The Saint-Émilion vineyards via the Dordogne and Vignonet

Park in the car park at Branne Town Hall, opposite the war memorial.

(S/E) Walk north along Rue Lamothe to reach Place du Marché.

(1) Turn right and walk alongside the market hall. Cross Rue Emmanuel Roy (D 936) and head left towards the Eiffel Bridge, which you will cross after carefully using the pedestrian crossing.

(2) Immediately after the bridge, go down the stairs on the right and turn right towards the Dordogne. Turn left and walk along the river. After about 2 km, the houses and buildings become more numerous as you approach Vignonet-Église.

(3) As you approach the church square, turn immediately right and, between the vineyard and the cemetery wall, head back towards the river. Turn left and continue along the Dordogne until you reach a small bridge over the mouth of a side channel. Then take a small road bordered by a wide strip of grass, right on the banks of the Dordogne.

(4) Just before two picnic tables, turn left into a vineyard and go round it on the right.
Then, at the gravelled path, turn left, and left again onto the tarmac road. Continue to the D 936.

(5) Turn left carefully for about 150 m, then at the crossroads, cross the road and go straight on. After 60 m, turn left onto a wide grassy path, between the vineyards. When you reach the road, turn right, then take the third left to go round Cazenave. Continue to a crossroads, ignoring three turnings on the left.

(6) Turn left, then at the T-junction, left again. After a slight bend, leave a road on your right. At the next Y-junction, turn right and head towards the D122.

(7) The D122, which is narrow and has no hard shoulder, is even more dangerous than the D936. Avoid it by taking the vineyards and their wide grassy paths: turn left just before the junction, right at the T-junction and left again until you reach a small road.

(8) Turn right and cross the D122 very carefully.
About 150 m further on, turn left and follow the well-worn path that passes under a power line.
As an exception, ignore the (rather old) ‘private property’ sign; the land only becomes private further on, at the gate and the fence. Another option: follow the path through the vineyard.
At the end of the vineyard, turn left before the wire fence and follow it to the Dordogne.

(9) Turn left and go under the Eiffel Bridge.

(2) Turn left and follow the outward route in the opposite direction: climb the steps, turn left, cross the bridge to return to Branne Town Hall (S/E).

(3) Don’t forget to make use of the water tap at the cemetery!

(5) This straight stretch of road is very busy and dangerous. Therefore, I advise you to proceed as follows: cross very carefully, turn right, walk 55 m to a tree and head into the vineyard. Turn around and walk below the road, away from the traffic. Just before a house, carefully make your way back up onto the road, pass the house and turn right.

(S/E) In Branne you will find three restaurants, a bar-tobacconist, a butcher’s, two bakeries, a newsagent’s and various shops, including a Carrefour-market. Market every Thursday morning, in the market hall.
Please note: closed on Mondays (except Carrefour-market: Sunday afternoons).
Brannais Tourist Office: Route de Cabara, 33420 Branne, tel: 05 57 74 90 24.

(2) Along the way, you’ll find a jumble of sights on your left: the back of Branne’s stadium, a concrete plant, vineyards and maize fields, as well as a few beautiful houses by the water.

(3) Saint-Brice Church in Vignonet:

Of the original 12th-century Romanesque building, only the buttress pilasters and three semicircular windows remain on the north side.
And on the east side, the pointed arch entrance. Its three very simple arches rest on short jambs.

In the 18th century, the church was extended to the south, featuring imposing buttresses.
At the same time, the hipped timber-framed porch was built, featuring open semicircular windows on all three sides.
A niche on the south side still holds scallop shells, bearing witness to the passage of pilgrims still far from their destination... It is moving, as it speaks to us hikers!

Finally, the 19th century mainly brought various interior alterations and ornamentation, as well as, in 1894, the reconstruction of the bell tower to replace the original 12th-century one, which had been struck by lightning.

Set slightly apart from the main building, note a pretty wrought-iron cemetery cross, standing on a very simple stone base.