Discover La Chèze and its castle

On foot nature and discovery | 6.2km – 2h15 | height difference : +140m |

Descriptive

From the car park, take the stairs near the toilets to reach the departmental road. Cross the road in the direction of the monumental octagonal tower of the ancient castle of La Chèze.

At the tourist board, take the dirt road. At the crossroads take the road opposite, the one that runs along the entrance to the manor of the Granges (private site).

At the crossroads with the new road, turn right on 400 m. Leave the road (D14A) at the next crossroads to take the one that climbs straight to the wood. At the next junction with the road, turn right. At the end, take another right and join La Chèze. Go to the gable of the Ecole Jean Cadoret. Go straight on for 50 m and turn left. This new little road in a balcony on the Lié valley leads to the village of Kergador. Cross the county road and take the road opposite. At the next crossroads, turn left and go around the pond to the bridge over the river (le Lié).

Take the bridge and go straight ahead. At the cemetery, turn left and then, at 50 m, the first road on the right which leads to a path. Climb the hill and the ridge path, take the time to take a look at the surrounding panorama. Note the valley of the Lié, the city of La Chèze, the forest of Loudéac, the wind turbines of St Barnabé and the hills of Mené.

Cross the hamlet of Bellevue and join La Chèze. At the crossroads with the road (D778), turn right and go to the town hall square.

Note the ancestral stone dating from 1541 to the Gothic inscriptions. Then take rue du Moulin which leads to the Regional Museum of Trades.

Take the bridge at the back of the museum to find the starting point.

Access

La Chèze is located south of Loudéac. Upon entering the conurbation, follow the sign "camping service area" which will lead you to the parking lot of the pond, starting point of the walk.

Not to miss

The castle of La Chèze

At the end of the 12th century (about 1180), a medieval castle was erected at La Chèze on the schistous spur overlooking the Lié valley to mark the authority of the time of the Vicomte de Porhoët. The fortress then passes into the hands of the Rohan family in 1231 and becomes one of the main residences of the dukes with that of Josselin. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the castle became a high place of political power in Brittany.

He was besieged by the English troops in 1362 - 1363 and occupied in March 1488 by the German mercenary troops of Duke Francis II, commanded by the Prince of Orange. In January 1490, it was the turn of Maréchal de Rieux to make La Chèze invest. From the 16th century, the castle declined inexorably. In 1629, it was the final blow. It was dismantled on the orders of Richelieu. Some of the stones were sold on 25 August 1743 and were used for the construction of the new church of Loudéac. The old houses of La Chèze were also built with the ruins of the fortress.

Today, the rehabilitation project of the castle is reborn in order to restore the vestiges and consolidate the five towers still visible. The site today is one of the rare and oldest sites of the medieval heritage of Côtes d'Armor.