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A hike in the region Poitou-Charentes
In this hike you will discover the fishing port and the Seudre Swamp, which has focused its activity to oyster culture. You can go into an area with a particular patrimony and a chequered landscape, through a maze of narrow pedestrian paths, called "taillées piétonnes", which are dikes formerly used to produce salt. The village owns also an historic patrimony: XIVth century halls, fortified Romanesque church, and picturesque alleys. Because of this patrimony, Mornac is classified as one of the Most Beautiful Villages in France.
1- In front of the port, take the street "Basses Amarres" situated on your left. Turn to the right in the first alley (dead end). You are now in the path "chemin de la Corderie".
2- Once you reach the oyster hut, turn to left and go along the channel of Téger up to the lock.
3- Continue walking along the channel.
4- After a bend on the left, you go away from the channel of Téger. From this place, on the right side, you can see the oyster-bed "Banc de Mouillelande" in the river Seudre.
5- Once at the crossing, take the left track through gambas breeding ponds.
6- Go back on the first section and get back to the port.
Information
General points
- Geographic situation. District : Mornac-sur-Seudre
(department Charente-Maritime, canton Royan)
Road map with
 - Starting point : Mornac port.
- The length of the stroll is estimated at 3,5 Km and the walk duration is about 1 h .
- The stroll is marked out all along
- Stroll form : dual (one part as a loop, the other one linear)
- Stroll relief : flat (alt. mini = 0 m ; alt. maxi = 0 m)
- Maintenance : frequent (brushwood clearing at least annual)
- Exposure : open (a sun protection might be foreseen)
Events and information
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Worth seeing.
Conducted tour from April till September, Tuesdays and Fridays at 10:30 am. Information at the Tourist Office. Tel.: 05.46.22.61.68.
Noteworthy places
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L’église Saint-Pierre. The church, typically Romanesque, goes back to the XIth-XIIth century. It presents some very beautiful sculptures on the capitals of the apse.
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La corderie. There was a rope factory ("corderie") for braiding boat ropes. 33 ships were registred in Mornac at the end of the XVIIth century.
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Les marais à poissons. Swamps ("marais") are used for the breeding of fishes ("poissons") as eel, bass and mullet. Eel breeding was very developped in Mornac in the years 1940 - 1950.
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Le champ de claires. People have learnt to use the former swamps for oyster refining in shallow ponds called "claires". A type of oyster breeding is quite common, it produces green oysters, called "vertes des Marennes", colored by an alga: the blue navicule. Every year in springtime, ponds are dried in order to regenerate the natural fertilizer.
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Les cabanes de saunier. Sauniers were workers who carried the salt extracted from ponds. They were poor and lived in huts ("cabanes").
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Banc de Mouillelande. In the Middle Age, the Lord of Mornac collected tax on mooring in the section of the river Seudre named "Banc de Mouillelande". In 1971, 50 tons of oyster mothers imported from Canada were immersed there. This event played a major role for the oyster culture development.
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Scattered in the swamp, you can find many huts used for duck hunting. They are built at the edge of the water, and hunting takes place during the night.
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Nature. Several birds live in Seudre swamp: gulls, egrets, herons, ducks, shelducks, and also the species: Eurasian Oystercatcher, Red Knot, Pied Avocet, and Brent Goose.
Maps
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IGN 1332 ET, Carto Exploreur 17 Sud.
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