Bordeaux British Community

Description:

Hugh, a BBC member, has invited us to enjoy a river cruise and picnic on the Garonne on Saturday 18th April together with members from the Photo Club de Creon.  The boat has been specially chartered for the trip and non-photographers are most welcome to come along and enjoy the cruise and ambiance.

The boat will sail from Bordeaux to Lamarque and then we walk to Fort Médoc for a ‘bring your own’ picnic lunch followed by a c40 minute walk back to the boat and then the return trip to central Bordeaux.

Alternative:

If the timing or departure point of the river cruise is not convenient then consider meeting our boat at Lamarque, arriving at 11:45, and then enjoy the walk in company to Fort Médoc followed by your picnic.

Timings:

Departure is at 9:45 from the Ponton d’Honneur in central Bordeaux returning at 17.30

• 9:45 – Board our boat ‘LA SARDANE’ at the Ponton d’Honneur next to the Pont Pierre
• 11:45 – Arrive at Lamarque
• c40 minutes walk to Fort Médoc
• 12:30 – Arrive at Fort Médoc
• Enjoy your ‘Bring your own picnic’
• 13:30 – Tour of Fort Médoc
• 15.00 – Start our walk back to Lamarque (c40 mins)
• 15:45 – Passenger boarding at the port of Lamarque
• 17:30 – Arrive back at Ponton d’Honneur  and disembark

Cost:

The cost is 27€ (revised price) includind 3€ entrance to Fort Médoc  A deposit of 10,80€ is required.

Directions:

The Ponton d’Honneur is:

Adjacent to the Pont de Pierre on the Bordeaux city side of the bridge

• In front of the Maison écocitoyenne, Quai Richelieu, 33000 BordeauxTram stop Porte de Bourgogne (Lignes A and C) is directly opposite
• The water bus, part of the integrated Bordeaux transport system will take you direct to the Ponton d’Honneur (ie ponton = pontoon)

Information on Lamarque is Here

Information on Fort Médoc is Here

An excerpt from the excellent Invisible Bordeaux blog  on the history of Fort Médoc follows:

 The Médoc village of Cussac-Fort-Médoc boasts one of the most grandiose sights in the area: the 17th-century Fort Médoc, one of three fortified structures that make up “le verrou de l’Estuaire” (the bolt of the Gironde estuary), dreamt up by the military architect and engineer Vauban .The story goes that in 1685, Sébastien Le Prestre, better-known as Marquis de Vauban, was surveying the Atlantic coast. Vauban had been appointed Marshal of France (the country’s highest military distinction) under Louis XIV and was on the lookout for any location that might undermine the Sun King’s authority. Assessing the citadel of Blaye, which had often proved vulnerable to British invaders, he established that it would have to be strengthened and that the Estuary as a whole needed to be “locked” in order to protect the city of Bordeaux, further upstream.

 Given the width of the Estuary (more than 3 kilometres at that point), simply reinforcing the citadel of Blaye would not suffice. Vauban therefore drew up more extensive plans to build a fort on an island mid-Estuary (this became Fort Pâté and Île Pâté) and to construct Fort Médoc on left-bank property to be acquired from private land-owners in Cussac. Louis XIV green-lighted the plans and the fortified structure sprang out of the Cussac ground between 1689 and 1690, although work wasn’t complete until 1721.