RoutesFranceNew AquitaineSaintesSaujon
Cathedral of Saintes – Abbaye aux Dames de Saintes loop from Saujon
RoutesFranceNew AquitaineSaintesSaujon
Cathedral of Saintes – Abbaye aux Dames de Saintes loop from Saujon
Moderate
4.0
(1)
6
riders
Cathedral of Saintes – Abbaye aux Dames de Saintes loop from Saujon
04:27
73.5km
370m
Gravel riding
Moderate gravel ride. Good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.
Last updated: June 22, 2026
Tips
Includes a segment that goes up or down a series of steps
You may need to carry your bike.
After 37.1 km for 23 m
Waypoints
A
Start point
Train Station
Get Directions
1
7.21 km
Tour de Pirelonge
Highlight • Monument
Pirelonge Tower in Saint-Romain-de-Benet. The Pirelonge Tower is a Gallo-Roman stone tower. This monument, certainly built under the Roman Empire on the edge of the ancient road linking Saintes to Bordeaux, is a cenotaph in the form of a solid column, 24 m high, with a square section, crowned by a cone. (Wikipedia). Listed as a Historic Monument.
Translated by Google •
Tip by
7.53 km
Bois de la Tour
Forest
3
7.80 km
Pirelonge Tower
Highlight • Other
The Tower of Pirelonge is a Gallo-Roman stone tower, also called pile. The dimensions of the tower are approximately 6 m by 6 m at the base, for a height of 25 m. It ends with a fairly well-preserved conical crowning.
The tower is located along the Roman road linking Saintes to Bordeaux.
Its exact role was long undetermined: terminal, bitter. We know today that it is a funerary monument dedicated to an important person. Within the enclosure of the pile were burials.
The tower is located along the Roman road linking Saintes to Bordeaux.
Its exact role was long undetermined: terminal, bitter. We know today that it is a funerary monument dedicated to an important person. Within the enclosure of the pile were burials.
Translated by Google •
Tip by
16.0 km
Les Grands Bois
Forest
5
34.1 km
The Amphitheatre of Saintes
Highlight • Historical Site
The Santons people occupied Saintonge during the Gallic era. The Romans conquered the region and settled on the banks of the Charente. The town of Saintes (then designated Mediolanum), located at the western end of the Via Agrippa which linked Lyon (capital of the Three Gauls) to the Atlantic coast, quickly became monumental.
At the time of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD), the city probably became the capital of the province of Greater Aquitaine (Aquitania). This then extended from the Loire to the Pyrenees. Mediolanum is endowed with important public monuments: the amphitheater, the arch of Germanicus, the thermal baths and the aqueduct are still partially visible today. At the time of its peak (end of the 1st century – beginning of the 2nd century), the city must have had several thousand inhabitants.
The amphitheater of Mediolanum is one of the earliest in Gaul. It is estimated that its construction began during the reign of Tiberius (14 – 37 AD), and was completed during the reign of Claudius (41 – 54 AD). Like many amphitheaters of the Roman Empire, that of Saintes was located on the outskirts of the ancient city in a chosen and developed site: the “vallon des Arènes”. Thanks to a favorable topography, the builders were relieved of part of their work, the amphitheater resting on the slope of the valley. This elliptical monument, with imposing dimensions (126 meters long and 102 meters wide), made it possible to accommodate several thousand spectators around bloody and violent representations such as gladiator fights (munera) or animal hunts (venationes ).
In the 3rd century, the city declined and was entrenched within an impressive rampart, built from the remains of public and funerary monuments from previous decades. The amphitheater is then no longer used. Since the Middle Ages, it has been used, among other things, as a stone quarry. It was classified as a Historic Monument in 1840. It was from this moment that it was gradually restored.
Today, despite the disappearance of the superstructures, the remains provide a faithful image of what this monument could have been at the time of its splendor.
The site welcomes visitors all year round. Certain objects found during various excavations in the amphitheater district are visible at the archaeological museum.
At the time of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD), the city probably became the capital of the province of Greater Aquitaine (Aquitania). This then extended from the Loire to the Pyrenees. Mediolanum is endowed with important public monuments: the amphitheater, the arch of Germanicus, the thermal baths and the aqueduct are still partially visible today. At the time of its peak (end of the 1st century – beginning of the 2nd century), the city must have had several thousand inhabitants.
The amphitheater of Mediolanum is one of the earliest in Gaul. It is estimated that its construction began during the reign of Tiberius (14 – 37 AD), and was completed during the reign of Claudius (41 – 54 AD). Like many amphitheaters of the Roman Empire, that of Saintes was located on the outskirts of the ancient city in a chosen and developed site: the “vallon des Arènes”. Thanks to a favorable topography, the builders were relieved of part of their work, the amphitheater resting on the slope of the valley. This elliptical monument, with imposing dimensions (126 meters long and 102 meters wide), made it possible to accommodate several thousand spectators around bloody and violent representations such as gladiator fights (munera) or animal hunts (venationes ).
In the 3rd century, the city declined and was entrenched within an impressive rampart, built from the remains of public and funerary monuments from previous decades. The amphitheater is then no longer used. Since the Middle Ages, it has been used, among other things, as a stone quarry. It was classified as a Historic Monument in 1840. It was from this moment that it was gradually restored.
Today, despite the disappearance of the superstructures, the remains provide a faithful image of what this monument could have been at the time of its splendor.
The site welcomes visitors all year round. Certain objects found during various excavations in the amphitheater district are visible at the archaeological museum.
Translated by Google •
Tip by
6
35.4 km
Nice discovery
Highlight • Other
beautiful passages along the Charente with pretty monuments and small waterfront cafés in Port d’Envaux and Saintes.
Translated by Google •
Tip by
7
35.6 km
View of the Arch of Germanicus and the Charente River
Highlight • Viewpoint
8
35.7 km
Cathedral of Saintes
Highlight • Religious Site
Saintes is a city that shines with its millennial heritage and its Gallo-Roman monuments. As unusual as they are well preserved, these nuggets will take you on a real journey through time.
Translated by Google •
Tip by
9
37.1 km
Abbaye aux Dames de Saintes
Highlight • Religious Site
The Abbaye-aux-Dames is built around the church of Sainte-Marie, built in the twelfth century. Famous for its facade and its characteristic "pinecone" bell tower, it is one of the emblematic monuments of Saintonge's Romanesque art.
After several wars and fires, the place was restored in the 1970s and 1980s and is now a hotel.
When you walk through the long corridors you feel like you have been transported back to the time when the abbey was still alive.
After several wars and fires, the place was restored in the 1970s and 1980s and is now a hotel.
When you walk through the long corridors you feel like you have been transported back to the time when the abbey was still alive.
Translated by Google •
Tip by
10
59.5 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
B
73.5 km
End point
Train Station
Way Types & Surfaces
Way Types
38.3 km
22.0 km
8.76 km
3.86 km
342 m
300 m
< 100 m
Surfaces
31.9 km
21.7 km
19.1 km
795 m
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Elevation
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Highest point (70 m)
Lowest point (0 m)
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Weather
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Today
Friday 10 July
36°C
21°C
13 %
Additional weather tips
Max wind speed: 17.0 km/h
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