River
Couesnon
98 km from source to mouth · France.
FranceFlows into English Channel
In numbers
Length
98km
Average flow
71m³/s
Basin
1,124km²
Drop
63m
from 66 m to 3 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
98 km of river and 14 stops on the way: 8 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 66 m
- 0 kmBeaucé1,178 people
- 4 kmFougères23,719 people
- 7 kmJavené1,682 people
- 27 kmSaint-Jean-sur-Couesnon1,015 people
- 36 kmSaint-Ouen-des-Alleux1,004 people
- 51 kmMinettetributary
- 61 kmTamouttributary
- 67 kmAntrain1,523 people
- 67 kmPont du Couesnon
- 70 kmLoisancetributary
- 73 kmSectiontributary
- 76 kmGuergetributary
- 84 kmPontorson4,147 people
- 98 kmLe Mont Saint-Michel23 people
- 98 kmEnglish Channelat 3 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River running from the département of Mayenne in north-western France
At the mouth it carries 71 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 35 seconds. It drops from 66 m to 3 m, 0.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,124 km², about the size of MQ. 83,000 people live in it. Highest water: from November to January; lowest: July. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- FougèresLargest city on its banks · 23,719 people
- Rennes-Saint-Jacques Airport (RNS)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 51 km from the cityCar hire at RNS airport (Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, Ille-et-Vilaine)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Couesnon, month by month
Highest water: from November to January
Lowest water: July. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 5.2 m³/s in the lowest month to 39 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
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The basin
Couesnon: the basin in numbers
1,112 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 83,000people live in the basin
- 75/km²people per km²
- 91maverage altitude of the basin
- 748mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 11.0°Caverage air temperature
- 0.1%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 39% Cropland
- 31% Pasture
- 2% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Couesnon: what you find on the way
- 5Weirs
- 1Boat ramps
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Couesnon in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
1beach at the mouth or on the banksCoastya
5islands off the mouthIslandyas
Beaches (1)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Mont-Saint-Michelkm 6718.9°C
Islands off the mouth (5)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Mount Saint-Michel0.6 km away4.0km²
- Tombelaine3.2 km away0.0km²
- Fort Du Guesclin29 km away
- île des Rimains24 km away
- Île des Landes25 km away
Islandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Couesnon in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (6)
Also: Minette, Nançon, Loisance, Tamout, Guerge, Section
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q632961) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Coastya, Islandyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit