RoutesRoad cycling routesFranceNew AquitaineSaintesPessines
Saint-Nazaire Church loop from Charente-Maritime
RoutesRoad cycling routesFranceNew AquitaineSaintesPessines
Saint-Nazaire Church loop from Charente-Maritime
Easy
5
riders
Saint-Nazaire Church loop from Charente-Maritime
01:57
48.9km
220m
Road cycling
Easy road ride. Great for any fitness level. Mostly well-paved surfaces and easy to ride. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.
Last updated: April 16, 2026
Waypoints
A
Start point
Bus stop
Get Directions
10.9 km
Bois de Bapaume
Forest
2
13.7 km
Saint-Nazaire Church
Highlight • Other
The interest aroused by this church is concentrated on its façade. It has on the ground floor a semicircular portal framed by two false doors of the same height, with pointed arches. On the large arcade of the vast central window which intersects the cornice develops the allegory of the Wise Virgins and the Foolish Virgins. Groups of columns separate the windows, others furnish the extremities of the facade. Above, a cornice decorated with scrolls and foliage rests on highly ornate corbels.
Founded in the 2nd half of the 12th century, the current church was built in 2 stages: first the transept, surmounted by a bell tower, and then the choir. Then, towards the end of the 2nd ½ of the 12th century, the nave was barrel-vaulted and the western facade built.
The primitive chevet was ½ circular. It was rebuilt in the 17th century, a flat Gothic wall, pierced by an ogival window, replacing the original apse.
From the entrance, there is a massive wall pierced by a high and narrow door which, by 5 steps, reaches the nave. This narthex is lit by 2 semicircular windows. It is covered at great height with a starry ribbed vault.
The nave comprises six bays, the first 3 vaulted in warhead with sculpted keys; the following 3, less high, in a broken cradle.
In the 2nd half of the 15th century, following the Hundred Years War, a large part of the building was taken over. The left wall has been replaced by a series of 5 large smooth columns, without capitals
Lit by 5 pointed arch windows, this 2nd nave also has its own entrance door to the west and on a landing preceded by several steps.
Defensive elements were added to the south wall of the nave (walkway, crenellations, loopholes...), and a new bell tower was built above the 1st bay of the nave.
This work was completed in the 17th century, for the completion of the vaults of the 1st spans of the nave, and for that of the bell tower, covered with a hull roof.
Inside, the south wall of the nave is still pierced with semicircular bays framed by small columns with carved capitals.
As for the western facade, it presents the usual structure of the Romanesque facades of the region. Made up of 3 arcades on each of the 2 levels, like a Roman triumphal arch.
Founded in the 2nd half of the 12th century, the current church was built in 2 stages: first the transept, surmounted by a bell tower, and then the choir. Then, towards the end of the 2nd ½ of the 12th century, the nave was barrel-vaulted and the western facade built.
The primitive chevet was ½ circular. It was rebuilt in the 17th century, a flat Gothic wall, pierced by an ogival window, replacing the original apse.
From the entrance, there is a massive wall pierced by a high and narrow door which, by 5 steps, reaches the nave. This narthex is lit by 2 semicircular windows. It is covered at great height with a starry ribbed vault.
The nave comprises six bays, the first 3 vaulted in warhead with sculpted keys; the following 3, less high, in a broken cradle.
In the 2nd half of the 15th century, following the Hundred Years War, a large part of the building was taken over. The left wall has been replaced by a series of 5 large smooth columns, without capitals
Lit by 5 pointed arch windows, this 2nd nave also has its own entrance door to the west and on a landing preceded by several steps.
Defensive elements were added to the south wall of the nave (walkway, crenellations, loopholes...), and a new bell tower was built above the 1st bay of the nave.
This work was completed in the 17th century, for the completion of the vaults of the 1st spans of the nave, and for that of the bell tower, covered with a hull roof.
Inside, the south wall of the nave is still pierced with semicircular bays framed by small columns with carved capitals.
As for the western facade, it presents the usual structure of the Romanesque facades of the region. Made up of 3 arcades on each of the 2 levels, like a Roman triumphal arch.
Translated by Google •
Tip by
3
20.9 km
Saint-Romain Church of Saint-Romain-de-Benet
Highlight • Religious Site
The city retains a sometimes little-known heritage: its Romanesque church, whose characteristic silhouette dominates the surroundings, is an inseparable element, as is the tower of Pirelonge, a former Gallo-Roman beacon.
This rather atypical-looking building is the result of a multitude of reconstructions spread over nearly 8 centuries. If the first stone of the sanctuary was laid in the 12th century (the groups of columns bear carved capitals of 12th century invoice), this one will be very damaged following a fire, which occurred at the end of the Middle Ages during the Wars of Religion. Rebuilt economically, it was decided, around the 17th century, to restore it.
Ransacked in 1793, victim of revolutionary looting, the church remained under construction for a large part of the 19th century, when the vaults of the choir were replaced in 1830, before the Romanesque bell tower was raised, then in 1843 its apse and finally, in 1883, its facade was rebuilt in imitation of the Romanesque style (this one is pierced with an oculus, surmounting a portal with 4 archivolts resting on columns with capitals).
The characteristic/original element of this church is its line of cupolas, built in 1901 and left visible. Built in cement, they give the building a false oriental air. The sanctuary, which must originally have been in the shape of a Latin cross, has retained from its original structure only a nave made up of four bays, extended by a choir in a cul-de-four, which is pierced with seven bays. . 8 half-columns, distributed along the apse, serve as buttresses. The square bell tower rises on a spherical dome with pendentives; it retains a series of Romanesque arches in its lower part and is pierced with three thin openings in its upper part, according to a layout found in the church of Berneuil, a few dozen kilometers away.
The interior retains furniture dating mainly from the 19th century.
Several plaster statues, of rather naive invoice, are visible in the nave: they notably represent Saint Michael and Joan of Arc. The apse, cul-de-four, is decorated with murals representing a Christ in Majesty. At the entrance to the nave, on the left side, a capital dating from the 12th century has plant motifs. We will appreciate the majesty of the domes on pendentives, some of the capitals and the diagonal arrangement of the two altars between the nave and the heart.
Church open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. – Tel. 05-46-22-53-34
This rather atypical-looking building is the result of a multitude of reconstructions spread over nearly 8 centuries. If the first stone of the sanctuary was laid in the 12th century (the groups of columns bear carved capitals of 12th century invoice), this one will be very damaged following a fire, which occurred at the end of the Middle Ages during the Wars of Religion. Rebuilt economically, it was decided, around the 17th century, to restore it.
Ransacked in 1793, victim of revolutionary looting, the church remained under construction for a large part of the 19th century, when the vaults of the choir were replaced in 1830, before the Romanesque bell tower was raised, then in 1843 its apse and finally, in 1883, its facade was rebuilt in imitation of the Romanesque style (this one is pierced with an oculus, surmounting a portal with 4 archivolts resting on columns with capitals).
The characteristic/original element of this church is its line of cupolas, built in 1901 and left visible. Built in cement, they give the building a false oriental air. The sanctuary, which must originally have been in the shape of a Latin cross, has retained from its original structure only a nave made up of four bays, extended by a choir in a cul-de-four, which is pierced with seven bays. . 8 half-columns, distributed along the apse, serve as buttresses. The square bell tower rises on a spherical dome with pendentives; it retains a series of Romanesque arches in its lower part and is pierced with three thin openings in its upper part, according to a layout found in the church of Berneuil, a few dozen kilometers away.
The interior retains furniture dating mainly from the 19th century.
Several plaster statues, of rather naive invoice, are visible in the nave: they notably represent Saint Michael and Joan of Arc. The apse, cul-de-four, is decorated with murals representing a Christ in Majesty. At the entrance to the nave, on the left side, a capital dating from the 12th century has plant motifs. We will appreciate the majesty of the domes on pendentives, some of the capitals and the diagonal arrangement of the two altars between the nave and the heart.
Church open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. – Tel. 05-46-22-53-34
Translated by Google •
Tip by
46.8 km
Bois de la Barre
Forest
B
48.9 km
End point
Bus stop
Way Types & Surfaces
Way Types
48.3 km
612 m
< 100 m
Surfaces
48.0 km
861 m
< 100 m
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Elevation
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Wednesday 1 July
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