page_title: Thouet
section_title: Course of the river
hierarchical_section_title: Thouet / Course of the river
caption_attribution_description: Le Thouet en aval de Montreuil-Bellay près de Saumoussay
context_page_description: The Thouet is a tributary of the Loire in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Pays de la Loire regions of western France. The Thouet rises at Secondigny, close to the source of the Sèvre Nantaise, and joins the Loire just to the west of Saumur. It is 142.6 km long, and drains an area of 3,396 km².
  The river's name derives from the ancient Gallic word for tranquil.
context_section_description: The Thouet rises in the Gâtine Vendéenne, the most southern outcrop of the Armorican Massif, at 225 metres (738 ft) altitude. The Armorican Massif is made up of volcanic and metamorphic rocks dating back to the Paleozoic era. This impermeable land does not result in any important aquifers but is an area of significant rainfall runoff. From the source to Parthenay the river flows in a generally east-west direction.
  To the east of Parthenay, the river turns north and flows on a generally northward heading for the rest of its course. Between Saint-Loup-Lamairé and Thouars, the river flows onto the Paris Basin, an area of sedimentary rocks where successive marine deposits of periods from the Triassic to the Pliocene were laid down. The nature of the rocks here allows the formation of an aquifer whose water reserves support the river in times of low flow.
  In order downstream, the Thouet flows through:
  Secondigny
  Azay-sur-Thouet
  le Tallud
  Parthenay
  Châtillon-sur-Thouet
  Gourgé
  Saint-Loup-Lamairé
  Airvault
  Saint-Généroux
  Missé
  Thouars
  Taizon
  Saint-Martin-de-Sanzay
  Montreuil-Bellay
  Saint-Just-sur-Dive
  Saumur
  The principal tributaries of the River Thouet are:
  The Viette, at Parthenay on the right bank
  The Palais, at Parthenay on the left bank
  The Cébron, at Saint-Loup-Lamairé on the left bank
  The Thouaret, near Taizé on the left bank
  The Argenton, at Saint-Martin-de-Sanzay on the left bank
  The Losse, at Montreuil-Bellay on the right bank
  The Dive, at Saint-Just-sur-Dive on the right bank.
  For much of its length, the Thouet is paralleled by the GR 36 long-distance walking route, which connects Ouistreham, on the coast of the English Channel, with Bourg-Madame, on the border with Spain. This stretch of the path traces the footsteps of pilgrims from Brittany and Normandy on their way to Santiago de Compostela, and in places crosses the river using the same fords, packhorse bridges and stepping stones the pilgrims would have used.
caption: The Thouet downstream of Montreuil-Bellay.
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