Vesle

The Vesle is the river on which the city of Reims stands. It is a fourth order river of France and a left-bank tributary of the Aisne River. It is 140 kilometres long, rises in the département of Marne through which it flows most of its course.

Geography

The Vesle flows through the following départements and towns:

It rises at an altitude of about 187 metres, on the dip slope of the Upper Cretaceous chalk, near the village of Somme-Vesle, east of Châlons-en-Champagne. Though still passing through the chalk country, it soon begins to flow on its own Holocene deposits. It passes through Reims (latitude 49° 15’ 57’’ N, longitude 4° 1’ 46’’ E). On leaving the city's western outskirts, it enters the much more wooded landscape of the Eocene geology. The info box photograph shows the Vesle as it passes through fen carr, a little downstream from Reims. Halfway From Reims to Soissons, at Fismes (Latitude 49° 18' 28" N Longitude 03° 40' 53" E) the river receives the river Ardre from its left bank. At Condé-sur-Aisne, having descended to an altitude of about 45 metres, the Vesle joins the Aisne River.