“It’s great, really special”: discovering the Salins de Villeroy and the Thau lagoon on horseback

Pour la balade dans l’étang, prévoyez plutôt des vieilles chaussures. MIDI LIBRE – KELMAN MARTI

Le centre équestre de Sète est à l’origine de ces balades hippiques et aquatiques.

In the middle of August, the weather is stifling in the city center of Sète. Almost unbreathable. 3 km away, on the other side of the Saint-Clair, the situation is completely different. The south wind gives a great breath of fresh air. Especially to a family of Dutch tourists, exhausted by the heat of the city center. On this day, they came especially to discover a secluded part of the singular island: the Salins.

The clock shows 4 p.m. The group of nine is complete. Philippe Perrot, manager of the equestrian center, shows us our mount, equips us and explains how to handle a horse, because there are almost only novices. For us, it will be "the sweet Prunelle". "You, you are older, we can put you on a more complicated horse. We have to protect the youth who are with us", he says humorously to two other people in the group. Nothing better than Philippe's jokes to liven up a ride that is done at a walking pace. Besides, it is already 4:30 p.m. Direction Les Salins.

Act I: The Salt Marshes

In a row, the horses do very well on their own. This allows us to appreciate the environment in which we are evolving all the more. Thanks to the authorizations of the equestrian center, we left the white paths of pieces of shells to go directly to the salt marshes. On most of them, there is no water, but forests of samphire and saladella.

“The salt marshes are filled with a system of valves and thanks to sea water. When the level of the Mediterranean is low, the basins are not always full. “It's the Agglo that takes care of it,” answers Philippe Perrot to the question of an amateur rider. The ground is therefore white: “It's the salt!”

And as the manager of the equestrian center likes to remind us: “Water is life.” “Right now, there are no shrimps and no fish, so no flamingos. On the other hand, we can see terns and avocets,” he points out, while a strong smell of mussels rises to the nose because of the algae that swarm under the blazing sun.

Act II: the Thau pond

Now for Act II of the ride, the “woaw” part, unusual and fun, swimming in the pond. The group suddenly splits up. Some horses don't want to get wet. They're not afraid of water. They just don't want to “cool off”.

“The water must be over 30 °C, I understand them. As soon as it is cooler, they have no problem going there", comments Philippe. Once they get back, they finally get used to it. A touch of magic reigns in the air pushed by a southerly wind. "Finding yourself on horseback in a pond is great, really special", says Jennifer, accompanied by her daughter Lilou. Time seems frozen and the moment of plenitude with the Saint-Clair in the background could last for hours.

However, we have to go back. It is 5:30 p.m. The single file returns to the equestrian center. The enchanted interlude of the day's tourists, far from the crowds of the coast or the city center, is over. Back to reality, with shoes turned into sponges…

The equestrian center offers one to two rides per day at 25 € per person. Reservations recommended. I subscribe to read the rest