Voie des Capitales (Redon)

At a glance

• Start / finish: Vilaine bridge near Beslé at the hamlet of Le Pâtis Vert (km 152.4 of the Voie des Capitales, 3.8 km past Langon) / Redon
• Length: 19.9 km
• Duration: 1 stage, a relaxed day
• Elevation: ↗ 30 m / ↘ 24 m — highest point 9 m at km 16.5, lowest 1 m; pilgrimage hardly gets any flatter
• Character: variant via Redon instead of straight to Blain — 28.5 km more to Blain according to the Camino Ninja map
• Landscape: towpath, river meadows, the Gannedel marshes
• Waymarking: yellow shell on a blue background; GPX "Capitales variante : Beslé Redon" from the association
• Traces of St James: Quai Saint-Jacques in Redon, Saint-Sauveur Abbey (founded 832)
• Connection: in Redon the Voie de la Pointe Saint-Mathieu (km 375.7) via Guenrouët to Blain
• Rail: Redon is a TGV stop, Paris-Montparnasse in just over two hours

Overview

Shortly after Langon, the guide of the Association bretonne puts a choice in front of you: "Deux itinéraires s'offrent aux pèlerins … celui qui file sur Redon et l'autre, plus direct, se dirigeant vers Blain." This page describes the first one: at the Vilaine bridge near Beslé you stay by the river and walk just under 20 kilometres to Redon, with 30 metres of climbing for the whole day. The reward is a town the guide calls "ville de rencontre de l'essentiel des chemins bretons de St Jacques" — with an abbey from 832, a quay named Saint-Jacques and a TGV station. The price: to Blain, where both lines come together again, you walk a good 28 kilometres more. The direct line saves a day; the variant gives you a place. The name "Voie des Capitales (Redon)" comes from Camino Ninja; the association speaks of the "variante Beslé – Redon".

Route & stage

You start at the bridge over the Vilaine by the hamlet of Le Pâtis Vert, opposite Beslé-sur-Vilaine — "c'est au niveau de ce pont que prend naissance l'étape qui rejoint Redon", writes the guide. On the towpath you reach Brain-sur-Vilaine after 2.3 kilometres, today part of La Chapelle-de-Brain, with a Romanesque church choir and the former country house of the abbot of Redon — the first greeting from your destination. After that it gets wide and empty: via Le Pont Chéan and Lézin the path runs along the edge of the Gannedel marshes, some 500 hectares of wetland formed from an old course of the Vilaine; for the last eleven kilometres you follow the river again to Redon. Kilometres from the Camino Ninja map, exactly 19.9 km. The guide counts from Langon and arrives at 23.6 km — the difference is the 3.8 km to the bridge, which on our map still belong to the Voie des Capitales.

1. Le Pâtis Vert (bridge near Beslé) → Redon (19.9 km) — towpath to Brain-sur-Vilaine (km 2.3), then meadows and marshes via Le Pont Chéan (km 5.8) and Lézin (km 8.5) along the Vilaine to Redon; after Brain no reliable place to buy food.

Why Redon is worth an extra day

Redon is older than almost anything you see on the Voie des Capitales. In 832 the monk Conwoïon founded a monastery here at the confluence of the Oust and the Vilaine, backed by Nominoë, later ruler of Brittany; the Cartulaire de Redon records the abbey's charters from 832 to 1124, the first dated 4 June 832. The abbey church of Saint-Sauveur has a Romanesque crossing tower from the 12th century — and next to it a second, free-standing tower. It was never meant to stand alone: it was built onto the façade at the beginning of the 14th century, in 1780 a fire devastated the western part of the nave, which was then shortened, and ever since the tower has stood alone on the square. A church that lost its bell tower without it ever falling down.

The trace of St James is more modest, but it lies by the water, where it belongs. The quay on the Vilaine is called Quai Saint-Jacques; the Pays de Redon tourist office explains the name with pilgrims who once boarded ships here — a tradition, not a document, and we pass it on as such. What is documented is what Redon stands for today: "carrefour des voies navigables de Bretagne", says the guide — here the Canal de Nantes à Brest crosses the Vilaine, and here the Breton Ways of St James come together. Take the direct line and you save a day. Go via Redon and you meet the others.

How pilgrims reach this route – and where it leads

You can only reach this variant via the Voie des Capitales from Mont-Saint-Michel via Rennes and Langon — or via the Voie de Dinan, which joins it at Saint-Médard-sur-Ille. In Langon, the Chapelle Sainte-Agathe is worth a stop beforehand, a Gallo-Roman building the guide calls "incontestablement la curiosité majeure de ce beau village"; 3.8 kilometres later you stand at the bridge and make your choice.

In Redon you switch to the Voie de la Pointe Saint-Mathieu and walk with the pilgrims from the west via Fégréac and Guenrouët to Blain — 53.8 kilometres according to the Camino Ninja map, which the association splits into two stages. That is also where the direct line ends; from there you continue together via Nantes to Clisson, then on the Chemin Vendéen to Saint-Jean-d'Angély and on the Via Turonensis to the Pyrenees. If you want to stop in Redon, you are right at the station.

Preparation & practical tips

The stage is short but empty: after Brain there is no reliable shop until Redon — take water and food with you. The meadows can flood in winter; in January 2025 around 750 people in Redon were evacuated because of flooding, and the Goule d'Eau campsite has been closed ever since. Between November and March, check the situation beforehand. The association asks you to book "au minimum 48h avant le départ", and pilgrim beds are only available with a credencial: in Langon the Gîte communal (13 places) and Accueils pèlerins, on the variant the Gîte municipal de Painfaut (municipality of Avessac), in Redon the Gîte du pèlerin in the Couvent des Calvairiennes for €15.77 per person with kitchen (as of October 2026), plus private hosts and the youth hostel in July and August. You can download the free guide "Voie des Capitales & Dinan" as a PDF from the association; the easiest way to plan stages and beds is the Camino Ninja app.

Getting there

To the start, take the TER Rennes – Redon to the Beslé stop on the Loire-Atlantique side of the river or to Langon; from the finish you can get away from Redon in every direction.

• Trains in France: sncf-connect.com — TGV Redon – Paris-Montparnasse in just over two hours, TER to Rennes (about 35 min), Nantes (about 40 min) and Vannes (about 25 min)
• Regional transport Brittany: breizhgo.bzh — TER Rennes – Langon – Beslé – Redon
• Association and guide: compostelle-bretagne.fr — Association bretonne des Amis de Saint-Jacques de Compostelle, guide as PDF, GPX track, accommodation lists, credencial