aquitaine: biarritz or pointe saint martin

BEFORE ONE ARRIVES at the high class and always fashionable resort of Biarritz, after the long trek down the Aquitaine coast (if you came that way, you might not have, after all we didn't) the lighthouse weirdo is now required to get themselves to the Adour river-mouth which flows through Bayonne. You will need to ensure you come out on the south side of the river from Bayonne as the town has the last bridging point.

Buy your Bayonne ham before leaving the rather fine town, as the best way onward to the real objective of this post – the lighthouse at Pointe Saint Martin – is along the coastal strip. Don't try any fancy back street driving hereabouts. The roads in Biarritz central are usually one way (not the way you want to be going) or closed for resurfacing, gentrification, general deliveries from obstructing vehicles, pedestrianised, or dead end. One can arrive in squares where all roads out are no entry including the one you just arrived by. In season this must be nightmares-ville, big time.

With Mme Melling's instinctive ability, sixth sense, and innate sense of direction, we overcame all these odds calmly and with only the barest minimum of four letter expletives, to arrive at Pointe Saint Martin……

But I digress, I digress, first a brief look at the Adour river exit. We came to it from the South you see, after 'doing' Pnte.St-M in 2017 but this time I am projecting a scenario where one is coming from the North. (this is all on p310 Michelin Road Atlas of France, the A4 wiro bound version by the way).

I liked the mysterious railway line to nowhere at the jetty entrance, was intrigued by the sémaphore which used to show a steady red light when it was not safe to enter the river for vessels bound for Bayonne but is no longer in use, and fearful for the small child playing under the rusty lump of iron sculpture in the corner of the giant car park adjacent to this river entrance. I failed to photograph the
strange rail like assembly that borders this river on multiple piers which had (past tense) the only example of a lighthouse (well a feu) on rails that I have ever (not) seen. Yes folks! A mobile lighthouse, moveable along said rail-on-piers arrangement,  to give accurate alignments with other lights according to tide and sandbanks. Sadly no longer in use. And removed. Seems you just have to hope for the best now if sailing up to Bayonne. Must be all digital these days.

Pointe Saint Martin is a very fine phare indeed. Functional, aesthetic, designed by Augustin-Jean Fresnel himself. It was commissioned in 1834. It enhances Biarritz with its elegance and is beautifully lit at night to make a feature visible from all along the shoreline here. Of course, it is climbable, except when we show up. The law of sod. Or was it just out of season?

The focal plane is 73 metres or 240ft, exhibiting two white flashes every 10 seconds with a range of twenty-seven nautical miles. The tower is 47 metres tall, rising from the centre of an octagonal keeper's house. The lantern has a superb clamshell Fresnel lens in it, dating back to 1904. Huelse offers an historic postcard view of the edifice. It is, as you'd expect, a Monument Historique. Pointe Saint Martin is confusingly located on the promontory of Cap Hainsart; this is on the north side of Biarritz at the northern end of the Plage Miramar beach. You can't miss it.

All photos are mine the post card illustration is by the master, Jean Benoît Héron