Champagne-Mouton / Ruffec

Your cycling adventure continues on towards Ruffec, taking you via two further Petites Cités de Caractère, Nanteuil-en-Vallée and Verteuil-sur-Charente, each inviting you to enjoy a refreshing pause. Nanteuil-en-Vallée, with its cobbled streets and typical historic Charentais-style houses, is full of charm, its main attractions the vestiges of its medieval abbey and a 1920s garden, the Jardin de l'Argentor. As to Verteuil-sur-Charente, its impressive château looks down on the Charente River, while its Romanesque church conceals one of the Charente’s most dramatic Entombment of Christ scenes, featuring life-size terracotta figures. Next, it’s on via the village of Barro to Ruffec, the first offering tranquillity, the second shops, so that you can regather strength before riding onwards.

The route

This stage is on roads shared with motorized traffic separated by 2 greenway sections: at the Champagne-Mouton exit, from the intersection with the D740, then between Saint-Gervais and Nanteuil-en-Vallée.

Practical information

Office de Tourisme Destination Nord Charente - Antenne de Ruffec
18 Pl. des Martyrs de l'Occupation 16700 Ruffec -  05 45 31 05 42
https://www.destination-nordcharente.com/

SNCF

Gare de Ruffec, on the line Paris-Austerlitz < > Bordeaux-Saint-Jean

Don't miss

• Champagne-Mouton : the château    
• Nanteuil-en-Vallée: the abbey and the Jardin de l'Argentor                         
• Verteuil-sur-Charente: the château