The Erdre (; br, Erzh) is a long river in western France, right tributary to the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhôn ...

. Its source is in the

Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire () is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indr ...

'' department'', near La Pouëze. It flows through the ''departments''

and

Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population ...

. The Erdre meets the

in the city of

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabit ...

. Other towns on the Erdre, going downstream, are

Candé Candé () is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. History In the 11th century the village became an important military site for Anjou under baron Rorgon de Candé, at Fort-Castle of Candé. Candé was noted in 2000- ...

Riaillé Riaillé (; br, Rialeg) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and ...

, Nort-sur-Erdre and Sucé-sur-Erdre. South of Nort-sur-Erdre, the river flows through reclaimed marshland, and is up to a kilometer wide at the Plaine de Mazerolles near Sucé-sur-Erdre. At the Plaine de la Poupiniere, the Nantes-Brest canal joins the Erdre. The Erdre flows into the Loire via the under Rue Henri IV, emerging near the main railway station. Its former course is a main road and shopping area, the Cours des Cinquante Otages.

References

External links

* Rivers of France Rivers of Pays de la Loire Rivers of Maine-et-Loire Rivers of Loire-Atlantique {{France-river-stub