This post has been improved (new images etc.). IT HAS BEEN QUITE A WHILE since we first set foot on the Île de Ré. Pre-digital for me. Both times we did so, we stayed the night at a rather pretty private hotel called L'Océan, at Le-Bois-Plage-en-Ré. Delightful. The last time was in 2003. This island is reached by a long sweeping bridge, still charging a toll, which might be why, in part, we've not been back. It is hard to justify what is quite a significant toll for the slight possibility of getting a better view of Chauveau as we transit south. The island is interesting, has some delicate landscapes, extensive salt beds, neat little ports and associated yacht depositories, plus rather more extensive swathes of seaside villas and second homes, mostly with private pools and double garages. Best of all of course is Les Baleines, at the northern tip and even further out but just in view Les Baleineaux. Lighthouses, but of course…
Look I'll be straight with you. I didn't appreciate that Les Baleineaux was, you know, a lighthouse, a phare. I thought it was just a jolly big feu. Out there. I do have a snap with it in, but I shall not trouble you with it as it is just a whisker in the distance, the best I could get with a 105mm zoom lens on my old 35mm camera. Never mind, I can tick it off notwithstanding my failure to 'connect' at the time. Please keep in mind that I was only just getting into lighthouses and the internet hadn't arrived in my life, my books of French lights was limited to one… etc. (it doesn't feature therein). Excuses. I did snap the harbour light (a feu) at La Flotte. That gets into The Lighthouse Directory. Not a lighthouse so it shouldn't, IMHO.
Les Baleines is old and the site is older still. Ascending Les Baleines is a French occupation; they do it in droves. More folk visit this lighthouse and Chassiron on the Île d'Oleron than all the other French lighthouses put together. We climbed Les Baleines on a quiet day. It was our first ascent of a Fr. phare. Adam was not enthusiastic, revealing a dislike of heights. He did it under protest. The open spiral staircase is a bit stomach churning the first time (and it was his) I guess. I can confirm that he has got over it provided the climb is worth it.
The current lighthouse was commissioned in 1854. It boasts a focal plane of 53 metres (174ft) and announces itself with four white flashes every fifteen seconds. The range is 27 nautical miles. The tower is 57 metres tall, octagonal, made of limestone above a single storey keeper's house complex. It has a first order Fresnel lens (the best!). Huelse has a historic postcard view. Good. The Lighthouse Directory deems this to be one of the most important French lighthouses, the tower having been built by a local fellow called Jean-Baptiste Mady of La Rochelle. It sits at the Pointe des Baleines (Whale Point), the westernmost point of the Île de Ré.
The original or first phare (see image up top) was assembled in 1682. Louis XIV's minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert ordered construction of this historic lighthouse in 1669 to guide ships to the newly established royal naval base at La Rochelle. The original light was a fish-oil lamp in a stone lantern. Following bitter complaints from mariners (about the smell I should imagine), this apparatus was replaced in 1736 by a more powerful lamp in a cast iron lantern. In 1949 the keeper's house became a training centre for lighthouse keepers; this closed in 1970. The building was reopened as a museum in 2006. We have not had the pleasure.
Les Baleineaux was built at the same time as Les Baleines, I imagine to make sure ships didn't try to nip across the shoals to their certain doom. The lantern JBH has shown is no more, replaced with an entirely inappropriate flat cap light housing.
It shows a white light, occulting twice every six seconds from its 32 metre (105ft) round granite tower with gallery. The range is seven nautical miles. Huelse has a historic postcard view. Les Baleineaux is on a reef about three kilometres northwest of the Pointe des Baleines but it looks a lot further. It deserves far more attention than it receives. It gets quite a lot of heavy seas at times, out there. It is a Monument Historique.Update We have been again to the end of the island and taken new snapperoos!! October 2020, en route for the UK… no ascent of the edifice as the crowds were somewhat daunting even though masked and the 2020 pandemic decided us as well… but at least a half decent rendition of Les Baleineaux can now be presented to you…
Which leaves one other proper phare, at the landward side of the island: Chauveau. Older than the last two even, and arguably the first French off-shore lighthouse, which is probably why it is a Monument Historique. Up and running from 1842, with a focal plane of 27 metres or 89ft, currently displaying a white or red light, depending on direction, occulting three times every twelve seconds, with a maximum range of fifteen nautical miles for the white light. Overall Chauveau is 31 metres or 102ft tall, a round stone tower with lantern and gallery. This lighthouse and its neighbouring feu, Le Lavardin (off La Pallice) are two of the first French lighthouses to be built in the open sea; both guard the approach to La Pallice and La Rochelle. The phare is about 1200 metres off the southeastern point of the Île de Ré. With good timing it is possible to walk to the lighthouse at low tide. Bad timing will lead you to a distressing situation requiring the assistance of a rescue boat, or a good soaking, probably both.
Thanks are due to Jean Benoît Héron for his illustrations included herewith, the snaps are mine, the last one (above) having been taken from Les Minimes, the western coastal suburb of La Rochelle on a desperately maximised telephoto zoom. I must get a better view of Chauveau. I really must! [I HAVE!] The Tour de Lavardin is considerably closer than the lighthouse…
And here's an improved view…
Maybe one day we might even try to touch its base…
