Récit de voyage à vélo de Ouistreham à la Rochelle

Start at Ouistreham, the Normandy ferry port north of Caen, its strand renowned as Sword Beach, its codename during the Allied liberation of France that began on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Take the towpath-turned-greenway beside the Canal de l’Orne; pay homage to the British airborne troops who took the vital crossing nicknamed Pegasus Bridge the night before D-Day. A cycle track leads on to the marina in central Caen. This city boasts splendid buildings dating back to William the Conqueror’s reign, while the Mémorial de Caen is a major war museum.

Once you’ve gone round Caen’s marina, explore the city via its ‘green lungs’, notably the racecourse and a special Espace Naturel Sensible, an environmentally protected area. Continue south beside the Orne River, taking the greenway into La Suisse Normande’s hills. This portion runs along a former railway line, offering an exceptionally peaceful route, a delight for nature lovers.

La Vélo Francette’s stage through the heart of La Suisse Normande’s hills is very nature-friendly. Cyclists follow the meanders and dramatic granite forms of the gorges of the Orne Valley, in part on a greenway, while canoeists appreciate the river itself. The waterside villages, such as Thury-Harcourt, Clécy and Pont-d’Ouilly, provide delightful stops and riverside terraces along the way.

You change cycle track after Flers station. Crossing the outskirts of town, near La Selle-la-Forge, at the place named Fumeçon, a greenway’s compact track takes you down a gentle slope to the Varenne River, which you’ll get close to many times along this stage. The local heritage recalls the area’s mining past as well as its agricultural past. Take it all in on what is a peaceful stretch for cyclists.

The route leaves the southern Norman hilltop town of Domfront, taking you on a long stage going via roads and greenways beside the Varenne River up to the Mayenne River and on to Mayenne-town. Three remarkable sights on the Varenne are the mills of Moulin de Varenne, Moulin d’Ambloux and Pont des Planches. The village of Ambrières-les-Vallées offers a last view of the Varenne before you join the banks of the Mayenne. Works are in progress, but the signposts will guide you throughout the deviation.

After visiting the historic town of Mayenne, with its castle dating back in part to Carolingian times, head south via the Mayenne Valley. This La Vélo Francette stage is well suited to families, following the riverside towpath in a lovely natural setting punctuated by lock-keepers’ houses and beautiful old homes. The town of Laval is a delight to walk around.

The start of this stage affords fine views of the town of Laval and its two châteaux. The nine-arched railway viaduct here also has a footbridge open to cyclists, and links the Mayenne River’s east bank to Laval’s town centre and its river port. South of Laval, admire the well-known Abbaye du Port Salut (historically connected with popular Port-Salut cheese) before discovering more of the natural beauty of the Mayenne River.

Travelling along the Mayenne Valley, each meander reveals new delights to spur you on, with a château here and a mill there, or then a waterside village with a river port. Before the town of Le Lion-d’Angers, you’ll get a notion of the importance of the equestrian professions around here as you pass the Domaine de l’Isle-Briand, home to a world-class national stud farm that hosts equestrian events.

After the picture-postcard equestrian grounds at L’Isle Briand, with its château and national stud farm, plus the Mayenne and Oudon confluence, you cross the low-lying ends of several river valleys that form one of the most exceptional areas of wetland in Europe, going right up to Angers, a famed historic Plantagenet city. Up to that town’s Pont Jean Moulin bridge, the rural atmosphere remains almost untouched.

In the heart of Anjou, this Loire à Vélo stage goes from opposite Angers’s central castle out via the green setting of the Lac de Maine. This urban stage is startling, avoiding motorized traffic, taking you through parkland and alongside the Maine River. Bouchemaine is great for a stop, for its typical quayside restaurants or a picnic beside the Loire.

Start at La Pointe, in a tremendous setting in the heart of Anjou, where the Maine River joins the Loire. A bit west, this magical Loire à Vélo stage allows you glimpses of the prestigious vine-covered slopes of Savennières. You follow the wild Loire closely here. Don’t miss Béhuard Island before going on to cross Chalonnes’s island.

This Loire à Vélo stage in Anjou crosses the startling island of Chalonnes, one of the largest on the Loire. Nearby, along the south bank, are the celebrated Coteaux du Layon vineyards, then the pretty perched villages of Montjean-sur-Loire and St-Florent-le-Vieil. The route is along quiet roads, cyclists able to make the most of the raised Loire-side levées and views across the islands.

From Mont Glonne, at the top of St-Florent-le-Vieil, with its great views of the Loire Valley, this Loire à Vélo stage goes on to Champtoceaux, an historic fortified site with further tremendous river views, standing on Anjou’s frontier with the Pays d’Ancenis on the north bank. It’s worth conquering the heights of St-Florent and Champtoceaux for the panoramas! The route is along quiet roads and greenways.

