Visit saint-clément-des-baleines

The old tower – 27 meters high- ordered by Colbert started functioning in 1682.

It was used as a seamark and as a maritime supervision point also.

At night the light was fed with fish oil and coal. It was replaced by the lighthouse in 1854 and became a listed building.

The first fish locks of the Ile de Ré are about a thousand years old. They were essential to help ensure the Réthaise population to have food.

These sea meadows surrounded by a curvilinear wall were flood at rising tide and trapped fish at ebb tide. The last lock in St Clément, called la Moufette , stands between the coast and the Phare des Baleines.

It was repaired by voluntary workers after the storm of 1999 which destroyed it a lot.

Thanks to cycle tracks you'll be able to visit St Clément and its surroundings very easily and pleasantly.

As you'll leave the village, you'll take lanes and will visit the salt marshes laboured by the salt workers who gather the “white gold”.

You will walk to Les Portes en Ré where you will go along Lilleau Des Niges Nature Reserve which protects about 3 hundreds bird species.

Not far away from the nature reserve, La Maison du Fier stands in a former salt warehouse. You'll be able to attend exhibitions about the heritage of the Ile de Ré.
Then you will be able to walk through the Lizay forest which goes along the beach of La Conche and leads to the lighthouse. On the beach of La Côte Sauvage you could go fishing.