Why this ride
189 km from Blaye to Blaye, about 3 h 18 of riding. It goes by way of Bordeaux, Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion and back through Bordeaux.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
La citadelle et le fort Paté et Médoc de B and Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion starting at Blaye
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 189 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 18
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. La citadelle et le fort Paté et Médoc de B
The Gironde estuary is wide enough here to feel like an inland sea, and Vauban saw it as the gateway to Bordeaux that needed a lock. His answer, at the end of the seventeenth century, was a triangle of fortifications: the citadel at Blaye on the right bank, Fort Médoc on the left bank at Cussac, and between them Fort Paté, a squat stone tower built on an island in the middle of the river. Together they could cross their fire over the shipping channel, and today they share a place on the UNESCO list of Vauban's works. The citadel of Blaye is the most impressive of the three, a fortified town in its own right, with ramparts, gates and old barracks set high on a bluff above the water.
Read the complete La citadelle et le fort Paté et Médoc de B write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
La citadelle et le fort Paté et Médoc de B is where the day begins. Next is Bordeaux.
2. Bordeaux
Bordeaux makes a confident start or finish to a ride, and you feel it the moment you come along the left bank of the Garonne: a curved river front of honey-coloured eighteenth-century facades that runs for kilometres, the Place de la Bourse at its centre, and the shallow Miroir d'eau in front of it reflecting the whole thing back at the sky. The crescent bend of the river gave the city its old nickname, the Port of the Moon.
Read the complete Bordeaux write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bordeaux comes up about 53 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion.
3. Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion
Saint-Émilion is a wine village that looks like a stage set, with steep, cobbled lanes tumbling down a limestone hillside, golden stone houses, and a bell tower rising above the rooftops. The UNESCO listing covers not just the village but its whole jurisdiction, eight parishes of vineyards around it, recognising a landscape in which vines have been cultivated since Roman times. The village grew around the hermitage of Émilion, a Breton monk who lived in a cave here in the eighth century, and its most remarkable monument is the monolithic church, carved out of the rock beneath the bell tower.
Read the complete Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 94 km into the recorded legs you reach Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion. Next is back through Bordeaux.
4. back through Bordeaux
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bordeaux write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Bordeaux, late in the day. Next is La citadelle et le fort Paté et Médoc de B.
5. La citadelle et le fort Paté et Médoc de B
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete La citadelle et le fort Paté et Médoc de B write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at La citadelle et le fort Paté et Médoc de B. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
La citadelle et le fort Paté et Médoc de B to Bordeaux
La citadelle et le fort Paté et Médoc de B → Bordeaux is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bordeaux to Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion
Bordeaux → Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion to back through Bordeaux
Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion → back through Bordeaux is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bordeaux to La citadelle et le fort Paté et Médoc de B
back through Bordeaux → La citadelle et le fort Paté et Médoc de B is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.