Welcome to the Basse-Loire, or Lower Loire and the county of Loire Atlantique. The importance of the Atlantic begins to be felt on this Loire à Vélo stage, as the ocean starts to exert more of an influence. The Loire islands, vine-covered slopes producing Muscadet wine and flat, very fertile market-gardening fields on the way to Nantes provide pleasingly varied landscapes. This Loire à Vélo stage proves interesting as well as easy.

Designated European Green Capital in 2013, the city of Nantes comes into view, a shaded towpath offering a gentle way into town. The new Tabarly Bridge leads over to L’île de Nantes, home to extraordinary outsized machines you can ride on, and to the Malakoff Quarter, being completely renovated. This island makes for a great introduction to the joyous tumult of the largest city along the Loire à Vélo cycle route.

Contemporary art features large along the Loire’s long estuary and this stage shared by the Loire à Vélo and Velodyssey cyles routes. The installations are startling, set in unusual locations. They offer joyous surprises close to the city of Nantes.

The calm Canal de la Martinière acts as your guide on this stage shared by EuroVelo 6 and the Loire à Vélo cycle routes. You cycle along quiet little roads, in the midst of landscapes typical of the Loire estuary, with broad marshes and meadows spreading out from the great river.

This is the last stage on the Loire à Vélo cycle route, but it also offers you the opportunity of joining the Velodyssey cycle route as it runs alongside the Atlantic. The Loire is strongly affected by the tides here and arriving at the end of the stage, you end up in a typical seaside resort!

This stage of La Vélodyssée starts by crossing St-Brevin between the sea, dunes, pine trees and villas. It continues into the countryside of the Pays de Retz towards St-Michel-Chef-Chef and the charming tourist seaside resort of Pornic.

La Vélodyssée route continues its tour of the Bay of Bourgneuf, brushing past the Breton Marshes in the search for out-of-the-ordinary landscapes in an area rich in birds local to the region. Human activity makes itself felt in the form of the fisheries and the small working ports which dot the coastline. One last gourmet stage on the Loire-Atlantique, La Vélodyssée route continues its tour of the Bay of Bourgneuf. We find ourselves in oyster country, encountering numerous little oyster ports and pits used to cultivate the oysters.

The last stage of La Vélodyssée in the Bay of Bourgneuf-en-Retz (your pedals keeping time with the sweeping circles of its wind turbines!) before arriving at the very lively Port-du-Bec in Epoids. The highlight of the day will be crossing the famous Gois causeway to the Island of Noirmoutier, tides permitting!

This stage of La Vélodyssée focuses entirely on the sea, the beach, the forest and the dunes. There are 18 kms of cycle paths winding through the national forest of Pays de Monts, after which you come to the very lively seaside resort of St-Jean-de-Monts. Before reaching the Vendéenne Cove and its famous boulders at Sion-sur-l’Océan, La Vélodyssée heads towards an old fishing village in the commune of St-Hilaire-de-Riez, adjoining St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie. A superb stage.

St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, working port, well-known seaside resort, significantly located on a river whose name means ‘life’… all this and the Grande Plage… altogether an unmissable location on La Vélodyssée! Take time to stroll around before continuing on the route which gets closer to the coast towards Brétignolles-sur-Mer and Brem-sur-Mer.The route stretches along the coast and snakes through the Avocettes road between the Olonne forest and the ancient salt marshes which extend between Brem, the Isle of Olonne, Olonne-sur-Mer and Les Sables-d’Olonne.

In this fairytale setting are both Les Sables (world capital of yacht racing) and La Rochelle, (the ‘broken rebel’ capital of Aunis) centre stage. The Vendéenne coast brings the cycle routes back to the Poitevin Marshes. Once past the Sèvre Niortaise River, we find ourselves at Charente-Maritime and the Marans canal which leads straight to the Old Port. After St-Vincent, La Vélodyssée winds its way into the large national forest of Longeville, drawing close to the sea on two occasions from where beautiful beaches can easily be accessed, such as Les Conches. A quick dip is a must on this stage!

La Belle-Henriette Lagoon, separated from the sea by a narrow band of sand, and then your arrival into La Faute-sur-Mer which stretches endlessly towards the point of Arçay, mark this stage of La Vélodyssée. The route then heads into St-Michel-en-l’Herm through the dried marshes of Marais Poitevin a great expanse of marshes and cultivated land dotted with farms and sheds. The crossing of the Pont du Brault takes us into Charente-Maritime in the ancient district of Aunis. Marans, the capital of the dried Marais marshes, was once a very important look-out point.

Nature takes centre stage during this leg of the journey, as you cycle past the water that flows through the charming canals which join the Poitevin marshes. We pass Marans, the ancient watchtower on the estuary of the Niort Sèvre which looks out over the marshes, and follow the canal that leads us to La Rochelle and onto the ocean.