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La Charité-sur-Loire / Marseilles-lès-Aubigny Saint-Jacques à vélo - Via Vézelay

Castles & Monuments
12,31 Km
49 min
I cycle often
La Charité-sur-Loire
Marseilles-lès-Aubigny

12,31 km cycling route from La Charité-sur-Loire to Marseilles-lès-Aubigny

This short stage along the Saint-Jacques à Vélo - Via Vézelay cycle route leads you first, for just a few kilometres, along typical Loire-side banks. But before leaving behind La Charité-sur-Loire and its ramparts, why not enjoy another wander around town, on foot or by bike, to discover Rue du Pont, Rue des Chapelains and Place des Pêcheurs (a square). In the lower town, these parts have kept their medieval atmosphere, proving a delight to explore. Crossing the town’s recently renovated historic bridge, you pass from one world to another, leaving behind the hills and slopes of western Burgundy to enter the flat agricultural lands known as the Champagne Berrichonne. You’ll get a glimpse of the major Loire à Vélo cycle route from the short stretch of it you ride along here, perhaps giving you ideas for another cycling adventure…!

Elevation of the stage

1 m 14 m

Waytypes of the stage

Cycle path: 11,20 km By road: 1,11 km

Surface of the stage

Lisse: 12,31 km

Cycle route from La Charité-sur-Loire to Marseilles-lès-Aubigny

In order to leave La Charité-sur-Loire to head west, there’s only one way possible – by crossing the bridge over the Loire, which also takes you across the Ile du Faubourg in its midst. On this island, follow the signposting carefully, as the main road is one-way only, so the Saint-Jacques à Vélo - Via Vézelay cycle route leads you on a safe detour to the right. Once over the Loire, turn immediately left onto the EuroVelo 6 – La Loire à Vélo, following this cycle route along a track laid out atop an earth dyke looking down on the Loire and built to protect the cereal fields to the west. 
You cycle southwards (upstream) beside the Loire for some 10 kilometres, up until the first village, Marseilles-lès-Aubigny, with its port at the junction of the Loire, the Canal Latéral à la Loire and the former Canal de Berry.
Then you need to follow what is a provisional stretch at time of writing, although signposted with yellow signs, which you follow up to the town of Saint-Amand-Montrond. 
Once you’ve passed the spillway of the Canal Latéral à la Loire, as you leave Marseilles-lès-Aubigny, turn right in the direction of La Guerche-sur-l’Aubois.

Link

After crossing La Charité-sur-Loire’s bridge over the Loire, you can branch off along the Loire à Vélo cycle route to go downstream (northwest) in the direction of Orléans, or then you can head upstream (south) as far as Nevers, the Loire à Vélo’s main starting point. 
Stretching 600km in total to reach the Loire’s Atlantic estuary, the Loire à Vélo is without doubt the best known of France’s tourist cycle routes. The Loire Valley, nicknamed France’s Valley of the Kings and also known as the Garden of France, has, across large parts, been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
For further information on the Loire à Vélo, go to 
For further informations go to La Loire à Vélo

Touristic information

SNCF train services

  • La Charité sur Loire station, with direct connections to Nevers and Paris.

Don't miss 

  • La Charité-sur-Loire: growing into a medieval trading centre around the Benedictine monastery, a stone bridge was then built here in the 16th century to span the Loire, although it had to be rebuilt after World War II. 
  • Banks of Loire: often described as the last great wild river in Western Europe, the Loire here incites you to study the wealth of flora and fauna that thrives along its banks. The width of the riverbed is truly impressive viewed from La Charité-sur-Loire’s bridge, given that the Loire is still so very far from its estuary.
  • Marseilles-lès-Aubigny: an inland port beside the Loire, located at the point where the Canal de Berry joined the Canal Latéral à la Loire.

Accommodation on the stage

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