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| Cycling Charente-Maritime Rives de Boutonne |
Last week we spent two days
cycling in the Charente-Maritime, covering about 50 km each day, staying inland
and away from the crowds at the coast. The first day was a meandering path that
took us from Tonnay-Boutonne to Saint Jean d’Angely, roughly following the
river Boutonne and crisscrossing the marked cycle path of the Rives de
Boutonne, which we unfortunately knew nothing about when planning our route. I
have tried to find some information online, however I’m still not much wiser so
may have to visit a local tourist information office and hope they have a map.
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| La Porte Saint-Pierre, Tonnay-Boutonne |
Tonnay Boutonne is home to a very
impressive medieval gateway, La Porte Saint-Pierre that we had never seen
before as the town has a bypass that keeps it’s secrets well hidden from view.
That is one of the great things about cycling, even in an area we think we
know, it never ceases to amaze us how much more you see when you are out and
about on a bike. Our route took us off the roads and onto the tracks following
the river and although it was a bit lumpy and bumpy it was so peaceful it felt
like we had France to ourselves. As we stopped by a bridge in the middle of
fields of sunflowers and mown hay we looked up to watch about twenty black and
white storks silently circling in the thermals above us. The more we watched
the more we saw and although we have seen these majestic birds before in the
coastal marshes of the Charente-Maritime it was a lovely surprise to see them
so far inland. Our beer stop was in Saint Jean d’Angely, a town big enough to give
us a choice of cafés open and ready to serve thirsty cyclists.
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| Romanesque Church Écoyeux, Charente-Maritime |
It seemed that towers, turrets
and gateways were dotted all over our route, just waiting for us to turn up and
take their picture, including this very impressive turreted Romanesque church
in Écoyeux, which is on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in
Spain. We see many fine examples of Romanesque churches around the
Poitou-Charentes, but this one with the addition of it’s 15th
Century fortifications was quite unusual.
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| Arc de Germanicus, Saintes, Charente-Maritime |
Our back road ride from Écoyeux
to Saintes was quiet, passed through small, flowery villages and brought us
into Saintes along the Charente River. This was much prettier than arriving by
road and we didn’t have the hassle of finding somewhere to park. On the banks of
the river we not only found a shady bar for a beer, we also got a great view of
the Arc de Germanicus, a monumental gateway on the Via Agrippa, a Roman route
that linked Saintes with Lyon in the east of France. It is a great privilege to
live somewhere where history is available to see and experience every day and
although we didn’t visit this time Saintes is also home to a Gallo-Roman
Amphitheatre.
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| Summer in France |
This picture really says summer
in France to me – it is colourful, fun and another example of street art for
the people that France does so well. I just wish I could have one of these in
our garden. The Astroturf was surprisingly soft and comfortable and the
backrest was just the perfect angle for me. It was very hard to get up and
carry on cycling.
We are looking forward to more cycling fun this summer, including around La Rochelle.
This blog has been linked to The Lou Messugo All About France blog link. To read more click here.
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