P04 Loches - Villefagnan

Fourth ride to the Argarve: from Loches to Villefagnan, 161 km and 953 Hm. Especially the first part is quite hilly, then light rolling and calm roads.

You start with the climb out of the valley of ‘l’ Indre’. It goes up and down on a small plateau before descending into the valley of ‘l’Aulnaie’. In la Roche-Posay, after 47 km, you cross ‘l’Aulnaie’ which forms the border between the Centre-Val de Loire region, department of Indre-et-Loire, and you enter the Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitoux-Charente region, department of Vienne. The rest of the journey in France takes you through this large region along the Atlantic coast.

Once again you climb out of a valley, again over a plateau, towards the next river, ‘la Vienne’. You are then in Chauvigny and have covered 78 km. After the climb out of the valley, 60 quite flat kilometers follow. In Moulin le Minot you reach the river ‘Charente’ and the eponymous department. A bit later, after 149 km, the climb to the highest point (180 Hm) of the day follows.

After some more ups and downs, you arrive in Villefagnan, a small municipality in the French department of Charente (region Nouvelle-Aquitaine) and has around 1000 inhabitants.