Stage Dangé-Saint-Romain - Châtellerault

The Way follows the Vienne valley upstream to Châtellerault, the first town of importance in Poitou. It is an easy day with a flat profile, advancing between the river and the cultivated terraces, with some stretches of local road and others of path beside the water.

From Dangé-Saint-Romain the route follows the course of the Vienne upstream. The river, broad and calm, runs between poplar groves, islands and old gravel pits turned into lakes. The most notable intermediate village is Ingrandes-sur-Vienne, whose church of Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul retains parts dating from the pre-Romanesque period.

As Châtellerault draws near the valley widens and industrial areas and residential districts appear. The entrance to the town is long, but well provided with services.

Châtellerault was a notable stage on the pilgrim road. Its church of Saint-Jacques, of Romanesque origin, holds a polychrome figure of the apostle dressed as a pilgrim, and walkers crossed the Vienne by the Henri-IV bridge, completed in the early seventeenth century and still defended by two towers. On the left bank lies the former arms factory, founded in 1819 and now converted into a cultural space and museum.

The town also preserves the house where René Descartes spent part of his childhood and an old centre of shopping streets. With a wide choice of accommodation and restaurants, Châtellerault is a comfortable stop before the stage that leads to Poitiers.