Gironde Estuary and Rochefort
13 March 2007
A ferry about 1½ times the size of the Horseshoe Bay to Bowen Island ferry crosses the mouth of the Gironde Estuary from Verdon to Royan. The Gironde is the largest estuary in Europe (at least western Europe), and covers 635,000 square km; is 75 km long and 11 km at its maximum width. A long geological history has produced the estuary in its broad modern outlines and led to 3000 years of various forms of navigation on and from the estuary: Viking longboats, Louis XIV’s privateers, Dutch traders, corvettes and frigates, self-propelled barges (péniches), bulk freighters and oil tankers. With shifting sand banks and islands, river pilots have long been a feature of estuary navigation.
The estuary was controlled by England at various times beginning in 1154 with the marriage of Henry Plantagenet to Aliénor d”Aquitaine. As part of the marriage dowry, Henry received the bordelaise lands. An earlier post (Hastingues 3 March 2007) covered some of this tempestuous relationship. The trade of the period was chiefly Bordeaux wines and by 1305, 100,000 barrels were being shipped to England. By the 18th century, Bordeaux had become the 2nd biggest slave trading city in France with 130,000 to 150,000 Africans being landed along the estuary. By the 1800’s Le Havre began to overtake Bordeaux as the major port; this trend was quickened with the advent of railways and the subsequent decline of river and estuary traffic. With Le Havre’s location right on the Atlantic it was well placed to take advantage of these changes in the technology of transportation.
A physical phenomena of the estuary is its “mud cork”. Alluvial particles carried from inland, mostly by the Garonne River (2 – 3 million tons a year) move to and fro in the water, eventually agglutinating to form the mud cork. This mass of particles can be up to 30 km long. When the river flow is strong the floating mass of mud cork moves down the estuary; when the flow is slow it can move up the Garrone river past Bordeaux to La Réole (about 110 km from the ocean; when the flow is very weak the mass can sink to the bottom; in the spring with higher tides and the strongest river flow the mud cork, if it is in the middle of the estuary, will be pushed out of the estuary mouth into the ocean.
When we crossed from Verdon to Royan in the closing weeks of winter, we didn’t accost the mud cork, but we did enjoy a rolly ride as the mouth of the estuary is exposed to the open Atlantic swell.
The mouth of the estuary required protection during WW II and it was well fortified by the occupying Germans and some remnants remain such as this bunker converted into offices for the adjacent military radar station.
An unusual lighthouse graces the port and marks one bank of the mouth of the estuary.
Interesting occurrences of the war period include a defiant act by 27 members of the French legislature, who refused the armistice (the surrender of the French to the Germans and the creation of the Vichy regime), and sailed from here to North Africa on 21 June 1940 to continue the war from there.
A second was the destruction by WW II German occupying troops in 1942 of a monument to General Pershing and the American soldiers who had aided the defence of France and the defeat of the Germans in WW I.
A quick translation:
“To the glory of the Americans, soldiers of General Pershing, defenders of the same ideals of right and liberty that drove La Fayette and his volunteers to depart these banks in 1777 [French aid to the American Revolution]. The Monument symbolized Franco-American fraternity in arms and friendship. It was destroyed the 30th of May 1942 by the German troops of occupation. It was rebuilt by the people of France.”
Once across the estuary we continued north to the large historic river port of Rochefort. A significant well protected navy port in the 18th and 19th centuries it remains a large port city. Its center has a beautiful “grande place” and adjoining relatively recent church (1836) built over the ruins of the 17th century chapel of the Capuchin’s Convent.
Its relatively modern date of design and 
construction allowed the incorporation of large windows in the semi-domed roof structure, allowing a magnificence of natural light, lifting ones’ eyes and thoughts toward the heavens.
A relatively peaceful night in the center of this major port city, alongside a river marina gave us a good sleep. A shower in the morning woke Roger up and we were on the road again.
A ferry about 1½ times the size of the Horseshoe Bay to Bowen Island ferry crosses the mouth of the Gironde Estuary from Verdon to Royan. The Gironde is the largest estuary in Europe (at least western Europe), and covers 635,000 square km; is 75 km long and 11 km at its maximum width. A long geological history has produced the estuary in its broad modern outlines and led to 3000 years of various forms of navigation on and from the estuary: Viking longboats, Louis XIV’s privateers, Dutch traders, corvettes and frigates, self-propelled barges (péniches), bulk freighters and oil tankers. With shifting sand banks and islands, river pilots have long been a feature of estuary navigation.
The estuary was controlled by England at various times beginning in 1154 with the marriage of Henry Plantagenet to Aliénor d”Aquitaine. As part of the marriage dowry, Henry received the bordelaise lands. An earlier post (Hastingues 3 March 2007) covered some of this tempestuous relationship. The trade of the period was chiefly Bordeaux wines and by 1305, 100,000 barrels were being shipped to England. By the 18th century, Bordeaux had become the 2nd biggest slave trading city in France with 130,000 to 150,000 Africans being landed along the estuary. By the 1800’s Le Havre began to overtake Bordeaux as the major port; this trend was quickened with the advent of railways and the subsequent decline of river and estuary traffic. With Le Havre’s location right on the Atlantic it was well placed to take advantage of these changes in the technology of transportation.
A physical phenomena of the estuary is its “mud cork”. Alluvial particles carried from inland, mostly by the Garonne River (2 – 3 million tons a year) move to and fro in the water, eventually agglutinating to form the mud cork. This mass of particles can be up to 30 km long. When the river flow is strong the floating mass of mud cork moves down the estuary; when the flow is slow it can move up the Garrone river past Bordeaux to La Réole (about 110 km from the ocean; when the flow is very weak the mass can sink to the bottom; in the spring with higher tides and the strongest river flow the mud cork, if it is in the middle of the estuary, will be pushed out of the estuary mouth into the ocean.
When we crossed from Verdon to Royan in the closing weeks of winter, we didn’t accost the mud cork, but we did enjoy a rolly ride as the mouth of the estuary is exposed to the open Atlantic swell.
The mouth of the estuary required protection during WW II and it was well fortified by the occupying Germans and some remnants remain such as this bunker converted into offices for the adjacent military radar station.
An unusual lighthouse graces the port and marks one bank of the mouth of the estuary.
Interesting occurrences of the war period include a defiant act by 27 members of the French legislature, who refused the armistice (the surrender of the French to the Germans and the creation of the Vichy regime), and sailed from here to North Africa on 21 June 1940 to continue the war from there.
A second was the destruction by WW II German occupying troops in 1942 of a monument to General Pershing and the American soldiers who had aided the defence of France and the defeat of the Germans in WW I.
A quick translation:
“To the glory of the Americans, soldiers of General Pershing, defenders of the same ideals of right and liberty that drove La Fayette and his volunteers to depart these banks in 1777 [French aid to the American Revolution]. The Monument symbolized Franco-American fraternity in arms and friendship. It was destroyed the 30th of May 1942 by the German troops of occupation. It was rebuilt by the people of France.”
Once across the estuary we continued north to the large historic river port of Rochefort. A significant well protected navy port in the 18th and 19th centuries it remains a large port city. Its center has a beautiful “grande place” and adjoining relatively recent church (1836) built over the ruins of the 17th century chapel of the Capuchin’s Convent.
Its relatively modern date of design and 
construction allowed the incorporation of large windows in the semi-domed roof structure, allowing a magnificence of natural light, lifting ones’ eyes and thoughts toward the heavens.A relatively peaceful night in the center of this major port city, alongside a river marina gave us a good sleep. A shower in the morning woke Roger up and we were on the road again.
posted by Retired and on the Move | 3:29 AM
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