Boucle vélo route Baignes - Circuit exploration 5C

Get on your bike and explore this land of pines, oaks, chestnuts, walnuts, vines, wheat and livestock, called by the distant ancestors "BEANIA", "Land of the Blessed". Take the green route. On the way, you will have the opportunity to visit the site of the tuileries, which has been completely restored near the Tâtre, a small haven of peace next to the vineyards. Now you leave the Voie Verte and head for Condéon with its 12th century Romanesque church and its 19th century windmill, the Grand Fief; equipped with its wings, millstones and all its mechanisms, which is once again producing wheat flour. It also offers a 360° view of the rolling countryside and its vineyards. Your walk takes you to the edge of the South Charente to discover the leafy moors, the ponds with their peaty banks and the clay extraction quarries. You can take breaks at the various viewpoints over the communes of Oriolles, Boisbreteau and Bors-de-Baignes. Continue your tour to Chevanceaux and stop to discover the local produce and its beautiful historical heritage such as the Chaux castle, its Romanesque church, the Barry mill, its wells and its wash houses. In Chantillac you can see three mills, the 18th century manor house at La Guérinière and the Romanesque church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste. On the way to Merignac you will pass the water mill of Cheville and its wash house, then the castle of Merignac and the castle of Villars. Then you will cross the village of Messac where you will be able to observe its pretty little heritage with its 13th century church of Saint-Félix and its bell dating from 1732, classified as a historical monument, as well as its fountain, its wash house and its authentic Charentaise farm opposite the church. Then, you will pass near the site of Vanzac and its archaeological remains. Finally, you will come across the Montmile mill and can stop off at Sainte-Radegonde, between moors and vineyards, to visit the church, a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles. On the way back, you can take time to explore Baignes-Sainte-Radegonde with the Montausier tower, the romantic manor house of Abbé Michon and the Font Madame fountain, not forgetting the Saint-Etienne de Baignes Abbey.