FORT BOYARD - FRANCE
Disclaimer: Some of the images in this story are made with AI, this is to help tell the story where it was not sensible to take my camera out. These images will be clearly marked from genuine photographs.
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First, some history.
The history of the Fort itself is as follows; Fort Boyard is a fort located between the Île-d'Aix and the Île d'Oléron in the Pertuis d'Antioche straits, on the west coast of France. Though a fort on Boyard bank was suggested as early as the 17th century, it was not until the 1800s under Napoleon Bonaparte that work began. Building started in 1801 and was completed in 1857. In 1967, the final scene of the French film Les aventuriers was filmed at the remains of the fort. Since 1990, it is the filming location for the eponymous TV game show. The construction of the fort was first considered during a build-up of the French armed forces undertaken by Louis XIV between 1661 and 1667. Fort Boyard was to form a line of fortification with Fort Enet and Fort de la Rade on Île-d'Aix to protect the arsenal of Rochefort from Royal Navy incursions. With the limited range of artillery in the 17th century, there was an unprotected gap between the fields of fire of the fortifications on the islands of Aix and Oléron; a fort on Boyard bank, roughly midway between the two, would have filled that gap. In 1692 the French engineer Descombs began planning the programme of building the fort; however, once it became clear how expensive it would be the scheme was abandoned. Vauban, Louis XIV's leading military engineer, famously advised against it, saying "Your Majesty, it would be easier to seize the moon with your teeth than to attempt such an undertaking in such a place". After a British raid on Île-d'Aix in 1757, plans for a fort on Boyard bank were once again considered. Though plans were drawn up, it was abandoned again due to the logistical problems. Efforts were renewed under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1800, and the following year engineers Ferregeau and Armand Samuel de Marescot, and Vice-Admiral François Étienne de Rosily-Mesros designed a fort to be built on the bank. To facilitate the work, a port was established on île d'Oléron. The village of Boyardville was built for the workers. The first stage of construction was to establish a plateau, some 100 by 50 m (330 by 160 ft), to act as foundation. To this end, stones were piled up on the bank.
After 1871, Fort Boyard was briefly used as a military prison, and abandoned in 1913, after which the unmaintained fort slowly deteriorated and crumbled into the sea. In 1950 it was made a listed building, and in 1961 was sold to Charente Maritime Regional Council. In 1989, the reconstruction of fort began in preparation for hosting the game show. An access platform for the berth of ships was built 25 meters from it (the old fort pier was destroyed long ago). The fort was completely cleared of a huge layer of guano (50 cm thick). In 1996, artillery platforms were also restored. However, the fort was still exposed to harmful influences from the sea. Therefore, in 1998, additional restoration work was carried out. The outer walls were completely cleaned and the sealing of the terrace completed. The final stage was the restoration of a central courtyard which was completed in early 2004. It has been used as the location for the filming of both the French and international versions of the TV game show of the same name since 1990, and was also the location for filming The Last Adventure, starring Alain Delon, Lino Ventura and Joanna Shimkus.
And a brief history of the gameshow;
Fort Boyard, a French game show developed by Jacques Antoine, was first broadcast on 7 July 1990 (originally as Les Clés de Fort Boyard, however shortened to Fort Boyard from the second series in 1991). Many foreign versions of the show, totalling over 1,800 episodes, have aired around the world since 1990. Set and filmed on the real fortress of the same name on the west coast of France, the programme appears similar to the British game show The Crystal Maze (February 1990 onwards) which was created as an alternative format by Antoine for Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, after the fortress was unavailable to film in because of its then ongoing refurbishment (during 1989). Does anyone actually read these history bits in the reports here? In both programmes the contestants have to complete challenges to win prize-money. However, while The Crystal Maze varies the type of games quite considerably, Fort Boyard tends to focus mainly on physical and endurance challenges. Although Fort Boyard was something of a pioneer in the area of game show fear and adventure, later programmes such as Fear Factor have pushed things even further, requiring Fort Boyard to react and adapt with new twists and games, including a couple of seasons in which the contestants spent the night in the Fort (this proved particularly popular in the French and Russian versions).
Disclaimer: Some of the images in this story are made with AI, this is to help tell the story where it was not sensible to take my camera out. These images will be clearly marked from genuine photographs.
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First, some history.
