Tour Marais Poitevin 145 km

Cycling trip through the Marais Poitevin from the Baie de l'Aiguillon to Niort and back. You start out in the village of Charron and first visit the Port du Pavé à Charron, a dead-end road into the Bay of Aiguillon (see waypoint). Then you turn back, cross the river la Sèvre Niortaise to the north bank and follow long straight roads through polders and along canals to and 5 km past L'Île-D'Elle, where you cross a small bridge across the Sèvre after which you follow a meandering river to Damvix and on to Coulon (see waypoint) and Magné. From here the trip also includes some hills up to 50 meters for 40 km, whereas the rest of the trip is completely flat. You now soon arrive in Niort, a bigger city on the Sèvre Niortaise (see waypoint). From here you turn back west, and you cycle parallel but not next to the river, via Magné, Arçais, and Saint-Hilaire-la-Palud. Here, the route passes a 3.5 km dirt/gravel track (see waypoint unpaved road 2), which I cycled without problems, but if your tires are not that good, you might prefer the paved road marked with alternative 1 and 2 from Arçais. You then cycle more than 20 km along straight canals, of which Canal de la Banche is the straightest and longest one, to Marans on the Sèvre Niortaise. From here you cycle back to the starting point.
This trip takes you through the Marais désséché (dried swamps) and Marais mouillé (wet swamps), also called Venise verte (green Venice). Apart from the river, you will find numerous canals and small waterways in a green environment. At many points (e.g. Coulon, Damvix, Saint-Hilaire-la-Palud) you can take a trip (look for signs to 'embarcadère') on one of the flat small boats you see everywhere, either propelling yourself or being transported by a boatman standing in the boat. Trip is suited for tour bikes and for racing bikes apart from two small stretches indicated by waypoints which can be negotiated by racing bike in a slower pace.
Route Charron/ L'Île-D'Elle/ La Croix Des Marys/ Damvix/ La Sotterie/ Coulon/ Magné/ Niort/ Sevreau/ Magné/ Le Vanneau/ Arçais/ Saint-Hilaire-la-Palud/ Thairé-le-Fagnoux/ Marans/ Charron.