GS 2 SAINT-CHRISTOPHE DAMECHONNE

Length of the route : 19.3 km Town : Saint-Mihiel

Path marked out by La Grolle Sammielloise.
Contact them: lagrollesammielloise55@laposte.net

Very nice hike from the city centre. Mostly shaded route over a distance of 19.5 km with a difference in altitude of 380m.
After passing through the Old Town in front of some listed buildings or the Collegiate Church of St Etienne with its famous sepulchre of Ligier Richier or an old wash-house, the hike will lead you to fountains, springs where you can see spotted salamanders and other batrachians. Then, after a 200 m climb, you will pass the cloister of St-Christophe, a former priory, probably the first Abbey of St-Mihiel before the year 800. It is currently inhabited and its owners are breeding Friesians there.
Further on, before starting a descent on the way back to St Mihiel, you will pass the megalith (menhir) of the Damechonne or Dame Schone (Neolithic period 1800 BC) whose origin of the Germanic name, Dame Schone or more simply schoene, which translates as Beautiful Lady, is unknown. Is it a very old name, to be compared with the fact that the Duchies of Lorraine and Bar were states belonging to the Holy Roman Empire? German was therefore a naturally used language there.
The term beautiful lady can be compared to the beliefs of fairies. Fairies are indeed very common in Lorraine and followed the Fata, Celtic goddesses.

German soldiers engraved inscriptions and iron crosses there during the Great War. The menhir reads: Mit Gott für Vaterland 1914-1915 (Mit Gott für Vaterland 1914-1915) underlined by two palm leaves.
Enjoy your walk.....