The best road cycling routes around Cognac

Very nice view

Beautiful course

Courcoury is a natural island surrounded by the Charente and Seugne rivers, giving it a unique landscape setting between marshes and waterways, conducive to biodiversity and outdoor activities. It is also the only village in Charente-Maritime to have been awarded 4 stars by the "Villes et villages étoilés" label, recognizing its efforts to reduce light pollution through intelligent and environmentally friendly public lighting.

A beautiful church with beautiful houses hidden in an ancient but romantic village, it's worth a stop. The Saint-Étienne church in Brives-sur-Charente is recent. It was consecrated in 1868 and reflects the 14th-century Gothic style. It replaced an older church, of which only a baptismal font, listed as a historic object in 1922, and a capital remain. This font, square and made of a single block of siliceous limestone, is a rare specimen of 12th-century sculpture and symbolism. Certain characteristic features, such as the draperies, allow it to be dated to the 1150s. On three sides, we discover the Annunciation made to Mary, then on the main face of the font, Christ officiating in heaven, and finally Christ descending into hell, savior of souls.

This little bridge is beautiful

I really enjoyed this ride. I’m 46, I did it on a 40 year old road bike, it’s more suited to a cyclocross bike!

Beautiful view from the bridge over the Charente, the quays and the pier.

HISTORY BOURG GRAVES SAINT AMANT Like its neighbor Angeac, the parish of Saint-Amant-de-Graves was a dependency of the seigneury of Vibrac. During the Revolution, the commune of Saint-Amant-de-Graves was provisionally called Amant-Charente. On January 1, 1997, the commune of Graves merged with that of Saint-Amant-de-Graves which then took the name of Graves-Saint-Amant. HISTORY CHURCH GRAVES SAINT AMANT The village of Graves is home to a parish church, the Saint-Martin church built in the 12th and 15th centuries. The latter contains in particular a mural painting (main shades red and yellow) dating approximately from the 15th century apparently representing a biblical scene (restored in 1977), which is classified as a historical monument as an object. The church has been listed as a historical monument since 1986. The church of Saint-Amant was given in 1124 by the Bishop of Angoulême, Girard II, to the Abbey of Savigny, who gave it to the priory of Bouteville. The latter kept the parish until the end of the 15th century. In 1460, Saint-Amant was the seat of a priory of its own. Unfortunately, the Wars of Religion were detrimental to it, and it was suppressed in 1580. The church of Graves, which formerly depended on the archdeaconry of Saintes, occupies a picturesque site on the left bank of the Charente. It forms a long rectangle in plan. The nave is composed of a long single bay under a barrel vault, originally Romanesque, but rebuilt at a later date. A square bay under a bell tower follows it. It is vaulted with ribbed liernes. A similar bay, whose vault bears a large, crude shield as a keystone, forms a choir with a flat chevet. Its axial bay is slightly offset to the north. The façade, high under an obtuse triangular gable, bears a cornice with modillions decorated with animals and human masks. The portal has two bare semicircular arches, separated by a chamfered joint cover with large sculpted flowers. The capitals of the side columns have been redone. Between the top of the portal and the level of the pediment, four large stone corbels once supported a canopy. Below, an enigmatic relief, probably late, shows a bearded face between the sun and the moon. The side walls have flat buttresses ending in glacis. They show that the nave, before its renovation, had two short bays. The bell tower is a beautiful piece of architecture. It has a bare base and an openwork floor with two semi-circular bays on each side. A spiral serves it in the southwest corner. Its bays were once separated in two by a small column that supported a small monolithic bare tympanum notched with two arches, and surmounted by a circular opening. This arrangement has been partially preserved. The exterior of the choir has bays from the end of the 12th century, and others probably after the Wars of Religion. Furniture: in the north wall of the bay under the bell tower, a painting shows a kneeling donor on the left, three figures against a background of yellow and red flowers, and, on the right, a priest saying mass near a kneeling altar boy. Despite the state of wear, which has made the inscriptions accompanying the scene illegible in particular, one can see the "Mass of Saint Martin", patron saint of the church. On the north wall of the choir there is another painting showing several scenes from the Passion: Jesus in the Garden of Olives, the arrest of Christ, Christ before Pilate, and the flagellation. These paintings are late, popular in style and somewhat naive.