Weekend hiking and bivouacking in Fontainebleau Forest

We meet at 12:30 p.m. in front of the small SNCF train station in the charming village of Bourron Marlotte located in the heart of the Fontainebleau Forest (train departure from Paris Gare de Lyon at 11:10 a.m.).

There, we meet up with Captain Sylvain and the rest of the group and we set off to enter, without transition, the magical forest which we cross, over hill and dale, for around fifteen kilometers.

Is Fontainebleau Forest all flat with large straight paths? Well, you've been misinformed and you might be very surprised! We indeed cross a mosaic of landscapes and environments in this renowned biogeographical crossroads comprising more than 5,000 plant species and 165 animal species! It's not for nothing that this Forest is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

In the middle of rocky labyrinths and heathland with heather, we encounter other local species: climbers who practice on this unique sandstone, the cradle of modern climbing, and we can discover the routes that allowed pioneers from the mid-twentieth century to prepare for major first ascents in the Alps, the Andes or the Himalayas.

In just a few steps to the side, we find ourselves immersed in another story told by the carved shelters from different periods ranging from the Paleolithic to the contemporary era, numbering an incredible 180 nestled within the 5 km² of the Gulf of Larchant!

After winding through rocky chaos and climbing and descending «platières», suspended sandstone plateaus, the last witnesses of the shallow sea that covered the Paris Basin in the Cambrian period, we arrive at the bivouac site and begin setting up the tipis and arranging the camp.

Good organic and local products produced just a few hundred meters from our campsite will allow us to prepare together a pleasant meal in the heart of nature.

Strolling around the bivouac while putting the world to rights or listening to a concert or lecture at La Grange, the cooperative grocery store / bar / climbing wall of the village, while sipping a local beer or lemonade: to each their own for the rest of the evening!

After a night in the great outdoors we have breakfast at the bivouac with good products prepared by the great team of young bakers from the village.

After a few dozen minutes in the forest, the day begins with a stroll through the medieval village of Larchant in the shadow of its 13th century basilica.

We leave this small village considered one of the most beautiful in Ile de France to resume our hiking. We skirt the Gâtinais plateau, a renowned center for honey production – in the era when draft horses had not yet been replaced by steam horses and when the plains were flowering with clover and sainfoin that fed them.

We traverse massifs with mysterious names (Paradis, Sarrasin, Sablibum, Mont blanc, Gréau…) populated by mineral creatures with phantasmagoric forms in the heart of landscapes worthy in some places of Fantasy film sets.

It is moreover in the hollow of a small sandy basin very close to mysterious ruins that we have our picnic.

A handful of kilometers and several climbs over rocky plateaus later we descend towards the town of Nemours, follow the Loing canal up to the station which will mark the end of our stay so removed from everyday life at the gates of Paris.

And, strengthened by your training from this weekend, it will perhaps be from here that you will soon set off again by bike along the 1700 km of the Scandibérique connecting Trondheim to Saint-Jacques de Compostelle!