포레 드 라 로슈 쿠르봉 최고의 라이딩 경로

Impressive bridge. Well worth seeing!

A truly interesting bridge. It's worth a stop.

To visit!

Almost obligatory passage to cross the Charente, but it’s worth the detour

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.

Note opening times

In the 17th century, Louis XIV dreamed of reigning supreme on land and sea. To do this, he needs a place to build and arm his warships. In 1666, the Rochefort arsenal was established in the middle of the marshes, on the winding and silted course of the Charente. The royal rope factory, erected for the needs of manufacturing ropes for warships, is among its most emblematic buildings. The Rochefort Maritime Arsenal, nicknamed the “Versailles of the Sea”, was for a long time a place of technical innovation in shipbuilding. Between its opening and its final closure in 1927, nearly 550 warships were built there. By crossing the Porte du Soleil de l'Arsenal, near the National Maritime Museum, you will be able to see two forms of refit, that is to say basins which were formerly used to clean and repair ships: The basin was filled with water to bring the ship in and then it was emptied in order to carry out repairs. One of its forms houses the hook, an activity for children. The other has long housed the shipyard of the Hermione, a replica of the French warship of the same name, a three-masted square ship in service from 1779 to 1793. But this ship is no longer here; she is in dry dock in Anglet to undergo treatment against a fungus which is attacking her hull.

Compensating for the needs of the Charentais who were formerly obliged to use the ferry to reach the other bank of the river, the bridge was built in 1842 with the constraint of not disrupting the passage of tall sailing ships to Tonnay-Charente in order to allow the port fluvial to continue its activity linked to the transport of salt, wines and spirits. With its 620 m long, it is one of the oldest suspension bridges in Europe. The deck, 204 m long and 5 m wide, is supported by 51 pointed arches and overlooks the river at a height of 23 m. Originally made of wood, it collapsed in 1884 and was replaced by a metal structure. The increase in road traffic eventually weakened the structure and it was closed to all traffic in the 1960s. After numerous rehabilitation works, it is now reopened, but reserved for pedestrians and cyclists. New restoration work is planned to begin at the end of 2023, because its structure remains fragile and its maintenance weighs heavily on the accounts of the small town of Tonnay-Charente.