BALADE - LES GRAVIERES DES GRANDES NOLLES - D1

Marking: green "beaver" signs. Distance: 4km. Departure : Tourist office Take the direction of the church, cross the roundabout and take the rue de l'Hôtel de Ville on the right-hand side of the pavement. On the town hall square, take the 1st street on the right which goes down towards the two sports halls and the college. Continue straight ahead on the small asphalt road which is forbidden to motor vehicles. You arrive at the housing estate "In front of the castle" which you cross by going straight ahead. At the end of the road, turn right (sign Castors). You arrive on the road to La Houssière, turn right and then left 30 m further on (sign Castors). When crossing, be careful! Pass in front of the car park of Les Gravières where the first explanatory panel is located and take the path on the left which runs along the river le Neuné. From the start of the circuit, on the banks, you will see traces of beaver work *: some trees bear witness to their efficient rodent activity Leave the wooden bridge that spans the river le Neuné on your right and continue straight ahead until you reach the first pond, the largest one. It is equipped with 2 pontoons for fishermen and observers of aquatic life. At the end of the pond, on the opposite bank, you will see a beaver lodge (sign and bench). If you come at nightfall, you may be lucky enough to see one or two beavers, provided you are very discreet: they are very shy animals .. Continue on the trail in an anti-clockwise direction. Be careful when crossing the small bridges over the ponds, they can be slippery. Along the way, read the explanatory and playful signs. On the way back, on your right, there is a big hut: artificial, of course, it was built for a water festival. The loop takes you back to the large wooden bridge over the Neuné. Cross the river to reach the Rue de la Gare, passing in front of the water treatment plant. Turn right, go past the cheese dairy and the church square to get back to the starting point. The return journey can also be done by the same way as the outward journey. The recent history of this place begins in the 1970s, when the Marcillat cheese dairy enlarged its premises. To carry out the work, it took materials (called tout-venant) from the ground, which gave rise to several gravel pits. Left abandoned, they filled up with water and served as a landfill. In the 2000s, the commune of Corcieux undertook the rehabilitation of this site to make it a place to walk and an area conducive to the conservation of a high biodiversity. The area around the Neuné has also been developed. The educational panels, set up to help you discover the richness of this place, in terms of flora, fauna, geology and geography, were created by Laurent Cagniat, a cartoonist living in Corcieux, and several elementary school teachers It is advisable to put on good hiking shoes, also bring a drink in a backpack, keep your dog on a leash and respect the paths. To be seen: THE CASTORS : Introduced on the banks of the Moselle in 1983, they have multiplied and made their way up to the smallest rivers, including the Neuné which passes through Corcieux. Often considered as pests (they can do enormous damage by cutting down trees, gnawed at the base), they are in fact protected animals. LANGUAGE RONCULE (present on the Gravières site) : It is a large rare herbaceous plant of the Renonculacées family, protected in France on a national scale. It flowers from June to August. It is a poisonous plant with one part submerged and the other aerial. It can reach 1.20 m. Its leaves, original, are very long.