Ile d'Yeu

Yeu lies about twenty kilometres offshore and splits in two geologically: the southern and western coast is granite, cut into small cliffs, coves and a rocky shore where the Vieux Chateau stands on a promontory reached by a footbridge, while the north and east are low, sandy and pine-backed with the harbour at Port-Joinville. Whitewashed houses with green or blue shutters and pantiled roofs are the island style. Almost everyone gets around by bicycle, hired at the port on arrival, since the island is about ten kilometres long and cars are discouraged.

History

Neolithic carvings and an unusual number of dolmens and menhirs show that the island was held sacred early. Irish monks from Bangor founded a monastery here dedicated to Hilary, where Saint Amand of Poitou trained, until Vikings destroyed it in the 9th century, and in the 10th century monks of Marmoutier and of Saint-Cyprien at Poitiers built a new one dedicated to Saint Stephen. The lords of Belleville built a wooden stockade against pirates, later replaced by the stone castle of Jeanne de Belleville and her husband Olivier IV de Clisson on an islet joined by a bridge, first mentioned in 1356. Since the 19th century the island has drawn artists, among them Jean Dufy, who painted it during summers between 1926 and 1930, and the children's author Ludwig Bemelmans, whose stay in hospital here after a bicycle accident inspired his first Madeline book of 1939 (Wikipedia, Île d'Yeu).

The landscape

• The Vieux Chateau - a ruined fortress on a rock promontory over the sea.
• The granite coast - cliffs and coves along the wild southern shore.
• The whitewashed villages - Saint-Sauveur and the island's inland hamlets.
• The bicycle traffic - hire bikes as the standard transport.

When to go

May to September; ferries reduce sharply in winter and cancel in rough weather. Bicycle hire queues at the port on summer arrivals. Accommodation is limited.

What to expect

Taking a car is expensive and generally unnecessary. Ferries are weather-dependent. Bike hire and the coast path are busy in August, and there is little shelter from wind or sun.

Nearby

Noirmoutier lies north; Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie is on the mainland east.

Key facts