Harbour

Bouchemaine

Name: Bouchemaine
Address: Bouchemaine, FR

Bouchemaine, France

Type: Harbour

River port of 48 pontoon berths on the Maine at Bouchemaine, 300 m upstream of the confluence with the Loire, 8 km south-west of Angers.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach by the Maine, a Freycinet-gauge waterway 11,5 km long linking Angers to the Loire. Draught is limited to 1,30 m at the port pontoons. Berthing is on the right bank just above the confluence, within the Val de Loire zone inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2000.

Practical

48 berths on pontoons with electricity, sanitary block and two launching ramps, free car park at the quai de la Noé. Bouchemaine village shops and boulangerie within 500 m of the pontoons. Tram line A of Angers is reached at La Roseraie, 4 km by bike.

Ashore

The hamlet of La Pointe, former village of Loire and Maine river sailors, stretches along the right bank 800 m south of the port and carries the Ville et Métiers d'Art label, with artisans' workshops in narrow lanes. The Piverdière viewpoint, reached on foot in 2 km, opens onto the Basses Vallées Angevines and the towers of Angers cathedral. The GR3 long-distance path along the Loire passes through the port.

History

Bouchemaine owes its name to the mouth of the Maine into the Loire and served until the nineteenth century as a mariners' base for the wooden flat-bottomed boats known as gabares, carrying slate, wine and salt between the Anjou quarries and Nantes.