Pays de Redon

Add to my notebook

Tell us what you think

Post on Facebook

Share with friends

All aboard for a cruise to the heart of Haute Bretagne!

From Redon, choose from a number of riverboat trips through wild and intimate valleys. Here, the passing of time is measured by the locks through which you pass and the pretty harbours where you pause along the way.

The fruit of a harmonious relationship between land and water

Redon is situated at the meeting of the rivers Vilaine and Oust. During the nineteenth century, with the opening of the Ille-et-Rance canal and the canal from Nantes to Brest, Redon became an important centre for inland water transport. Ever since then, it has been possible to travel right across Brittany by boat from Saint-Malo to the Atlantic Ocean, passing through Redon.

If you go down towards the Vilaine to the old picturesque port of Redon, you will come across the ship-owners' houses whose ground floors were once used as warehouses. You might find it hard to resist the tempting restaurants on the way. During the peak season, the rush of boats sailing up the Vilaine brings the leisure port and its surrounding area to life, while higher up in the town, the magnificent Roman tower of the Saint-Sauveur abbey looks on.

In the land of fresh water

Redon is the point of departure for a number of boat trips. Rent a boat and steer your way through the charm of the countryside valleys dotted with islands, locks and fishing villages. As you sail up the river Vilaine towards Rennes, you will pass through the cross-valley of Corbinière, a magnificent spot with its wooded slopes, steep pathways and the distant silhouette of fishermen. Further on, call in at the pleasure port of Guipry-Messac, a pretty riverside town whose well preserved lock and quays are living reminders of the once active canal transport system and the salt road.

Crossing the lands

The Musée de la Batallerie (inland water transport museum) in the old port of Redon gives an insight into marine and sailing history. This exhibition traces the footsteps of the old mariners and helps you to relive the atmosphere of their unusual pace of life, which was governed by the locks. A film, "Traversing the Lands" shows interviews with former bargemen, a pertinent reminder that the Western France Canal Transport system only died out as recently as the seventies, after more than 150 years of glorious service.