Walk around the lake from the car park at the village hall in Montendre

The car park at the village hall is convenient and easy to find, at the start of Rue de Saint-Pierre, and there are plenty of spaces.

(S/E) Leave the car park and turn right onto Rue de Saint-Pierre. Pass the wash house, keeping to the Route du Bois des Barronies. Walk alongside the golf course and a small wood on your left.

(1) Take the road on the left (Route du Golf).

(2) Turn right onto the road leading towards Bussac (Avenue de Onda). Use the pedestrian side path.

(3) Ignore the first street on the left signposted ‘lac’. You’ll come back this way. Carry on until you reach a detached house set back a little (on the left), cross the road and go over the ditch via a bridge that’s barely visible in the grass.

(4) Follow the barely marked path along the edge of the woodland. You’ll soon come to a marked path that follows a spur of the lake. From there, you’ll have a lovely view of the Mysterra Park building. At the end, there’s a road; turn right onto it to cross the bridge.

(5) Just after the bridge, take the path on the left and follow a sort of channel that connects the two parts of the lake. At its end, you’ll reach the main lake and its beach. Walk round the whole area, following the path anti-clockwise. Along the embankment, on the left, you can usually see water lilies.

(6) After the embankment, take the path opposite, which climbs slightly into the woods. About 100 to 150 metres further on, walk alongside a fenced-off meadow on your right. To follow the edge of this field, the path first turns right then left for a few metres before reaching a T-junction. Take the new path on the left. It leads to a private entrance, usually closed off by a sort of barrier. At this point, turn left again. This path leads onto a road about a hundred metres further on.

(7) Then take this road to the right. It leads back to Avenue de Onda.

(3) Cross the road and turn right, rejoining the path you took on the way there.

(2) Turn left.

(1) Turn right and return to the starting point (S/E).

(1) Just before the bend, you might be lucky enough to spot a stag and his herd of does in the fenced-off field on the right.

If you’ve enjoyed this walk in Montendre, you can also explore the town centre, with its^19th-century market halls featuring their distinctive roof structure modelled on an inverted ship’s hull, as well as the remains of its fortified castle, a key site during the Hundred Years’ War. Two towers remain in good condition, along with the ramparts which, in the Middle Ages, encircled the ‘haute-cour’. The ruins of the stately home, built later on the esplanade, have recently been partially restored and serve as a backdrop for open-air performances.
The canton of Montendre (Canton of the Three Mountains) is situated in the far south of the Charente-Maritime department, bordering the Gironde to the south and the Charente and Dordogne to the east. In fact, on the route I am suggesting, when you reach point 2, you will be less than a kilometre from the Gironde.