Top 7 Natural Monuments around Angoulême

This fountain is really very pretty

The Tonne Fountain is located in Vindelle, Charente (16), and is a highlight of a popular hiking trail that winds along the banks of the Charente River and through rolling landscapes, offering a refreshing break, often featuring a beautiful sculpted fountain that invites contemplation. Location: In the commune of Vindelle, near Angoulême, it is a popular destination for walks. How to find it: You will find it by following a marked path from the parking area, which passes through hamlets such as Puant and Le Cluzeau. Hiking Trail: The Angoulême Tourist Office offers detailed itineraries for discovering this fountain, often called the Tonne Fountain (and not Tenne), and its surroundings, according to www.angouleme-tourisme.com and www.infiniment-charentes.com. Special feature: It is a sculpted fountain, the work of a local resident, nestled between river and forest, near Mysterra (if we refer to a similar article), which attracts walkers.

Near the Puypéroux Abbey, in Charente, the Saint-Gilles fountain is located in a lowland. You can get there by bike, but with a mountain bike or Gravel++ type bike, because a 300m descent on dirt and grass is required. Otherwise, it is on foot. In winter, the grass is wet and the earth loose; you need the right tires for the climb.

These very special limestone cliffs have been forged over time by past human activity. The trails take you through these remains but also to overlook them, offering an unmissable view of the Eaux Claires valley.

The course of the Dronne extends over 200 kilometers. At this location, as at others, it is classified as a natural area of ecological, fauna and flora interest. It is possible to observe, among other things, tree frogs, white-clawed crayfish, otters and mink, kingfishers and larks, and also lampreys.

The natural site of the fountain of Tonne corresponds to a line of resurgent springs that we follow on the slope of the right bank of the Charente valley; they correspond to the outcrop of the base of a bench of clayey limestone from the Upper Jurassic. In the same geological situation, we find the fountain of La Faye, that of Font des rentes, the source of Ladoux in Marsac, the Font Pélerine not far from Bouchauds, as well as further south, the Breuillerie and the Pierre Levée on the commune of Trois-Palis. As in any karstic-type hydrogeology, the water from the fountain arrives in the open air after a long underground journey; even in periods of summer low water or severe drought, the source remains supplied. A narrow: pipe cut in the rock allows to concentrate the waters at the place of their exit. The very high concentration of carbonates in the water causes the precipitation of these in the form of solidification of porous rock which advances into the upper basin of the fountain. The fountain is also a favorable environment for a micro fauna of amphibians, frogs and salamanders, and the embankments that surround it see the appearance of pentecostal orchis purpurea (orchids) every year. The village of Tonne was only connected to running water from 1966, so the fountain was used until that time. It was restored in 1992 by the inhabitants of Vindelle, then in 2001 through an integration project which restored the pavement that surrounds it. The path is listed on a pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.

The sources are resurgences made up of Dormant, Bouillant, Font de Lussac and La Lèche which appear under the ruins of the Château de Touvre. They give rise to the Touvre, a tributary of the Charente only 11.7 km long and whose flow allows the Charente to be navigable from Angoulême to the ocean. They supply the agglomeration of Angoulême with drinking water. It is the second resurgence of France, with an average annual flow of 13 cubic meters per second, after the fountain of Vaucluse.

A legend says that a fountain near the church of Sireuil gave strength and courage to pilgrims going to St-Jacques de Compostelle. Possibility to eat in the village and follow the towpaths on either side of the banks of the Charente.