The best MTB trails around Saint-Augustin

The memorial of Fort du Chay in Royan is today an important place of remembrance dedicated to the victims of the bombings of Royan in 1945. « Le Souffle » The memorial is called « Le Souffle ». It was designed by the artist Luc Richard and inaugurated on May 8, 2022. It takes the form of a kind of open-air circular chapel, made up of 86 vertical tubes. The tubes evoke both: * the destructive force of the bombings; * the movement and momentum of Royan's rebirth after the war; * the circle, which symbolizes the solidarity and mutual aid of the survivors. Why Fort du Chay? The choice of this location is particularly symbolic. Fort du Chay was a strategic military site overlooking the entrance to the Gironde estuary. Built in the 19th century, it was modernized and then occupied by the Germans in 1940 and integrated into the Atlantic Wall defenses. It was heavily bombed in 1945. Today, only a few fortified elements and blockhouses from the old complex remain. The bombings of Royan The memorial primarily recalls the two bombings that marked the end of the war: * January 5, 1945 * April 15, 1945 Royan was then destroyed by about 85%. Official sources indicate 442 civilian victims and 47 German soldiers, in addition to numerous wounded and missing. The memorial is complemented by five educational panels dedicated to the history of the fort, to Royan during World War II, to the bombings, and to the liberation of the Royan pocket. A 3D digital reconstruction also allows for visualizing the fort during the war. Note: there is also, very close to Fort du Chay, a stele dedicated to the men of Operation Frankton, which constitutes another distinct memorial site from « Le Souffle ».

La plage de la Grande Côte is one of the most beautiful sites in Saint-Palais-sur-Mer. Lined with dunes and forest, it offers a vast panorama of the Atlantic Ocean as well as a breathtaking view of the Coubre lighthouse and, on a clear day, of the island of Oléron. Easily accessible by bike or mountain bike, it is an ideal place to take a break, admire the landscape, enjoy the sea air and immortalize this exceptional setting.

Located on the commune of St-Palais-sur-Mer, at the tip of Terre-Nègre, it is intended to mark the southern passage of the Gironde estuary and to signal the presence of a dangerous sandbank, the la barre à l'Anglais.

Here you'll find a romantic little lighthouse, and behind it lies a garden with a bench overlooking the sea, a lovely place to stop for a break. Afterwards, you can continue along the cliff to the right until you reach Euro Velo 1 again.

Easily accessible place, only the last meters are prohibited for cyclists.

The tides are constantly changing the landscape.

At the exit of the Coubre national forest, the landscape opens onto the dunes, and you can see the lighthouse. The Coubre lighthouse watches over maritime traffic in the Gironde estuary.

The Terre-Nègre lighthouse is a landmark forming a cylindrical tower a little over 26 meters high. Located on the tip of Terre-Nègre, in the commune of Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, in Charente-Maritime, it is intended to mark the southern pass of the Gironde estuary and to signal the presence of a dangerous sandbank, the "Anglais bar". This building forms a tower-column 3.16 meters in diameter and 26.60 meters high. A spiral staircase with a central core of 143 steps leads to a summit platform equipped with a directional light. The tower is painted in two different colors to make it more visible: the upper part is red, the lower part is white. The base of the lighthouse is hidden by a building that once served as the keeper's accommodation. The installation of a beacon at this location was considered as early as 1763. De Kearney took over the beaconing plan four years later. Construction work on the tower began in 1770 and was completed in 1773, probably under the supervision of the Bordeaux engineer Claude Tardy. In 1807, the tower was raised. However, this work was considered insufficient by some of the estuary's navigators. In 1834, sailors from the nearby port of Royan sent a request to the Ministry of the Navy to study the possibility of equipping the tower with a light. However, this request was postponed the following year due to lack of sufficient funds. A new request from sailors prompted the lighthouse commission to experiment with a first light in 1836. Finally, on October 15, 1838, a fixed white 4th order light was permanently installed. The latter was replaced in 1856 by a fixed white light of the 4th order of a small dioptric model with a reinforced sector of the 5th order catoptric. It was equipped with new lights in 1899 and 1904. In 1939, it was electrified. During the German occupation, the lighthouse served as an observatory for the soldiers of the Wehrmacht. Damaged during the fighting of 1945 (presence of breaches at the top of the tower), it was restored in the immediate post-war period. In March 1947, the lighthouse was operational again. A light with 3 occultations — changing every 12 seconds — was installed. Its colors are white, red and green. Its current range is 18 miles. Listed as a Historic Monument since 2011, the lighthouse is not open to visitors. However, it can be admired from the outside and a pretty passage provides direct access to the coastal path.