Iguerande / Paray-le-Monial
On its final stage, the Véloire route unfolds like a green ribbon across the Brionnais area. Keeping beside the wild Loire, this magnificent stretch is tarmacked and offers wonderful glimpses onto very diverse natural environments. The peaceful town of Paray-le-Monial makes a perfect stopover for a rest before continuing your cycling adventures along the Canal du Centre and EuroVelo 6. In town, the splendid Basilique du Sacré-Cœur is a place of major Catholic pilgrimage well worth a visit.
The route
The way is flat and accessible to all cyclists, taking you along a wonderful asphalt greenway, laid out along the former railway line from Roanne to Paray-le-Monial. There are stretches, as you head south after Marcilly, where you pass high above the Loire, allowing you fine views. Enjoy the variety of the landscapes, alternating between stretches through forests, meadows and cultivated fields.
There are many car parks and areas to stop at, with benches and picnic tables.
Gradients and elevation
Road types
Surface
Don’t miss
- Iguerande: Romanesque church of St-Marcel, dating from the 11th and 12th centuries; Leblanc craft oil mill created in 1878; Musée Reflet… Brionnais, a privately-run museum on the life of the Brionnais area’s inhabitants in the past century
- Marcigny: Tour du Moulins des Moines, a 15th-century vestige of a priory turned history museum; the late-17th-century town hall; Centre d’Art Contemporain Frank Popper
- Paray-le-Monial: Sacred Heart Basilica; international exhibition of contemporary mosaics.
