Port

Mortagne sur Gironde

3.2La Rive, FranceGironde

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Maximum length: 59 ft
Maximum draught: 6 ft

River port on the right bank of the Gironde estuary in Charente-Maritime, 15 nm upstream of Royan. Max draught 2 m in the basin.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Access by a 2.5 km dredged channel branching E off the main estuary channel. A strong cross tidal current sets across the entrance, so favour the green marks and hold the channel axis. The basin is a wet dock closed by automatic gates opening about two hours either side of high water, reduced to about one hour on small coefficients near 40. Best approached on the rising tide. No VHF watch, call the capitainerie by phone.

Practical

Around 100 berths on pontoons with water and electricity. Showers and WC at the capitainerie, whose office keeps short weekday hours and is closed at weekends but answers the phone; book ahead and pay at the town hall. Basic repair facilities on site. No fuel pump at the port. Small grocery and a couple of restaurants at La Rive village on the quay.

Ashore

The Ermitage Saint-Martial, a troglodyte monastery carved into the limestone cliff, sits 1 km south of the port and is open to visitors. Mortagne village with a Romanesque church is 3 km inland. Cote de Beaute vineyards start around 5 km east.

History

Mortagne was an active trading port from the Middle Ages, shipping salt and wine down the Gironde. The current basin was dug in the 19th century when the main port silted up.

Story

The troglodyte hermitage above the port was occupied by monks from at least the 7th century and served as a sanctuary along the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela.