Aix is the “last” of the islands of Charente-Maritime, the last not to have sacrificed her soul island on the altar of progress and comfort. Under its simple tunes and bitches, it is an aristocrat, proud to have been able to retain his rank and independence, not to be subjected to the yoke of the continent succumbing to the ease of a bridge as Ré or Oléron or a road submersible such as isle Madame.
This ingenue is not yet known – at least for the most part – some of the iniquities of modern times such as the diesel engine and the wi-fi waves. Only a dozen vehicles belonging to the town hall and merchants disturbs the serenity of the place and he does rely on his legs to make the tour of the island. As it is removed, 6 km of land, in the heart of the pertuis of Antioch, the boat remains the only way to reach it.
The hike starts at the port of Smoke to the tip of the peninsula of Fouras, where we boarded a ferry passenger ferry in a breeze full of promise.
Cross gates We win the ile d’aix by ferry ferry from the tip of the Smoke. Christophe Migeon
The vessel leaves a water color cafe-au-lait, in which we would hesitate to even dip a toe in and wins the wide, shimmering grey-blue with the encouragement of gulls enthusiastic. In the distance, the Fort Boyard floats between the sky and the sea. The unsinkable ship of stone built to protect the arsenal of Rochefort was used especially of jail for sequester soldiers prussians and communards before becoming the playground of television Passepartout and father Fouras.
the coast of the island of Aix is emerging more and more precise, trimmed with a line of fortifications, and an edging of beaches laid bare by the ebb. Barely docked, the ship pours out to earth the flow of tourists which soon overflows, flooding the docks and flows towards the city like a fish freed suddenly of a trawl. A handful of crowd pleasing dispatched by the restaurants and bicycle rental shops trying to catch some small fry before he escapes in the nature.
Walk the village Bicycle, and hollyhock, two figures intertwined alleys of the island of Aix. Adobe Stock/catalyseur7
Here, the bicycles and the “charretons”, these small trailers are quiet and rustic, cobbled together in the garages, have taken control of the streets to the tranquillity of Aix. The tracks, drawn in chalk by Vauban, are broad enough so that the soldiers could do to ease their learned maneuvers. It is far from the hustle and bustle of any military who ran the town throughout the Nineteenth century. Today it’s the hollyhocks that parading in front of the pastel facades of the low houses.
Aix has long been the centerpiece of the system of defence of the arsenal of Rochefort was built the bulk of the war fleet of the country. It has long retained a martial aspect. Most of the trees had been cut down. Today, every butte cache is still a pillbox. The closure of the site after the First world war resulted in a rapid decline and without the intervention of Napoleon Gourgaud, dandy wealthy and also the great-grandson of baron of the Empire, Gaspard Gourgaud, the island might have sunk into oblivion.
Before leaving the village, you must visit the napoleonic museum, founded in 1928 by the patron in the building where his ancestor won from the hands of the Emperor his surrender to the English. After having a time the hope of spinning in the United States, the Eagle fallen recovered within the meaning of the “hospitality of the british people,” according to the terms of his letter… with the result that we know !
Taste the oysters of the Bulge farmers offer their oysters to the tasting along the anse du Saillant. Adobe Stock/OceanProd
path to escape the town through an area of marshes criss-crossed by swallows and continues along the grande anse du Saillant. Farmers have installed their clear and offer their oysters to the tasting in huts. A few bivalves plump eaten on the go can make the full of energy before continuing along the great bay, where fishing boats and sailboats to the grounding sleepy, the hull impudiquement offered to the four winds.
The sun, the sea and the mud combine their scents into a heady scent that will vanishes at the approach of a forest of holm oaks and maritime pines. From the Point of Coudepont, of paths, discrete, leave the main path to cross the hurdle of mimosas and briars and join the wild creeks disturbed only by the comings and goings of the waves and crabs.
Navigate through the box the other Buried in the interior, the Fort Liédot was a military prison. Christophe Migeon
Last look to the north, where the bridge of the ile de Ré spans with elegance the pertuis of Antioch, and then cape town on the Fort Liédot buried in the interior of the land in the middle of the cypresses, and mimosas. Since its construction in 1834, the hosts of this funny redoubt transformed into a military prison – Russian soldiers of the Crimean war, the comuneros or convicts on the left for New Caledonia- have engraved their distress and boredom on the walls of their dungeon in graffiti sometimes moving.
After this historical parenthesis, hiking, reconnecting with the coastline and continues to the more martial than ever a defence battery to the other. The rollers are gray-green lick the sand out of their long tongue of white foam. The last ferry announces his imminent departure for a long and plaintive stroke of the trunk soon lost in the craillement terns, and gulls. As it is, trying to ignore the compelling reminder to the return, leaving from the leisure and snuggle up a little in the quiet comfort of this oasis suspended out of time and the world.
PRACTICAL NOTEBOOK
The tour of the island of Aix on foot
The island of Aix is connected from Fouras by a ferry at a rate of 5 rotations minimum per day. Adobe Stock/Alexandre
7 km > 2h30 > + 10 / m – 10 m. Map IGN Top 25 n°1330 OT ile d’oléron and ile d’aix.
Route described in the Guidebook of the RSFF, Ref D017. The Charente-Maritime… walk, 2015, 112 pages.
The island of Aix is connected from Fouras (Ferry to the pointe de la fumée) by a ferry at a rate of 5 rotations minimum per day. Tel : 0 820 16 00 17 (0,15 € / minute), www.service-maritime-iledaix.com
The city of Fouras is accessible from Rochelle by the D137 and D937c. Paying car park at the edge of the Smoke but often crowded in the summer. Prefer the car park at the end of the avenue of 11 November.
The good table
The oyster hut. Franck Speisser is the last oyster of the island. This former chef has opened up the cabin to the exit of the village for the sale and tasting on the premises of its oysters (9 € 12). It also offers a formula plancha where one buys his fish for the grill.
Tel.: 06 27 57 73 42, franckaix@orange.fr
Sleep over
Hotel Napoleon. The only hotel on the island of Aix and allows you to taste the peace and bliss that reign on the island after the last ferry left with its cargo of tourists.
18 rooms from 120 euros per double room in high season, without the breakfast. Rue Gourgaud, 17123 ile d’aix. Tel.: 05 46 84 00 77, www.hotel-ile-aix.com
don’t miss
napoleonic Museum of the island of Aix. Located in the building where the emperor signed his surrender to the English. It contains among others the house where he spent his last days on French territory and a magnificent collection of clocks, all stopped on 17h49, the time of his death at St. Helena.
Adult : 4,50 €. Tel. : 05 46 84 66 40, www.musees-nationaux-napoleoniens.org
The editorial team conseilleCinq exotic gardens to take the powder of escampette12 trips few and far anticiper48 hours to Biarritz, the city where there is a mixture of surf and bistronomieSujetsnouvelle-aquitaineCharente-MaritimevoyageTourismeîleAucun comment
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