Stage La Ville-du-Bois - Étampes

The second day of the Via Turonensis completes the departure from the Paris region and takes the pilgrim to Étampes, the first historic town on the route. The profile is gentle, with short undulations across the valleys of the Hurepoix, and the landscape changes noticeably: housing estates give way to open fields, copses and villages of pale stone.

Just beyond La Ville-du-Bois lies Montlhéry, dominated by the tower of its former castle, a thirteenth-century keep visible for many kilometres around and for centuries a landmark for travellers between Paris and Orléans. The way continues through Linas and Arpajon, a market town that preserves a remarkable fifteenth-century timber market hall under which fairs are still held.

From Arpajon the route seeks out the Juine valley and grows quieter. Villages such as Étréchy and Chamarande follow, the latter with a seventeenth-century château set in extensive parkland, and stretches of dirt track become more frequent. This is the first contact with the countryside of the Île-de-France, with cereal farming on the plateaux and woodland along the valley floors.

Étampes is entered through a long town strung out along the river, once a royal residence in the Middle Ages. Above it rises the Tour de Guinette, a twelfth-century keep with a quatrefoil plan, and in the old town await the collegiate church of Notre-Dame-du-Fort, the church of Saint-Basile and that of Saint-Martin, famous for its leaning bell tower. With all services and a good choice of accommodation, it is a comfortable stage end with a distinctly monumental character.