Sunny Sunday Cycling
La Flow Vélo from Saintes to Port-d’Envaux:
My elder daughter came home from university for the weekend and asked us to pick her up at Saintes.
Obviously, we couldn’t bring her home on our bikes, so we decided to make the most of our car trip to the historic Roman town.
Did we visit the gallo-roman amphitheatre? The Germanicus Arch? The 11th century Abbaye-aux-Dames?
No, we stopped at Décathlon. It’s my favourite shop (along with the bookshop Le Texte Libre) because it sells potential.
When you buy a trekking tent, you’re actually buying an itinerant cycle touring holiday. So we did. More about that later this summer, if we manage to pitch the tent and survive the holiday.
Anyway, I was happy that my daughter booked her return ticket for the 11:27 train on Sunday morning because it meant we could stuff our bikes into the car, along with our daughter, and spend the day cycling another section of La Flow Vélo. (Please note how well we have adapted to being abandoned by our children, thanks to our Abandoned Parent Training in 2020).
In contrast to our last Flow Vélo trip, I’d invested in a guide book so we could see exactly where to go. More importantly, it meant I recognised the guide in the hands of the cyclists we met along the way, so I was able to stop (any excuse) and chat with them about their experiences of the cycleway. We learnt that the part from Bourg Charente to Jarnac has recently been renovated, so we’ll definitely return there and assess it for ourselves.
Parking in the train station’s free car park was a great idea. To find the Flow Vélo, which runs along the left bank of the river. you just follow signs to centre ville and turn right straight after crossing the bridge.
I’d never been to this part of Saintes and was pleasantly surprised to discover that once we passed the riverside campsite, the route took us along a quiet, shady lane.
This soon became a track and we had regular glimpses of the river.
The Flow Vélo from Cognac to Rouffiac was pleasant, but today’s section easily surpassed it in terms of the variety of tracks and the number of interesting features. I’d recommend this day trip – a total of 45km for the return ride – to everyone. And not only because we found ice-creams along the way.
Having cycled close to the river for about 5km, the route headed inland a little. The lanes took us up and down small hills and through the hamlets of Narcejac, La Pommeraie and Port à Clou. There was so much to see. From the sighting of a stork on the ground – it was almost as big as my bike – to the beautiful stone architecture, something constantly caught our attention.
We were welcomed at la Basse Pommeraie by this sign, which directed cyclists to ‘Number 15’. When I stopped to have a closer look, I saw a notice in the window offering water, a pump and a smile.
Unfortunately no one was at home, otherwise I could have wangled a longer stop there.
As the Flow Vélo remains fairly close to the river, we often passed wetlands. Just before Port à Clou, we were treated to a boardwalk to cross the protected marshes. Some surprises awaited us there, including these fellows. There were a few more to meet too, but I’ll let you discover them on your own.
We left the Flow Vélo when we spotted the river at Port à Clou and ate our picnic beside the water. Had it been a little later in the year, we would have swum, since access to the water is easy in this spot.
Here are a few pictures of the landscapes we crossed after lunch.
The square bridge allowed the cycleway to pass under a viaduct, which we presumed was a railway. When we discovered it was tarmacked, we decided to follow it – hence the photo of my husband pushing his bike up onto it. Don’t worry, this isn’t a compulsory part of the route.
When I stopped at the end of the viaduct to read the inscription on the stone, a dog-walker informed us that the viaduct was actually an old Roman road. It’s used by the locals when the normal road floods. But as it’s only wide enough for one car – and there’s a drop on each side – this must lead to conflictual situations and lots of reversing.
The viaduct led towards the charming village of Taillebourg, on the far bank of the River Charente. The Flow Vélo doesn’t pass through it, but we wanted to visit and it was only one kilometre off our route.
What a good idea that was! I loved the little village, with its stone quay and the castle parkland overlooking the countryside. I recommend you stop there and discover it yourself. Here’s a slideshow of a few pictures to give you an idea of the treat you’re in for.
It was getting late by now, and with over 20km on the clock we decided we’d cycle as far as Port-d’Envaux before returning to Saintes. The cycleway took us along a couple of rather long, straight, flat tracks. A few kilometres later, we arrived in the village.
In fact, we arrived directly at a tranquil, riverside meadow which is actually the port. Although it’s a small village today, Port-d’Envaux used to be an important stop for the boats carrying stone from the nearby Crazannes quarry as well as pottery from La Chapelle des Pots.
And guess what? I finally got to eat my ice-cream.
Port-d’Envaux must be a lovely place to laze in the summer. You can hire boats from Les Canotiers, admire the stone sculptures, eat at Le Gabarier restaurant and visit Panloy castle.
I’ll definitely have to return. In fact, we might even camp for a night at Crazannes, which is 4km away, for our next stage of the Flow Vélo, from Port-d’Envaux downstream to St.Savinien-sur-Charente – and, who knows, maybe a little further.
