The best traffic-free bike rides around Bécheresse

The Saint-Cybard Church of Plassac-Rouffiac is located in the village of Plassac-Rouffiac, in Charente. Built in the Romanesque style, it was listed as a historic monument in 1862. At the intersection of an ancient Roman road connecting Périgueux and Saintes, known as the "Boisné Road," and a road south of Angoulême, this small church boasts several assets: refined sculpted decoration, harmonious proportions, and a façade enlivened by arcades. The façade is divided horizontally into four levels by cornices: the ground floor with a central portal flanked by blind arcades, the second and third levels occupied by semicircular arches, and the top level topped with a triangular pediment. The single nave is covered with a pointed barrel vault. The false square, topped by a dome on pendentives, supports an elegant bell tower with a stone tortoiseshell spire. https://mairie.plassac-rouffiac.fr/eglises/ https://www.angouleme-tourisme.com/patrimoine-culturel/eglise-saint-cybard-4/ https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89glise_Saint-Cybard_de_Plassac

Located on one of the paths to Santiago de Compostela, the Via Turonensis (Road to Tours), the Saint-Denys de Montmoreau church was built in the 12th century. It has retained its original appearance, with the exception of the square Romanesque bell tower which was completely modified in the mid-19th century by Paul Abadie. A Romanesque church whose façade is marked by a polylobed portal and two arcades. It consists of a nave covered with a barrel vault, a transept whose crossing has a dome on pendentives and a vast, very bright semicircular apse. The chevet bordering the road is decorated with a very prominent horizontal cordon supported by modillions representing human or animal faces. The magnificent Romanesque frontispiece has an arched portal whose five arches form an archivolt resting on slender columns with sculpted capitals. The inner arch is openworked by six lobes ending with symbolic animal heads. All the decorations bear witness to an oriental influence in the South-West Romanesque and especially to the virtuosity of the sculptors. https://www.montmoreau.fr/index-module-orki-page-view-id-115.html https://monumentum.fr/monument-historique/pa00104432/montmoreau-eglise-saint-denis

A nice place to take a break. There is a picnic bench and an orientation table. There are lovely views over the surrounding fields.

The church of Saint-Cybard de Plassac was classified as a historic monument in 1862. It was built in Romanesque style.

The ruins of Bouteville Castle were built around the year 1000 on the site of a Roman villa.

beautiful and steep forest road

Church built in the 12th century in a region traveled by pilgrims to Compostela. The town of Conzac was ruined during the Hundred Years War, in the 15th century. The church may have been ruined at this time. It was restored in the 17th century but the town did not recover. The building has a cross plan, with a single nave, and ends in a semicircular apse. The nave was rebuilt in the 17th century. It is covered by a wooden ceiling. The square of the transept had a cupola on pendentives. The sculpture of the capitals is important: riders, characters, animals, ornaments. The apse is decorated with two floors of arcades. All the capitals are sculpted (griffins, birds, interlacing). The apse is covered in the bottom of the oven. The north transept, covered in panelling, retains its vaulted apsidiole. The southern brace was destroyed. The bell tower, which rises above the transept, has been truncated and only retains one floor with four arches on pilasters on each side. A spiral staircase rises between the north apsidiole and the apse.

The church depended on the priory of Barbezieux. The plan of the building is in the shape of a cross, with a flat apse. The nave includes two first bays from the 15th century, deviated on the axis of the rest of the building, with ribbed vaults and girders. A narrower bay is covered with ribbed vaults resting on Romanesque columns. The current transept and choir are covered with ribbed vaults resting on 13th century small columns with foliated capitals. The choir vault bears the date of 1682. The portal of the western facade dates from the 15th century and has pinnacles, prismatic moldings and kale. Square bell tower with twin trefoil windows.