Camping in the Vendee

The next stop on our trip was, as mentioned previously, the Vendee department, more specifically Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez. The plan was to spend a week there camping with Joel and Francoise, and other various other members of the family.

The Vendee is known as a rather traditionalist part of France, with a lot of Royalist ties (in fact, nearly 200,000 Vendeans were killed during a peasant revolt against the revolutionary government in 1793). These days it’s also very popular with tourists, due to the fact that the Vendean coastline is blessed with 200km of sandy beaches, all within easy striking distance from Paris. The Vendee is very much oriented towards camping, so the tourism is pretty different here compared to say our dear Cote d’Azur.

Saint-Hilaire is a typical example of this – basically the entire coastline is covered by camping grounds. The one we were staying at is conveniently located near the sea, by a nice forested area. Me and Mathilde were roughing it out in a tent, behind Joel’s and Francoise’s camping trailer (the neighbouring ones were occupied by Francoise’s son Marc and his family, and Marc’s in-laws on the other side). Mathilde’s nieces and nephews Alix, Paul and Lucas were also camping with us.

We took it pretty easy the first couple of days, doing what people do on campings (chill out on the beach, eat well, drink well, chill out and so forth). French campings are a bit different from Finnish ones – definitely better equipped. More like holiday camps, if you ask me. I like the comfort, but miss the touch of wilderness you get in Finland. All in all, it was all very relaxing.

The water is a bit chillier than on the Mediterranean, that’s for sure, but on the other hand the beaches are a lot less crowded, as well. It was fun watching the kids in action as well; Paul and Lucas wreaking their mayhem, Alix hanging out with Marc’s daughter Emma. And great to meat little Iloh as well, finally!

On Tuesday we decided it was time to do something else than lie on the beach and “hang out at the camping ground”, so we decided to visit the Salt evaporation ponds for which the Vendee used to be very famous for. We were treated to a pretty interesting guided visit – a pretty successful mixture of history, theory, practical demonstration, with a bit of “fun for kids” thrown in for good measure. The guide was pretty enthusiastic, and the old salt worker looked authentic enough, with a suitably difficult accent to decipher (well, for me at least). And what’s most important, the kids had a great time!

The next day, we were meeting up with Delphine, Christophe, Servanne and Stephane (friends of Mathilde from her student days) as well as their kids. We headed out to a nice little picnic spot (arguably, as it was located by one of the busiest routes in the Vendee), where we had a nice little picnic lunch. Meanwhile, we observed the difference between how boys and girls play: the girls built a nice little hut, whereas the boys were bashing each other, trees and the girls’ hut with big wooden sticks. Anyway, everybody had a great time, that’s the most important thing! We then wrapped up the day by chilling out on the beach, and swimming among the huge Atlantic waves…

For the evening, Francoise had prepared a proper Vendean meal. Things kicked off with a Trouspinette, a Vendean aperitif, made from blackthorn, wine and some eau de vie. The main course was ham with mogettes (white beans), as Vendean as a meal can get, apparently. The high- or low-light (depends on how you want to interpret it) of the evening was the “44”, though. This rather magical brew is concocted, more or less, in the following manner: take a fair dose of (preferably home-distilled, naturally) Eau de Vie (such as Mathilde’s grand mum’s famous Calvados), put an orange in it, add 44 coffee beans, 44 sugar cubes add some clove, and let the mixture “marinate” for 44 days. The end result is rather delicious, but also deviously dangerous, as me and Marc found out after having a few glasses too many… After a friendly brawl in the hedge, we wisely decided to go to bed (as promised though, no headache the next morning!).


On Thursday, the bad weather forecast came true, unfortunately, and the rain started coming down. Good thing then that we got some tickets for the circus for the evening, then. Must be about 25 years since the last time I went to the circus, I reckon (well, apart from seeing Cirque du Soleil in London a few years back). In a way, I was kind of looking forward to rekindling those childhood memories. So how was it then, in the end? Well, I had a good time, which is most important, right? Some of the numbers could do with a bit of improvement, but it was kind of nice to take in a bit of good old fashioned entertainment, for a change. And it kind of fit in with the while camping spirit of our holiday, I suppose…

On Friday, we were meeting up with another friend of Mathilde’s, Elodie, at Noirmoutier. Noirmoutier is an island, located in the northern part of the Vendee. The island is blessed with a bit of a micro-climate, being blessed with as many hours of sun per year as Carcassone (located in the South of France). Hence, there are plenty of holiday homes on Noirmoutier, which are gradually replacing the traditional industries of salt making and fishing. We started out exploration of Noirmoutier at the main town of the island, called Noirmoutier-en-l'Île. It’s a charming enough town, with nice restaurants and cute little cobble-stoned streets – mass tourism hasn’t quite taken over yet. From there, we walked along the eastern coastline, taking in the Reserve Naturelle de Mullembourg (a protected piece of marshland) and the bois de la Chaize – a nice little woodland area with plenty of impressive villas.

We met up with Elodie after crossing the bois de la Chaize, and decided to have lunch at a nice seaside restaurant. Our stomachs filled, we carried on with our exploration (after all, now we had a local guide – Elodie used to live on the island). We particularly like an old fishing village called Le Vieil – it had a rather authentic touch to it.

We decided to drive back across a rather unique road called Le Passage du Gois. It connects the island to the mainland – but only during low tide. During high tide, the road is covered by water (so basically, twice a day, then). It is not the only road of its type – but what makes this particular road impressive is its length – it measures 4.5 kilometres. The crossing was definitely more interesting than driving across the bridge, so it’s something I would definitely recommend to anybody paying this island a visit.

That brought an end to our week in the Vendee, as it was time to pack up and leave Saturday morning. It was not the kind of holiday we would normally do, but we both enjoyed it. And great to see Muriel’s little kids growing up!