Fort Boyard

The idea was Vauban's, to cover the gap between Aix and Oleron with guns, but he judged it impossible with the technology of his day. Construction was attempted from 1801, abandoned, restarted in 1837 and completed around 1857, by which time artillery ranges had improved enough that the two shores could cover the channel themselves and the fort was redundant. It is an oval of stone about sixty-eight metres long on a sandbank, used briefly as a prison and then left to decay until a television game show restored it in the late 1980s. It cannot be visited; boats circle it and that is all.

What you actually see

• The oval hull - a stone fort standing alone on a sandbank at sea.
• The scale from the water - walls about twenty metres high above the shoal.
• The channel setting - the gap between Aix and Oleron it was built to cover.
• The television association - the fort known from the long-running game show.

When to go

May to September, when boat trips run from several ports; sailings depend on sea state. Morning light suits photographs from the Fouras side.

Honest expectations

There is no landing and no public access to the interior at all; the visit is a boat circuit and nothing more. Trips are cancelled in rough weather. The fort is used for filming in season.

Nearby

The Ile d'Aix and Ile d'Oleron are on either side; Fouras is the nearest port.