Forêt de Russy & Étang du Puits
The Forêt de Russy is a 5,400-hectare state forest stretching north of Cheverny toward Blois, threaded with unmarked sandy tracks and punctuated by étangs — the shallow, reed-fringed lakes that define the Sologne landscape. Étang du Puits is the most accessible and most beautiful of them.
Walking and Wildlife in the Sologne
The Sologne is one of France's most important wetland habitats, and the forest around Cheverny shelters red deer, roe deer, wild boar, kingfishers and — if you are very quiet at dusk — European otters along the lake margins. Autumn mornings bring a low mist that sits in the hollows and makes the whole landscape feel primeval.
A marked 8 km circular trail from the Forêt de Russy car park (off the D765 between Cheverny and Blois) loops through mature oak and pine, past two étangs and back through a stand of sweet chestnut. The path is flat, clear and well-signed with yellow waymarks.
The Étang at Dawn and Dusk
Étang du Puits is at its most photogenic in the golden hour — the still water doubles the sky and the reed beds glow amber. Bring binoculars: great crested grebes, grey herons and in winter, migratory teal and wigeon use the lake regularly.
There are no facilities and almost no other visitors outside summer weekends. Pack water and wear waterproof shoes — the forest tracks can be muddy after rain regardless of season. This is the Sologne as it has been for a thousand years, and the silence is the point.
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