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Between the sea and the lakes, between the wind and the sun…
Who has not heard of this set of ports which was intended to be the largest in the Mediterranean at the heart of the kingdom of wind and board sports, created from nothing in 1965 in the band of sand between the sea and the lake?
You either like these sites or you don’t. Here this is the pinnacle of this kind of place: docks, marinas where boats are moored and huge stretches of water are slotted in between a line of buildings. Port Leucate is a summer leisure complex which has been designed to meet all the needs of tens of thousands of holidaymakers while at the same time preserving a beautiful and wild lagoon environment further inland. Even further, the backdrop is comprised of the Canigou and the Corbières. Enough to satisfy a wide range of requests!
SIMPLE OR NOT SO SIMPLE, THIS IS THE QUESTION!
Landing is simple enough. There is not a better landmark between the Cap d’Agde and the Pyrenees than the 60-metre high grey cliff of Cap Leucate, which is topped by a lighthouse and an antenna and which extends from the general orientation of the coastline. To the north of the entrance to the port: the cove of La Franqui and its beach do not go unnoticed either.
It was here that Henri de Monfreid, an author and adventurer, was born. Well before the pirates of today he became a sort of buccaneer, private
er and smuggler in the gulf of Aden. When you sail past this beach where sailboards and kite surfs crisscross each other, have a thought for the slow, heavy but proud dhow of the author of Aventures en Mer Rouge (Adventures in the Red Sea).
A bit more complicated: Leucate comes from the Greek word Luekos which means white: a million years ago Leucate was nothing more than a small island which was joined to the land over the years by alluvial deposits. The area was inhabited 7,000 years ago. The population lived in natural swallow holes which were excavated into the cliff. And according to legend, the population was not only comprised of men and women: a witch had been sent to the Cape rock by the Ocean goddess to preserve the island from man’s cupidity and stupidity. Did she succeed? It is not so sure... But it is only a legend…
AN ANTI URBAN SPRAWL RESORT
Conceived to give sunny, lively and sporting holidays, Port Leucate was designed by the architects Candilis and Duplay from 1965. Today there are three basins which shelter 1,100 boats, a town with a summer population of 60,000 inhabitants and 2,700 in the winter, 8 km of sand bar, 16 km of coastline, 31 km of banks around 8,000 hectares of lakes…
It is quite clear what Port Leucate’s ambition is: concentrate summer housing to prevent an urban sprawl along the co
ast, build high buildings close together at precise locations to avoid building blocks continuously along the 150 km from Argelès to Aigues Mortes. Port Camargue, La Grande Motte, Cap d’Agde, Gruissan to the north, Port Barcarès and Saint Cyprine to the south are cousins born from the Racine Mission which developed the coastline during the 1960s and 1970s. Each urban planner, each architect and each local authority has made choices regarding the style of development. All and sundry are able to judge the results. What is unquestionable is the preservation of the large gaps between these resorts. They are wide natural spaces where curious walkers who love nature and silence will find exactly what they need.
A LITTLE INLAND NAVIGATION…
You have entered the huge port basin. You can leave by the other end and start a new adventure: the viaduct bridge to the south of the basins allows for a height of 16 m, which enables many coasters with less than 1.5 m of draught to have a sail in the tranquillity of the Salses lake (or Leucate lake) and why not, to sail up to Port Barcarès using the inland waterways if your height does not exceed 7 metres. It is a disadvantage for unrepentant sailors: to return to the waters of the Mediterranean you need to sail to the north and leave by Port Leucate.
