Parthenay: The Pilgrims' Gate, the Weavers' Street and the Sheep Market
Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
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Gâtine Pilgrim
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225
XP
+100 France
= 325 total
1 day
Parthenay: The Pilgrims' Gate, the Weavers' Street and the Sheep Market
225 + 100 XP
Parthenay, in the Gâtine, stood on a secondary road of the Santiago pilgrimage, and the fortified bridge-gate called the Porte Saint-Jacques still guards the north entrance; from it the Rue de la Vau-Saint-Jacques, the town's main medieval artery and once a street of cloth-makers, climbs past half-timbered houses to the gate of the citadel. Aimery Picaud, long credited with the 12th-century Pilgrim's Guide though the attribution is now disputed, was a monk of Parthenay-le-Vieux, whose priory church of Saint-Pierre still stands west of the town. On Wednesday mornings the livestock market sells sheep on the electronic clock.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Cross the Thouet on the fortified bridge-gate of the Porte Saint-Jacques, find the two almond-shaped towers added to it in the early 16th century and the coats of arms of the men who paid for that rebuilding carved on the gate, then climb the Rue de la Vau-Saint-Jacques past its half-timbered houses
2
of 4
Go up through the Porte de la Citadelle, the gate with the châtelet that carries the town clock, into the citadel quarter, and find the carved Romanesque portal of the church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Couldre
3
of 4
Walk west out of the town to the old bourg of Parthenay-le-Vieux and find the priory church of Saint-Pierre, built in the middle of the 11th century and on the very first French list of protected monuments in 1846
4
of 4
Be at the livestock market on the Boulevard de l'Europe on a Wednesday morning for the vente au cadran ovin, and watch a lot of sheep bought and sold on the electronic auction clock
Cross the Thouet on the fortified bridge-gate of the Porte Saint-Jacques, find the two almond-shaped towers added to it in the early 16th century and the coats of arms of the men who paid for that rebuilding carved on the gate, then climb the Rue de la Vau-Saint-Jacques past its half-timbered houses
Go up through the Porte de la Citadelle, the gate with the châtelet that carries the town clock, into the citadel quarter, and find the carved Romanesque portal of the church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Couldre
Walk west out of the town to the old bourg of Parthenay-le-Vieux and find the priory church of Saint-Pierre, built in the middle of the 11th century and on the very first French list of protected monuments in 1846
Be at the livestock market on the Boulevard de l'Europe on a Wednesday morning for the vente au cadran ovin, and watch a lot of sheep bought and sold on the electronic auction clock
Before you go
The sheep auction runs on Wednesday mornings only, from 8am to 12.30, at the marché aux bestiaux on the Boulevard de l'Europe; the animals are gone by the afternoon.
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About Nouvelle-Aquitaine
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
225 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
325 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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