mound raising a hill or mound. On the height, a wooden fort generally stood in the Middle Ages. During the Second War, the place was used by the Germans as an observatory. Near La Mothe, François I, a lover of Foye wine, is said to have owned a farm in Limouillas*. On the left, at Fief du Peu, commune of Granzay, a few vines remain.
*Limouillas (limos = elm) ancient elm forest.
Step 7: Bush Woods
The bush or scrub is an area covered with low vegetation (brambles, shrubs, thorns, etc.), and large, often tangled grass.
Step 8: Goat Fiefdom
Fief aux Chèvres, this is the female of the deer, a large game animal, the object of hunting with hounds. Richard the Lionheart came there twice in 1181 and 1184. Game always present on the edge of the woods, you can see wooden constructions where the hunters station themselves.
Stage 9: Combe Valley
It is a word of Celtic origin which designates a valley. In jargon, it is a dry valley partially filled, and most of the time cultivated.
Step 10: High Point
You are at the highest point of Foye Monjault (73 m). On the left view of the Mignon valley. On the horizon, in the southwest direction, we can see the Boisseuil wind turbines.
Step 11: Fief of the Bare Cross
Stronghold of the Naked Cross means crossroads of many paths and absence of trees and woods. Stronghold essentially formerly planted with vines, some of which still remain.
Step 12: Loges Wood
Le Bois des Loges is located in the commune of Usseau. A place of passage between the Aunis plain, the Marais Poitevin and the sea, Usseau derives from Ussena meaning a hillock planted with vines. The lodges were huts or cabins made of branches that the lumberjacks built for shelter.
Step 13: Plant to the Monks Fiefdom
“Plant” in Champagne and Burgundy means vineyard. It is believed that this stronghold was the first cleared during the creation of the Priory of Foye Monjault by Benedictine monks coming from Burgundy in 1077. The Plante aux Moines canteen was restored in 2006. You can discover it by visiting return to the small path that leads there.
Step 14: High Fairault Fiefdom
This large stronghold was, according to the Napoleonic map, entirely planted with vines, which disappeared following the attack of phylloxera in 1880.
Step 15: Saint-Simon Church
The former Saint-Simon and Saint-Jude priory: The Benedictine monastery was given in 1077 to the Saint-Jean-de-Montierneuf abbey in Poitiers by the Count of Poitou. Its chapel serves as a parish church. Partly destroyed during the Revolution, it was acquired by an individual. The current sanctuary and its bell tower were built in the same place in the XNUMXth century.
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