The route starts at the viaduct: easy parking.
(S/E) Follow the path below, running parallel to the road. Beautiful view of the viaduct and its foundations.
(1) Go round the small headland jutting out into the sea and join the path leading to the first hut on the Ors Channel via a narrow passage.
(2) The Ors channel is a major oyster-farming site. It is the longest on the island (1.5 km). Continue straight ahead.
(3) Note the wide variety of oyster huts. Some have been renovated, others are abandoned, a symbol of the crisis in vocations that is also affecting the oyster farming trade. Look out for the hut with the somewhat eccentric exterior decoration (see photo)! Keep going straight on, up to the roundabout with the three small colourful huts at La Chevalerie and on to the old little station.
(4) The old Chevalerie station was part of the railway line that ran from the south to the north of the island. All the details are on display inside. Continue to the Saint-Trojan roundabout and follow the cycle path to the hamlet of Grésillon. At the first bend, take the path on the right and you’ll come to an enclosure where you can see a llama, an alpaca, goats and a billy goat.
(5) Follow the path through three consecutive 90° bends to reach the D26. Cross it with care (no pedestrian crossing) and head towards La Chevalerie by continuing straight ahead.
(6) The village of La Chevalerie borders that of Ors. The narrow streets provide shelter from the winds blowing in from the Atlantic. Go straight on for a few metres along Rue Gilbert Ranson, turn right onto Rue des Pêcheurs, then left onto Rue des Forges.
Turn left onto Rue du Marais, then right onto Rue des Côtines, and follow it to Rue des Vignerons. Just before Impasse des Sternes, turn left to reach Route du Viaduc. Follow it to the right for about fifty metres, then turn left onto a path leading to the D734. Cross carefully and take the path opposite; turn right a little further on and head back towards the D734.
Follow it for 50 metres, then turn left in front of the K-bane restaurant. Cross the small bridge visible on the right, then cross the salt marshes.
(7) From here, you have a fine view of the old slipway at the Rocher d’Ors. Before the jetty (1938–1966), this slipway allowed boats to reach the port of Chapus (Bourcefranc) regardless of the tidal range. Make your way to the dolmen.
(8) The Ors dolmen, also known as La Piare in the Saintongeais dialect, or La Pierre Pouille or La Grosse Pierre, is the remains of a burial mound. From the nearby former jetty, there is a fine view of the Coureau d’Oléron and the viaduct. Make your way quickly to the
viaduct (S/E).