Circuit cyclable 8 – Mauzé-sur-le-Mignon et ses environs
Route details
Description
Safety instructions – Wearing a helmet is strongly recommended. I drive on the right. I respect the highway code. I check the condition of my bike (brakes and lighting). I stay on the marked trails. I respect the marsh, a sensitive and classified site.
Cycle route 8 – Mauzé-sur-le-Mignon and its surroundings
Distance:21,7 km
Your itinerary
Step 1: Port of Mauzé-sur-le-Mignon
Before starting, you can go to the cute little port. The lord of Mauzé "had land cut off" in 1315 to create a port. In 1714, the king's engineer Claude Masse visited the port of Chaban and Mauzé which was threatened with ruin. A canal project was examined in 1808 by Napoleon I. From 1 to 1843, the Mignon canal was developed from the Bazoin lock to the port of Gueux (near Sazay), then extended from 45 to 1880 to Mauzé to connect the commune to the sea via the Sèvre Niortaise and allow the transport of goods by barge. Quickly competing with rail, then road, the largest port in Green Venice was soon abandoned. In 83, it was rehabilitated as part of the Grands Travaux du Marais Poitevin, but remains inaccessible to boats since the canal is currently navigable from Bazoin to a little upstream of La Grève-s.-le-Mignon.
Step 2: The fairground and its bandstand
The bandstand is located in the center of the fairgrounds. Devoid of roofing, lighting and acoustics, it was rehabilitated thanks to five municipal councilors, all members of Harmony. Its inauguration took place in 1928, during the celebration of the centenary of the arrival in Timbuktu of René Caillié, the native son. For the record, the Mauzé musical society was created before 1870 by the parish priest, then disbanded shortly after. In 1877, Harmony was founded.
Step 3: Saint-Pierre Church
The church was built around 1080 in the Poitevin Romanesque style. Of the four priories and churches of Mauzé devastated during the Wars of Religion, only the Saint-Pierre church has stood the test of time.
Step 4: Path of the King's Gardens
Path which formerly ran alongside the royal nursery “the gardens of the king”. It follows the route of the moat of the old castle. The stone walls enclose private gardens.
Step 5: René Caillié Monument
This son of a convict, an explorer at heart and an ethnologist ahead of his time, lived for a year with the Braknas (Moorish tribes of Senegal), then traveled through the Fouta-Djalon (mountain massif of Guinea). On April 20, 1827, hidden under bags at the bottom of a canoe, he reached Timbuktu (Mali) and became the first European traveler to return there alive. His bronze bust was erected in his hometown in 1842, a comic book entitled René Caillié or the triumph of the will was published in 1942, then a monument to his glory was inaugurated in 1949. The René Caillié Festivals still celebrate him with great fanfare Today.
Step 6: The Dauphin Bridge
Did you notice a milestone in the wall that marked the royal road approximately every 2 km?
Step 7: Bronze bust of René Caillié
This bust was inaugurated in 1842, four years after the death of the most illustrious of Mauzé's children. Behind the walls, the castle built around the 1225th century, rebuilt at great expense around XNUMX by Hugues de Lusignan.
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