Cher (river)

The Cher is a river in central France. It is a left tributary of the Loire River. It flows through several regions of France.

The Cher and Loir-et-Cher departments are named after this river.

Geography
The Cher is  long. Its drainage basin covers .

Its average yearly discharge (volume of water which passes through a section of the river per unit of time) is  at Tours, Indre-et-Loire (1966 - 2017), near its mouth.

Average monthly discharge (m3/s) at Tours

Course
The Cher starts in the Massif Central, in the Mérinchal municipality, Creuse department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It starts at an altitude of about .

The Cher flows, in general, to the northwest. It goes through the following regions, departments and communes:

 Nouvelle-Aquitaine region
 Creuse: Auzances.
 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region
 Puy-de-Dôme: Château-sur-Cher.
 Allier: Montluçon, Vallon-en-Sully, Meaulne.
 Centre-Val de Loire region
 Cher: Ainay-le-Vieil, Bouzais, Saint-Amand-Montrond, Châteauneuf-sur-Cher, Colombiers, Corquoy, Crézançay-sur-Cher, Drevant, Épineuil-le-Fleuriel, Farges-Allichamps, Foëcy, La Groutte, Lapan, Lunery, Méry-sur-Cher, Nozières, Orval, La Perche, Quincy, Saint-Florent-sur-Cher, Saint-Caprais, Saint-Georges-de-Poisieux, Saint-Georges-sur-la-Prée, Saint-Loup-des-Chaumes, Thénioux, Vallenay, Venesmes, Vierzon
 Loir-et-Cher : Angé, Bourré, La Chapelle-Montmartin, Châtillon-sur-Cher, Châtres-sur-Cher, Châteauvieux, Couddes, Faverolles-sur-Cher, Gièvres, Mareuil-sur-Cher, Mennetou-sur-Cher, Monthou-sur-Cher, Montrichard, Pouillé,Selles-sur-Cher, Saint-Aignan, Saint-Georges-sur-Cher, Saint-Julien-sur-Cher, Seigy, Thésée, Villefranche-sur-Cher.
 Indre : Chabris
 Indre-et-Loire : Athée-sur-Cher, Azay-sur-Cher, Bléré, Chenonceaux, Chisseaux, Civray-de-Touraine, La Croix-en-Touraine, Dierre, Larçay, La Riche, Saint-Avertin, Saint-Genouph, Savonnières, Tours, Véretz, Villandry.

At its end, the Cher flows into the Loire River at the bec du Cher ("beak of the Cher")The French word bec (beak or bill in English) means, in this and similar cases, the confluence of two rivers. in the Regional nature park Loire-Anjou-Touraine (Parc naturel régional Loire-Anjou-Touraine) in Villandry. That is about  west of the city of Tours, in the Indre-et-Loire department, at  of altitude.

Main tributaries
The main tributaries, with a length greater than 50 km, of the Cher are:

Left tributaries:
 Tardes - 77.3 km;
 Arnon - 150.5 km;
 Fouzon - 59 km;

Right tributaries:
 Aumance - 56.3 km;
 Yèvre - 80.6 km;
 Sauldre - 183.1 km;

Gallery

Related pages
 List of rivers of France

Notes

 References 

Category:Rivers of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Category:Rivers of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Category:Rivers of Centre-Val de Loire