Erdre

Erdre
The quai de Versailles in Nantes
Native name	Erdre  (French) L'Edre  (French)
Location
Country	France
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Maine-et-Loire
Mouth
• location	Loire
• coordinates	47°12′42″N 1°32′22″W
Length	97.4 km (60.5 mi)
Basin size	936 km2 (361 sq mi)
Discharge
• average	2.5 m3/s (88 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Progression	Loire→ Atlantic Ocean

The Erdre (French pronunciation: ​[ɛʁdʁ]; Breton: Erzh) is a 97.4 km (60.5 mi) long river in western France, right tributary to the Loire. Its source is in the Maine-et-Loire department, near La Pouëze. It flows through the departments Maine-et-Loire and Loire-Atlantique. The Erdre meets the Loire in the city Nantes. Other towns on the Erdre, going downstream, are Candé, Riaillé, Nort-sur-Erdre and Sucé-sur-Erdre.

The Erdre is unusual in that it widens out as one travels up-river. At its lowest point, where it joins the Loire in Nantes, its former course is now a main road and shopping area, the Cours des Cinquante Otages. The Erdre now has to reach the Loire via the St Felix canal tunnel under Rue Henri IV, emerging near the main railway station.

However travel some 15 kilometres up stream and the Erdre has widened from a few hundred metres to nearly a kilometre wide, at the Plaine des Mazeroles, near Sucré sur Erdre. Broad marshlands partially reclaimed make the river even wider. Above here, the Nantes-Brest canal goes off to the west, and we have another small town, Nort-sur-Erdre. Above here, the Erdre has many small streams crossing the low hills of northwest France. There are pretty villages but don't come here looking for spectacular scenery. This is some good walking country, especially if you like to follow the many disused railways, mainly abandoned complete with rusting rail lines, a relic to France's very own Beaching cuts.

External links

• Media related to Erdre at Wikimedia Commons