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Chemin de la Charente – Rochefort Transporter Bridge loop from Saint-Hippolyte

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Bike touring routes & trails

Chemin de la Charente – Rochefort Transporter Bridge loop from Saint-Hippolyte

Hard

5.0

(1)

riders

Chemin de la Charente – Rochefort Transporter Bridge loop from Saint-Hippolyte

05:12

84.7km

280m

Cycling

Hard bike ride. Very good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels. The route includes a crossing by ferry. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.

Last updated: April 19, 2026

This route includes a ferry crossing

Tips

Includes a ferry crossing

Check ferry timetable.

After 56.5 km for 157 m

Waypoints

Start point

Bus stop

Get Directions

17.8 km

Bois Brossard

Forest

21.5 km

Saint-Vivien Church in Geay

Highlight • Religious Site

The church was built in Romanesque style in the 12th century. It consists of a single nave with four bays, which can be entered via a landing and several steps. It is decorated with three tiers of semicircular arches separated by columnar buttresses (Musee du Patrimoine de France).

Translated by Google •

Tip by

35.6 km

Old railway bridge over the Charente

Highlight • Bridge

old railway bridge with a view of the Charente see the impressive current during the rising tides

Translated by Google •

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41.4 km

View of the old suspension bridge over the Charente River

Highlight • Viewpoint

From here you can enjoy a superb view of the suspension bridge over the Charente, on the Quai Auriol Roy Bry.

Translated by Google •

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47.8 km

Bassin de Plaisance Lapérousse

Lake

49.0 km

Arsenal entrance

Highlight • Historical Site

A very beautiful archway!

Translated by Google •

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49.4 km

Chemin de la Charente

Highlight (Segment) • Cycleway

The cycle path opened a rear view of the historic industrial river

Translated by Google •

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51.9 km

Rochefort Transporter Bridge

Highlight • Bridge

In the 19th century, the only way to cross the Charente was by ferry. But this one was disturbed by the tides. It would have been necessary to build a bridge, but it would have blocked the maritime traffic, then very important on the Charente. It was therefore decided to build this transporter bridge, which was inaugurated in 1900.

The pylons and bridge deck are fixed. A mobile nacelle is suspended from the deck and circulates between the two banks of the Charente thanks to a trolley.

The transporter bridge operated from 1900 to 1967, then was replaced by a lift bridge, itself destroyed in 1991. The transporter bridge has resumed service and now allows pedestrians and cyclists to cross for €2 or €3 each way -feedback.

Translated by Google •

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54.0 km

View of the Martrou viaduct

Highlight • Other

The Martrou viaduct is a road viaduct built between 1989 and 1991.

Translated by Google •

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62.3 km

Bois Nollet

Forest

71.9 km

Soubise

Highlight • Settlement

Small town best known among cyclists for its river shuttle to Rochefort. The town remained for a long time an important crossing point for crossing the Charente between and the ocean, one of the only crossing points of the Charente with the Saint-Savinien ferry between Taillebourg and the ocean, until construction in 1842 of the Tonnay-Charente Suspension Bridge. The ferry was located at the current marina. The first mention of this ferry in the archives dates from 1477 but it existed well before. While the Rochefort lifting span bridge was put into service, the crossing of the Charente on the ferry stopped on February 5, 1967. The two stone slipways on either side of the river, where a road from Rochefort ended on the right bank, are still visible today at the village level and are used for launching boats. A ferry or ferry boat, the Rohan, has been back in service since June 2013 for the summer period. It has a transport capacity of 12 people including the pilot and 11 passengers on foot or by bike (2-3 Euro).
At an altitude of 13 meters, on a spur overlooking the Charente which naturally lends itself to defense, there was a castle with a village enclosed by a surrounding wall like on the other bank at Rochefort. The castle is attested from 1092 with a first siege, and its destruction by a first fire.
It is one of the first rocky banks encountered coming from the sea, on the left (south) bank of the Charente. On a seal dated 1383 there is this inscription in Latin: “subissia prima urbs insularum est sub borea” which can be translated as: “Soubise is the first town in the lee of the islands”. This is why in 1665, Jean-Baptiste Colbert proposed to the Duke of Rohan to sell his lordship or exchange it with the king to build a war port to arm and repair ships to protect them from attacks. English, but he refused and the project was finally carried out in Rochefort which is further from the estuary with a smaller draft.
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soubise_(Charente-Maritime)

Translated by Google •

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84.7 km

End point

Bus stop

Way Types & Surfaces

Way Types

49.0 km

15.9 km

10.8 km

7.31 km

825 m

462 m

141 m

< 100 m

Surfaces

40.7 km

26.2 km

8.90 km

7.13 km

1.27 km

303 m

Elevation

Nothing selected – click and drag below to see the stats for a specific part of the route.

Weather

Thursday 9 July

37°C

21°C

0 %

Additional weather tips

Max wind speed: 16.0 km/h

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Chemin de la Charente – Rochefort Transporter Bridge loop from Saint-Hippolyte

Saint-Vivien Church in Geay

Old railway bridge over the Charente

View of the old suspension bridge over the Charente River

Arsenal entrance

Chemin de la Charente

Rochefort Transporter Bridge

View of the Martrou viaduct

Soubise

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