A journey into Victor Hugo’s life
This former shipping merchant’s home once belonged to Auguste Vacquerie, an ocean-going master mariner. His son Charles married Léopoldine, Victor Hugo’s daughter. Terribly, the Seine at Villequier caused a tragic accident for the two families. On 4 September 1843, Charles, Léopoldine and two other family members drowned here as a result of a river tidal wave. This terrible drama is evoked in the museum, along with its effect on Hugo and his work. The life of the Seine shipping merchant is also covered.
Designated an Accueil Vélo site, this place offers cyclists a warm welcome and facilities to enjoy a well-earned pause on the Seine à Vélo cycle route.
Custom route
Custom route
11 Jumièges / Lillebonne
With this stage, leave behind Jumièges and ‘the most beautiful ruin in France’, as Victor Hugo described its abbey, to continue west along the Seine à Vélo via a former rail line, now a greenway, connecting Caudebec-en-Caux to Barentin. Arriving at Caudebec-en-Caux, make the most of the calm of the Seine’s banks, following in the footsteps of Victor Hugo. Reaching Villequier, where the Hugo and Vacquerie families holidayed, this charming village makes a perfect place to pause and find out more about the great author’s writings. This stage’s last stretch leads to Lillebonne. This town has an older, Roman name, Juliabona, hence the remnants of a Roman theatre, plus a museum covering the history of the Gallo-Roman settlement here.