Attractions and Places To See around Le Pin - Top 8

This ancient tree is said to have the ability to cure boils. Why bother going to the doctor when all it takes is a walk in the woods to heal?

Car-free rolling path from Carquefou to Candé.

Entering Candé via the greenway, in a quiet & bucolic setting, is very pleasant. Passage over the Erdre, which at this point is still only a stream

On the Grande Balise road, a few hundred meters from the forest path, you will discover the venerable nail oak on the right. This is a 500 year old tree believed to have healing powers against furunculosis in humans. This oak would be the only survivor of a group of sessile oaks felled before 1742, it is today isolated among younger subjects. With a circumference of 4.20 meters at 1 meter from the ground, it is distinguished by a niche attached to its trunk which houses a Virgin and Child, and above all by a trunk covered with hundreds of nails. Formerly, the word nail designated boils; and popular tradition attributes to this oak the power to cure these painful conditions. An ancient pagan rite was practiced: it involved coming alone, at night, out of sight, to rub coffin nails against the sick part of one's body; then go around the tree seven times, address a prayer to the soul of the tree, drive the nails into the trunk on the side that never sees the sun. The rite ended by walking backwards and saluting the tree. https://www.petitfute.com/v75850-vallons-de-l-erdre-44540/c1173-visites-points-d-interet/c974-site-naturel/533485-le-chene-aux-clous-du- patisseau.html

Between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the Château de la Motte-Glain illustrates the end of one period, and the beginning of another. Neither a defensive fortress nor a pleasure residence, the castle moves with great beauty between the two functions. A schist and tuffeau castle Possibly dating back to the 12th century, the Château de la Motte-Glain was gradually rebuilt during the 15th century. A magnificent residence, the castle forms a Breton home to the north, and a French one to the west, recalling its very border nature. Between the local schist and the Angevin tuffeau, the castle is located between Brittany and Anjou, recalling its complex history and the result of prestigious sponsors. From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. The Château de la Motte-Glain is one of the first Renaissance castles in Loire-Atlantique, before the reconstructions of Châteaubriant and Ancenis. Still very Gothic in its decoration, the castle shows new research by its sponsor, in its staircase towers, and in the use of decoration linked to Santiago de Compostela, the great pilgrimage.

Created on a former railway line, this Greenway with a stabilized surface of fairly good quality makes it possible to avoid 36km of dangerous road between Carquefou, on the north-eastern outskirts of the Nantes metropolitan area, and Saint-Mars-la-Jaille, on the edge of Maine-et-Loire. Source: https://www.af3v.org/les-voies-vertes/voies/265-voie-verte-de-carquefou-a-saint-mars-la-jaille/

The Saint-Denis de Candé church strikes with its imposing side. Its facade with two square bell towers evokes the great Gothic cathedrals, such as Notre-Dame de Paris. The restoration of this church in an imposing way is part of the current of Catholic renewal of the 19th century, in the west of France. The replacement of the parish churches, often medieval, was then necessary, to respond to the strong demographic growth. It was also a way to affirm the Catholic nature of the region after the troubles of the Revolution.