Anyway, this is a testimony of an era, the 1960s, seen today as a carefree time, when tourists came to stay at the Unic-Plage campsite, had lunch at the restaurant des Glycines or at Dieuzaide, and ventured for an excursion to the Renaissance fountain of Roche, then accessible to amateurs.
So, let's linger on the subject of this unusual object: the south facade of the abbey. The so-called Calvin's tower, whose walls are more than two metres thick, is the main vestige of the medieval abbey and gives us an idea of what it was like at the time of its splendour; housing the abbot's room and his study, it takes its nickname from Calvin's visit to the abbot Gérard Roussel. Suspended, the long wooden gallery adorns the long exterior wall, behind which there is still a string of salons, opening through wide French windows. Until the 1980s, it rested on long wooden poles that are clearly visible in old photographs or in Guy Morizet's 1971 drawing; since then, they have been replaced by concrete brackets that take up the shape of those that support the balcony that adorns the tower. At the foot of this proud wall, a large terrace from which a stone staircase descends to the shore; on the side are the two pools of the monks' fishpond, fed by a spring. Today, staircase and basin still exist, but drowned in a deadly vegetation that suffocates them and disjoins the beautiful ashlars. The sleeping abbey is desperately waiting for its prince who will come to wake it up and restore it to its former glory…
Son of Louis Gabriel Castex and Jeanne Malgrat, from Saint-Antoine-de-Ficalba, born in Agen, Fernand Castex (1904-1972) became Clairacais by his marriage in 1928 to Charlotte Cazenille, daughter of the hardware store of the Place Serres. After a year spent in Agen, they moved to Clairac, boulevard des Ormeaux. Sent to the health services in Alsace, when war was declared, he later joined the Resistance, working with Messrs Bize, Faget, Pons. After obtaining a diploma in radio-electrics, he opened a shop on Place Viçose, then rue Jean-Jaurès. It was in the 1950s that he began to paint: from then on, he produced a number of drawings, paintings, engravings… He illustrated certain books, such as one by Jean Caubet on Clairac. A series of his drawings by Clairac was even used to decorate plates that are now highly sought-after.
