Embarquez pour une traversée emblématique entre Le Verdon et Royan à bord du bac, véritable trait d’union entre les deux rives de l’estuaire de la Gironde. Depuis le Moyen Âge, ce passage maritime a évolué, jusqu’à accueillir aujourd’hui des milliers de passagers chaque jour en été. Entre anecdotes de vacanciers à vélo, souvenirs d’enfance et histoire du célèbre Cordouan, découvrez comment ce service, né en 1935, continue de faire vibrer les amoureux de la mer et du territoire. Reportage de Carla Valade et Camille Michelland Crédit photos : Département de la Gironde Intervenants : Thierry Perrot, directeur des bacs de Gironde Roger Armagnac, 86 ans, natif du Verdon-sur-Mer
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Cape Sur-Royan, Le Bac, leaves the Amars to cross the estuary.
We're off.
On board the boat, a hundred passengers have come to discover the territory for the holidays.
We put the bikes on the boat and the goal is to be able to ride the bike on the other side of the estuary.
It's impressive, the ability to put the cars like that, the bikes, all these passengers.
You can feel the power of the engines that push well.
It's quite incredible and impressive.
It's a very good boat.
How old is it? 40 years old?
90 years old.
It's older than me.
The crossing of the estuary does not date from yesterday.
The first traces date back to the Middle Ages.
Long before the arrival of the Bac, fishing boats and sailors made regular trips,
until the 1930s.
The population really asked for a line to be set up to make the junction between Le Verdon and Royan,
between the two parts of the territory here at the end of the estuary of the Gironde.
And so in 1935, the first boat came out.
It's called Le Cordouan and it was the first modern boat to cross it.
At that time, Le Cordouan could accommodate up to 300 passengers and about 20 cars.
In less than 30 minutes, the boat connected the two banks,
avoiding tourists and workers a four-hour detour on the road.
Memories that Roger remembers, who was already embarking when he was just a child.
This Bac did not walk fast, but it was still...
It was enormously useful to put Le Verdon and Royan on the road.
I was happy to be able to see from the Bac, to see the horizon.
It was interesting for me who loved the sea.
Today, two Bacs connect the estuary and the Gironde
to accommodate up to 4,000 passengers a day in the summer.
