Duchesse Anne dike

The Digue de la Duchesse-Anne is a dike built on ancient coastlines that separated the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel from the marshes of Dol in northeastern Brittany. The dike extends for about thirty kilometers from the tip of Château-Richeux (south of Cancale) in the west to the hill of Saint-Broladre in the east. The dike was probably started in the 11th or 12th century on the initiative of the dukes of Brittany to protect the sensitive areas against the flooding of the sea. The dike was further strengthened and extended in the following centuries. The dike of the west, which extends the dike of the Duchesse-Anne to the mouth of the Couesnon, was built in the middle of the 19th century. The dike of the Duchesse-Anne is located on the territory of the municipalities of Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes, Le Vivier-sur-Mer, Cherrueix and Saint-Broladre. The dike has now been largely converted into a greenway and is part of the EuroVelo cycle route. The dike also offers a beautiful view of the bay and the island of Mont-Saint-Michel.

The Digue de la Duchesse-Anne (also Duchesse-Anne-Damm or Brittany dam) separates the bay of Mont Saint-Michel from the Marais of Dol de Bretagne. The dike extends about thirty kilometers from the point of Château-Richeux (south of Cancale) in the west to the rise of Saint-Brodladre in the east. When exactly the construction of the dike began is unknown, probably in the 11th or 12th century on the initiative of the Dukes of Brittany.
Today, the Digue de la Duchesse Anne is almost continuously expanded as Voie Vert and in the Baie du Mont-Saint-Michel, among other things, the route of the EuroVelo Cycle Route 4.

La Digue, known as Chaussée de la Duchesse Anne, with a development of around 36 km, protects the Dol marsh from the invasion of the sea since the first works carried out, according to tradition, in the 11th or 12th centuries on coastal cords . Over fifteen thousand hectares in twenty-three municipalities are thus preserved from the invasions of the sea.
BZH Heritage Source