The best MTB trails around Tiffauges

The Hellfest is one of the largest extreme music festivals in Europe, held annually in Clisson, France, bringing together tens of thousands of metal, punk, and hard rock enthusiasts. Its site is distinguished by monumental, immersive, and spectacular decorations, transforming the location into a true ephemeral "metal city" with a unique atmosphere.

The Trinity Church is getting a makeover in the heart of Clisson Off-limits since 2018, the Trinity Church in Clisson is undergoing extensive restoration work until 2027, accompanied by reinforcement and safety work. The Trinity Church in Clisson has been off-limits since 2018 due to pieces of tufa stone found on the floor of the building, raising concerns about safety issues. The restoration has been decided upon, along with reinforcement and safety work. This work is expected to continue until 2027. The construction site will soon be explained to the residents of Clisson, using signs. The artwork and furnishings have been protected and stored, tarpaulins protect the building and the workers, the vaults and framework will be restored, and the wall plasterwork will be examined and redone where necessary. The work will concern the side aisles until next summer, the nave for the following twelve months. Then it will be the turn of the choir and transepts between January 2026 and spring 2027, then the sacristy, the bell tower and the outbuildings.

The Church of the Trinity was originally a Benedictine priory, with a parish, dependent on the abbeys of Saint-Martin-de-Vertou and Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes. In the 11th century, it was occupied by the canons regular of the Order of Saint Augustine. In 1645, Fontevrist nuns from La Regrippière en Vallet settled there. The convent burned down in 1794 by the infernal columns of the Republican armies. From the 11th century onwards, the church had a choir with an apse, side chapels, and a square bell tower. In the 17th century, the Benedictine nuns replaced the Romanesque choir with an elongated one, featuring a remarkable Baroque altarpiece. They demolished the southern part of the choir to build their oratory. During the French Revolution, the church returned to the parish. Around 1867/1868, work was undertaken. The façade was redone in a neo-Romanesque style, while the neo-Gothic style was preferred for the interior of the religious monument.

A large medieval castle. It features themed shows, including siege engine demonstrations.

Another beautiful site on the Sèvre Nantaise, with the unusual feature this time: it's not only at the crossroads of three departments (LA, Vendée, and M&L), a rather common occurrence, but also of three former provinces: Brittany, Poitou, and Anjou. The crossroads is formed by the Sèvre on one side and its tributary, the Bon Débit, on the other. The inn of the same name looks very nice; in any case, the setting is splendid.

Magnificent site with this restored watermill, whose wheel still turns. I don't know if it's the case all year round, but when I was there (mid-May) you could easily cross the river using the footbridge.

Mountain bike or gravel outing

This ancient church here in Clisson was not dedicated to one of the many people we venerate as saints, but rather the ONE God in THREE persons - God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God's Holy Spirit - was chosen as its patron saint. Father Reinhard Körner writes about the mystery of the Holy Trinity: "Among the great prayer-givers in the history of Christianity... I found prayer texts in which each of the divine three was explicitly addressed - in the same prayer. When I tried to recite the texts, I could sense that these people had not only had God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in mind individually - they were addressing a divine community. And it seemed to me that they could only do this in their written prayers because they did it otherwise, quietly in their hearts."