The history of the Fort itself is as follows; Fort Boyard is a fort located between the Île-d'Aix and the Île d'Oléron in the Pertuis d'Antioche straits, on the west coast of France. Though a fort on Boyard bank was suggested as early as the 17th century, it was not until the 1800s under Napoleon Bonaparte that work began. Building started in 1801 and was completed in 1857. In 1967, the final scene of the French film Les aventuriers was filmed at the remains of the fort. Since 1990, it is the filming location for the eponymous TV game show. The construction of the fort was first considered during a build-up of the French armed forces undertaken by Louis XIV between 1661 and 1667. Fort Boyard was to form a line of fortification with Fort Enet and Fort de la Rade on Île-d'Aix to protect the arsenal of Rochefort from Royal Navy incursions. With the limited range of artillery in the 17th century, there was an unprotected gap between the fields of fire of the fortifications on the islands of Aix and Oléron; a fort on Boyard bank, roughly midway between the two, would have filled that gap. In 1692 the French engineer Descombs began planning the programme of building the fort; however, once it became clear how expensive it would be the scheme was abandoned. Vauban, Louis XIV's leading military engineer, famously advised against it, saying "Your Majesty, it would be easier to seize the moon with your teeth than to attempt such an undertaking in such a place". After a British raid on Île-d'Aix in 1757, plans for a fort on Boyard bank were once again considered. Though plans were drawn up, it was abandoned again due to the logistical problems. Efforts were renewed under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1800, and the following year engineers Ferregeau and Armand Samuel de Marescot, and Vice-Admiral François Étienne de Rosily-Mesros designed a fort to be built on the bank. To facilitate the work, a port was established on île d'Oléron. The village of Boyardville was built for the workers. The first stage of construction was to establish a plateau, some 100 by 50 m (330 by 160 ft), to act as foundation. To this end, stones were piled up on the bank.
After 1871, Fort Boyard was briefly used as a military prison, and abandoned in 1913, after which the unmaintained fort slowly deteriorated and crumbled into the sea. In 1950 it was made a listed building, and in 1961 was sold to Charente Maritime Regional Council. In 1989, the reconstruction of fort began in preparation for hosting the game show. An access platform for the berth of ships was built 25 meters from it (the old fort pier was destroyed long ago). The fort was completely cleared of a huge layer of guano (50 cm thick). In 1996, artillery platforms were also restored. However, the fort was still exposed to harmful influences from the sea. Therefore, in 1998, additional restoration work was carried out. The outer walls were completely cleaned and the sealing of the terrace completed. The final stage was the restoration of a central courtyard which was completed in early 2004. It has been used as the location for the filming of both the French and international versions of the TV game show of the same name since 1990, and was also the location for filming The Last Adventure, starring Alain Delon, Lino Ventura and Joanna Shimkus.
And a brief history of the gameshow;
For some reason I had the song 'Everything in it's right place' by Radiohead in my head for the majority of the trip! To immerse yourself further I would suggest having that on in the background.
Okay, with all that out of the way, make yourself a cup of tea, sit back, and relax.
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I was on the beach in total darkness somewhere on the South West coast of France, getting eaten by mosquitoes and sandflies while I attempted to tie down bags of climbing equipment, food and sleeping gear to two kayaks. I looked out across the now still inky water and in the distance, invisible if not for a small red flashing beacon there loomed a small rectangular structure. It looked like a container ship had sat on the horizon and turned its lights off, the black silhouette barely standing out against the dark sky.
@m9 quietly returned to our Launching spot, no lights as to remain undetected by the groups of fishermen scattered along the beach. "Let's do it" he says, and we pushed our kayaks into the water and began to quietly paddle out into the darkness.
(AI Image)
So what was I doing on a beach in France at night trying desperately to evade detection? Let me take you back to early 2024.
I was in a pub in North London having a catch up with @m9 and @Olkka and a pre-brief of the nights activities. In talking about future projects, @m9 brought up the isolated sea fort of Fort Boyard, famous for the tv show of its namesake popular in the 90's and early 2000's. I used to watch it as a kid and remembered the tigers that would run around the lower courtyard and the old man that lived in the tower. I was interested right off the bat and as such, the planning phase began. The planning of a big mission is almost half of the fun in my opinion; how will we get there, how long will we stay for, what will we do if it all goes tits up. The thought exercise of running through the mission, breaking it up into sections and working through potential speedbumps is all part of the process. We had figured we will need kayaks, climbing equipment, enough supplies to last 2 days (one of which as a contingency) and all our usual camera gear. All of which would have to be transported in dry bags while we make the paddle to reach the fort. All done at night, in the dark.
Fast forward to summer and I've just got picked up by @m9 at the airport. We had a few errands to run before heading to the coast so one by one we gathered the food supplies we would need and then journeyed to our chosen spot. We lumped the kit from the nearest road out to the beach, expecting it to be deserted at this time and isolated nature of the area but we were wrong. Small groups of fishermen were scattered along the beach all with their lures set. Thankfully they spent most of their time in their tents and would only periodically come out to check their lines before dissapearing back into their shelters. We had to go lights-out at risk of ending our trip before it had even begun. You see, in this area of France, all the tourism largely centers around the Fort; boat tours, kayak tours, jet ski tours, even helicopter tours! And considering it was built to keep the British out in the first place, I don't think the locals would have taken very kindly to a couple of limeys having their way with the jewel in their crown.
