Route details
Description
Happy hiking and remember that you are not alone on the trails you are about to travel. We therefore invite you to respect nature: avoid picking flowers and plants, do not leave any trash behind, respect inhabited places, stay on the trails, keep dogs on a leash.
Your itinerary
Step 1: Saint Catherine Church
The primitive Saint-Germain d'Auxerre building, built in 936 by the Charroux Abbey, was destroyed by the Normans. In 1508, a chapter of six canons under the name of Sainte-Catherine was founded by Catherine de Coëtivy, niece of the king and wife of the lord of Magné. The church was built in 1521 by the architect Mathurin Berthomé. The vaults collapsed in 1568 following the pillaging and burning of the Huguenots. In 1789, the monument became a fodder warehouse and a military hospital for the scabby in 1793. It was restored in the 1913th century and classified as a Historic Monument in XNUMX. To see: “Virgin changing the Child Jesus” (XNUMXth century canvas? ), chapel of the Blessed Sacrament with XNUMXth century altarpiece, stained glass windows and statues from the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries.
Step 2: Sainte-Macrine Fountain
Also called the Gravée des Ormeaux fountain, it was erected in 1845 on the site of a so-called miraculous spring. Highest point of the marsh (36 m high). Beautiful panorama.
Step 3: Sainte-Macrine Chapel
Many legends are at the origin of Sainte-Macrina. One of them tells that one fine day Gargantua sets his sights on a young market gardener, Macrine, who does not let herself be fooled. Pursued through the marsh, she is saved “at the last minute” by the miraculous growth of a field of oats which hides her from the giant's gaze.
Step 4: Thorn Marsh
Here, the rectilinear conches, lined with pollarded ash trees, alternate with grassy paths leading to the meadows. A biotope decree protects this natural environment, characteristic of the wet marsh.
Step 5: Marais Pin Dam-Lock
This structure has three functions: the regulation of the water level, the passage of boats and it acts as a fish pass to allow fish such as eels, shad and lamprey to go upstream. The route continues on the other bank, for 2,5 km until the drawbridge. It is dotted with poplar groves, one of the main resources of the marsh. Along the way, we discover a chain boat which allows you to go from one bank to the other.
Step 6: Metal drawbridge
The use of the wooden bridge, built in 1853 to replace the ferry, was prohibited in 1896 following the breakage of an oak plank constituting the deck, under the passage of a heavy cart. The current metal drawbridge dating from 1901 supports a load of 10 t. Its mobile part allows boats to pass which once used 9 dam-locks from Niort to Marans in order to export salt, wine, eels and pottery. In 1800, prefect Dupin wrote: “Merchants from Limoges and Blanc came to buy the eels which they took in 10 or 15 cartloads at a time. After having killed them in salt, they delivered them to dealers, who, at fairs and markets, roasted them in the open air, on grills.” Magné pottery was an old local industry that produced utilitarian and decorative objects, as well as devotional items.