Tuesday wanderings, part two

The sky suggested that there were more showers to come, especially as we looked northwards, so we meandered a little further towards the southern end of Fouras where we found a handy parking place with a view of the bay. In that view we spotted an island that we'd not noticed before and with the help of a map we identified it as Ile Madame and that we were in fact looking at the estuary of the Charente. The Ile was on the "other" side and was the last land as the estuary became the sea. The map also indicated that there was a road to Ile Madame which was submerged for part of each day - this seemed intriguing enough to make us decide to investigate.
The bay at this point is known as the Pertuis (Passage) D'Antioche, which is mighty interesting in itself. (The "passage" is the sea route between Ile D'Oleron and Ile de Re and an historically significant access to La Rochelle in the north and Rochefort in the south.)

The road to Ile Madame is the first junction once you are over the Charente bridge and is helpfully signposted to Port des Barques which is the principle commune at the mouth of the estuary. There is a handy car park where the road / causeway leaves the mainland and heads to the Ile. It is possible to take a car across but it also presents the possibility of a 6km round trip walk. There were showers around so we decided to mark it down for an excursion on another day.

Day over? Well we thought so as we plotted our route back, deciding not to just double back on ourselves we tracked along the little roads to St Froult and Moeze. At a junction in Moeze Sheila spotted a weather worn sign for the Citadelle de Brouage so we decided to follow it. As one km followed another we nearly gave up but then the we turned a bend and there it was - an apparently intact fortress town.

The photo's are all from Brouage including a couple of picture of the inside of a bar, that turns out to be a brocante as well - oddly it felt like an old style country bar in Ireland. The whole town clearly lives for tourists and I bet returning to it in winter may well find it completely closed up. A real little gem of a place, we are likely to return.