We pushed off and began to paddle in complete darkness in the direction of our target. Each stroke got us further away from safety and closer to the unknown. After around 15 minutes of paddling I noticed something very peculiar, the agitated water was shimmering like glitter, pale blue glitter. I had never seen bioluminescence before in person and quickly brought @m9's attention to it. With one of the best night skies above and now bioluminescence below it was a truly magical moment. Eventually we reached the Fort. When Napoleon commissioned the fort to be constructed, the engineer in charge Descombs decided to create a foundation made of large rocks and stones to be piled into the sea to create a small island on which to build on; it was low tide at this point and all the rocks and boulders that were laid as foundations were now obstacles for us to navigate around to reach the landing steps. @m9 effortlessly led the way and I followed the course he set, although not so gracefully. After nearly going in I reached the steps and got out of my kayak. This was phase one complete. Now we had to unload the kayaks, transport the gear up the steps to relative safety from the rising tide and begin the climb. I won't go into too much detail about the climb, as not only is it not my place to comment on (as @m9 did literally all the hard yards of this) but I don't want to give you all the answers of this how-to guide you'll have to figure some of it out yourself. All I will say is this, it is not for the faint-hearted and really, really, shouldn't be done if you don't know what you are doing. Once @m9 had summited, this initiated the next step. Haul the gear up. We had around 6 bags, 2 paddles and 2 kayaks to haul up the side of the fort all in darkness. I clipped the gear to the rope and it would soon be on its upward journey and out of sight. Once all the gear was gone it was now my time to ascend the rope. It was beginning to get light now and we had been grafting for close to 8 hours to reach this point. As I clambered over the edge and we began to de-rig, the first engine of the day could be heard. It got closer and closer before cutting out right at the spot we had hauled the gear up from; had we been seen? Who is it? Where can we hide? @m9 peeked his head over the parapit and after watching for a while, determined it was a fisherman getting his first catch of the day. We stashed all of the gear, kayaks included and looked for somewhere to get some rest.
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As we exited the roof and decended to the third floor we got our first taste of the gameshow aesthetics of the Fort. Each door had a different design, themed for the game inside. We passed a slime themed game complete with gunge pit and hydraulically operated gunging-chair. After poking our heads in some more games we pushed open a door at the end of the corridor, behind which was the back of house rooms; dressing rooms, offices, break rooms ect. We decided on the dressing room as our accommodation for the night, it was clean, had a window, was warm and had ample space. We laid out our sleeping gear and set up camp. I got changed out of my wet gear and into some clean dry clothes and got into my sleeping bag, I don't think I've ever fallen asleep so fast. 3 hours later I woke up, rain was battering the window and almighty booms were echoing around the Fort. Flashes of lighting were frequent and followed almost immediately by thunder. We were in the tallest structure for miles so no doubt the lightning was striking nearby. We packed up the sleeping gear and headed up to the tower for some breakfast.
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A very French breakfast was had; baguette, cheese and saucisse as well as a not so french salted cashews. We watched as the rain streamed down the windows of the tower, we had a near-full 360 degree view over the water and saw some sail boats bobbing around in the terrible weather. We thought we'd better get on having a look around the Fort so we headed down again to look in each of the rooms. Most of the rooms are interconnected with small rat runs round the back of the games apparatus, so that the crew can jump from game to game quickly. These small passages are cramped, and trying to move camera gear around in these spaces must be difficult. A few of the rooms utilise bugs in their game, we could tell this by all of the dead insects and foul smells these rooms would give off. Dead cockroaches, mealworms and huge crickets just to name a few. In one of the rooms the smell was so disgusting I couldn't go any further. In another room, the set was covered in fake snow and icicles with headstones and skeletons adorning the floor, it was a norse viking themed room and it looked quite good! At the back of this room there was a small original spiral staircase; we opted to go up a few flights and came into a large store room. Props and equipment littered the area and it was hard to distinguish if it really was a store room or a game. It looked like a weird cross between Alien, Tiger King and Mad Max. Once we had looked around all of the games we arrived the ground floor, on the TV show this is the area where the tigers are roaming, thankfully they were on a break while we were there. Most of the doors here were locked, but as with the game rooms, there are rat runs and back doors that give access to most of the ground floor. The rooms on the ground floor are all maintenance, prop building, storage areas and crew chill out zones with photos stuck on the walls of cast and crew throughout the decades.
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Around this time the sun was beginning to set, and @m9 had a real luxury in his bag; A disposable BBQ! We got a couple of fold out chairs from downstairs and made our way up to the roof. The sky was clear blue and the sun was dousing everything in a golden light. We lit the BBQ with a blowtorch @m9 found lying around and before we knew it 4 delicious sausages were sizzling away as the sun slowly dipped down below the horizon. We shared a couple of Duvels and began our preparations to leave. We gathered all our gear together and put everything into bags so it could be lowered off the roof, then @m9 put his harness on and zipped down to the waters edge. I lowered our kayaks off first so @m9 could attach the bags to the kayaks as I lowered them to him. The whole process was done in a couple of hours and I was soon abseiling off a pull through down to the water. It was pitch black now and the bioluminescence was sparkling as it crashed against the fort. I was the first to get into my kayak and into the water as I needed some help to get in without capsizing. We were both soon in and paddling back to shore, the water was a bit more choppy this time and some course correcting had to be done a few times to reach our landing point. It took a lot longer to reach the shore this time, but the air and water were warm so It didn't matter too much. We then yomped all our gear back to the road, high on the feeling of a successful mission and in need of a good night's kip.
A huge thanks to @m9 for being the lead on this, it was a good adventure for sure!
Until next time...
Some more photos' below...
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Thanks for looking..
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