Look & Sea

It’s time to explore our Atlantic coastline from a new perspective. Join Roger Moss as he bypasses the crowded sands and searches out some fascinating landmarks...

Perfect sunny spells are much too good to waste indoors, and with our glorious Atlantic Coast within easy reach why not take a day off and head to the beach? Better still, after the summer visitors have departed and things have calmed down it’s the perfect time for a longer stay, since you can usually find tempting offers for late-season campsite breaks. Either way, it’s a safe bet that sooner or later you’ll want to do more than simply lie in the sun and gaze at the horizon, so we decided to look at some of the more surprising features to be found along the coastline.

The most emblematic of our region are les carrelets de pêche, whose skeletal lines of tall, slender timber piers (‘pilotis’) support shed-like cabins with decks from which large square fishing nets are lowered into the waters then raised to land their catch. Curiously, both the nets themselves and one of the species caught – ‘la plie’ or plaice – are referred to as carrelets.

Here and there, lines of the rustic-looking structures extending out into the waves add a touch of retro charm to a beach visit. You’ll come across them, for example, at Angoulins, Fouras (Plage Nord), L’Île Madame, Piédemont (Port-des-Barques), Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, Royan (Plage de Pontaillac), Meschers-sur-Gironde (Plage des Vergnes, Conche de Cadet and below Blvd de la Falaise), Talmont-sur-Gironde and Vitrezay. They also extend from both banks further down the Gironde estuary.

Evidence of another age-old fishing practice can be seen on the beaches of the Île d̕Oléron and Île de Ré, although only at low tide. The very model of simplicity, ‘les écluses à poissons’ are horseshoe-shaped dry-stone structures whose large, semi-enclosed areas become submerged with rising tides, but drain when the tide falls, leaving any unsuspecting fish trapped high and dry. At the dawn of the 15th century Saint-Martin-de-Ré alone possessed 36 of these remarkable creations, which provided an important supply of food for the islanders. Eventually many were removed as hazards to coastal navigation, but 30 or so are still exploited on Ré and Oléron and their survival today is assured during spring and autumn by teams of volunteers who repair the ravages of often violent winter storms. Locations include Saint-Denis-d̕Oléron (Plage de la Boirie), Les Portesen-Ré (Plage de Gros Jonc) and Ars-en-Ré (southwest of Le Martray).

Read the remainder of this feature in our latest issue. Find out about forts and bunkers, lighthouses and even our own Statue of Liberty...