This is a gentle 250km (150mi) ride along the valley of the Sevre Niortaise, before reaching historic Poitiers (“the city of a hundred bell towers”) and embarking on a long sequence of rail trails, almost 80km (50mi) in all, along the Creuse valley.

The terrain could hardly be more forgiving, and the traffic is light on the road sections. There’s a remarkable amount of history in what seems like a quiet corner of France: castles, churches, medieval bridges, and unexpectedly, a tiny town that is the ancestral home of a dynasty (the House of Lusignan) that ruled the Kingdom of Jerusalem during the Crusades.

You could easily include this as part of a longer circular tour, perhaps also taking in some of the Loire valley and the Vélo Francette routes.

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