The best MTB trails around Chérac

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!

This imposing holm oak is approximately 500 years old. We do not know if it was planted on the occasion of the birth of the future king of France François I in 1494, on the occasion of his coronation in 1515 or on the occasion of his death in 1547. What we do know, however, is that it measures 17 meters high with a trunk circumference of 5.5 meters. Classified as a “remarkable tree”, it was even elected “tree of the year” in 2014 by the National Forestry Office.

Built in the 11th and 12th centuries, this church, listed as a historic monument in 1912, is a spectacular work of art. Well worth the drive past when crossing town!

The Church of Saint-Martin de Coucoury was built around the 11th century. It is a pretty example of a Romanesque church.

Saintes is a city that shines with its millennial heritage and its Gallo-Roman monuments. As unusual as they are well preserved, these nuggets will take you on a real journey through time.

The port of Lys is a privileged place for walkers, hikers on foot or by bike, fishermen, boaters and water skiers. It is an ideal site for a shady stopover!

Le lieu, sur un promontoire dominant le Ris-Bellot, un affluent de l'Antenne était proche de la voie romaine Saintes-Lyon dite Chemin des Romains ou Chemin chaussé. La paroisse "Saint-Andrea de Combis' est signalée dans les textes anciens. Un sanctuaire précéda l'église (fin 12e siècle) puis l'implantation d'un prieuré de l'ordre de Saint-Augustin cité au 14e siècle. L'église Saint-André faisait partie d'un important prieuré qui a existé jusqu'à la Révolution. Ce prieuré-cure dépendait de Saint-Vivien de Saintes. Les bâtiments jouxtaient l'église qui fut exhaussée pour créer un appartement au-dessus du choeur. Les religieux restèrent dans ces lieux jusqu'au 18e siècle. C'est une église romane à un vaisseau, à nef voûtée en berceau brisé et chœur voûté en plein-cintre. Le chevet est adjacent aux bâtiments de l'ancien prieuré, devenu un temps l'école. Le clocher de plan carré, accolé au sud de l'église, peut dater du 15e siècle. La cloche daterait du XIIe siècle. La sacristie qui suit à l'est porte la date de 1685. Restaurée en 1784 et au 19e siècle, l'église fut ensuite refaite à l'intérieur en 1910-1911 : parois, voûtes et plâtre. Une simple nef de plan allongé se terminait par une abside. Cette dernière garde quelques éléments romans occultés par les bâtiments de l'ancien prieuré. La nef est couverte d'un berceau brisé en briques. La travée sous clocher est sur croisée d'ogives. Le chœur se termine par un cul de four. Il est précédé de colonnes engagées au décor roman. Le retable en bois tourné mouluré date du XIXe siècle. Les tableaux sont de la même époque. Le portail ouest est à trois voussures, les deux dernières étant sculptées de losanges et de pointes de diamant. Un enfeu a été pratiqué à gauche du portail. Deux statues encadrent la baie de la façade. La façade occidentale, datant du XIIe siècle fait l’objet d’une inscription au titre des monuments historiques depuis le 5 décembre 1991. Elle comporte un portail, une fenêtre et une corniche avec des modillons sculptés. Lors de la rénovation de 2002 ce sont les visages du maire de Louzac et du maire adjoint de Saint-André qui ont servi de modèles. Un petit bijou d'histoire et de mutation historique dans la destination des lieux.

The church of Coucoury, built along a Roman road, succeeded older sanctuaries of which only a few traces remain. It is dedicated to Saint-Martin. Most of the single nave building that exists today dates from the second half of the 12th century. Outside, the apse is the most remarkable element; it is limited, on either side, by two buttresses and divided, by two semi engaged columns, into three parts each pierced with a semicircular window. The whole is unified by an elegant border surmounting the windows and connecting them to each other. This very simple harmony is completed by a modillion cornice. On the south wall, the elevation of the nave has preserved fragments of a facing of small cubic rubble and traces of windows, witnesses of an older construction (11th century). This wall is pierced by three Romanesque windows. The square bell tower is massive. It is covered with a four-sloped, almost flat roof, and has two of its faces with beautiful twin Romanesque windows. At the end of the 15th century a chapel was added on the north side. Finally, the western facade is much more recent; indeed the nave, lengthened by nine meters in 1770, ends with a classic facade of fairly good quality with its bosses and its pediment. We can regret the elevation of this new facade in the 18th century because it deprives us of the 12th century facade. You enter the church through a bare door surmounted by a rectangular bay and an imposing triangular pediment (late 18th century). Inside, the nave – high, quite large and without side aisles – is lit by five pierced semicircular windows pierced in the 18th century. The stained glass windows were made in 1869. The walls, in exposed rubble, reveal breaks in the structure, which makes it possible to distinguish the constructions of the Romanesque period from those of the Classical period. In particular on the south wall where you can still see the walled bays of the first Romanesque building (11th century). On the left as you enter: an original stone baptismal font, made up of two twin basins and engraved with eight crests bearing the names of priests. These baptismal fonts date from the 17th century. At the other end of the nave: a stone pulpit dating from 1876. It is a very beautiful Romanesque church in the Saintonge countryside where the centuries have mixed styles for the greatest pleasure of the eyes.