Haumont wood

The car park, located on the RD132 between the “Robert Paragot” village hall and the Bullion school, offers a few places accessible by the back alley which begins at the roundabout called “des Framboisines”.

At the exit of the car park, follow the road to the right for 50 m and turn right into rue de Guette.

At the crossroads, the dead end facing you leads to Cour de Guette. It once served the back of the Watchtower that can be seen on the left. This housed an old press whose run-off curb is still visible on the sidewalk of rue du Vieux Pressoir (which we will return to at the end of the walk).

Rue de Guette, a little further on, the entrance to the Cour des Abeilles can be seen on the left, between two rock and millstone buildings. This courtyard owes its name to one of its former residents, a country guard and beekeeper in his spare time. Its many hives were close to the houses and the bees often twirled around in the courtyard, which was named in 1971, in memory of the beekeeper.

The town of Bullion has several courtyards that are discreet because they are barely visible from the street, all framed by individual or terraced rural houses. These courtyards once surrounded by small farms confirm the historical character of the village and its way of life: a habitat grouped around a peasant activity.

Place des Patagones, the route joins the circuit of Valentines. You can allow yourself a hundred meters of detour by going to the church to admire its original wooden porch.

You will also discover a courtyard just next to the church square. Called Cour du Fournil, it housed
the Bullion bakery. Its activity ceased in 1914.

Go up the rue de Noncienne to the right.
In front of the La Chataigneraie town hall (350 m away), you can see imposing chestnut trees lined up there for… around 300 years!

Turn right at La Clairière, cross the housing estate until you reach the RD 132, which you go up to the left.
Then, 150 m, turn right.

You will find here an old plantation of lined chestnut trees, a tree native to Mediterranean lands.
Several dozen such remarkable specimens have been identified on the territory of the commune. They bear witness, it seems, to an ancestral local culture. The Cévennes brazoucade had become a custom, remember former Bullionnais: a meal of chestnuts roasted over a fire and shared with friends! In addition to the consumption of fruit, the chestnut trees of the wood of Haumont, towards which the path takes us, had the reputation of providing a very hard wood, ideal for the manufacture of pencils. Chestnut wood was also used for frames and fence posts.

200 meters away, the old Paris-Chartres railway line has led to the construction of an impressive and surprising bridge here for those who do not know the history of this railway line. This was designed from 1893. Work began around 1907 with the objective of having no level crossing, hence this bridge. Interrupted by the First World War, they resumed to lead to the opening of the single-track Massy-Chartres section on May 15, 1930.
Traffic was too low at the time and the declaration of the Second World War put an end to the operation of this line in 1939. It was later used for testing the Micheline and the aerotrain.

The path materializes the “border” between Bullion and Bonnelles. At the crossroads, 400 m further, continue to the right.
After the undergrowth, the wide path offers distant views of the surrounding crops, forests and mounds, from Bonnelles to Longvilliers and Rochefort-en-Yvelines.

At the height of the RD 988, follow it to the right, below the ditch. A hundred meters away, the path launches an attack on the butte d'Haumont, rewarding you with a panorama of the vast agricultural expanses of Bonnelles (visible in winter because an area undergoing reforestation will soon hide the 'horizon).

At the top of the mound, a wooded plateau spreads out over 400 meters, then the path begins its descent towards Bullion. Cross the bridge, this time over the old railway. The first house you see, called the guard house, is representative of early XNUMXth century railway architecture.

Here you are on Chemin du Pipeu, a colorful name that comes from a man so nicknamed at the beginning of the XNUMXth century in Bullion for always having a pipe in the corner of his mouth. He owned a field there with an orchard and a cabin.
You reach Rue du Vieux Pressoir 300 meters away and recognize the Watchtower in the distance.

Opposite, the dense vegetation conceals three elongated pools which date from the beginning of the XNUMXth century. Perhaps they were one of the first places to exploit watercress, like neighboring Essonne. Or maybe they were, compared to the width of the basins and the semicircular shape of the main basin, only ornamental water features, those of the nearby manor of Guette.