île de Ré

Our flight from London to La Rochelle was thankfully a lot less eventful than the one to London, no delay this time. Formalities were also rather a lot quicker, La Rochelle must have one of the smallest airports I've ever been to.

We arrived safely at Puilboreau. There's been plenty of renovation done since I came last time, I could hardly recognize the place! Things started into a rather nice routine, with Francoise and Etienette feeding us with their delicious food, us talking walks in the surrounding countryside with Joel, and of course, most importantly, games of Scrabble with Joel! (I even managed to pinch a victory here and there, something I was very proud of!)

The next day, we headed off to the nearby île de Ré, a wonderful little island just off La Rochelle, for a bit of a family outing. Joel and Francoise took the car, and me and Mathilde cycled, taking the big suspension bridge across to the island. We arrived at the island, at the first village, Rivedoux-Plage, after some rather heavy pedalling. From there we headed off to La Flotte, where we had a rendez-vous with Joel and Francoise for lunch.

La Flotte is your typically picturesque île de Ré village, with its tidy, well preserved white houses and little fishing port (well, not so many fishing boats left anymore, it has to be said...). We enjoyed a very tasty the picnic lunch by the seaside, observing the sky with some worry, as it was getting greyer and greyer.

As me and Mathilde jumped on our bikes and continued towards Saint-Martin-de-Ré, our worries were confirmed, as it started raining. And I mean seriously raining, not your minor downpour, more like your cats and dogs variant of rain, unfortunately. So we cycled past the impressive Vauban fort without paying it much notice, and took refuge in the first cafe we came across, where we had an overpriced "fake cappuccino" (coffee with whipped cream - that's not a bloody cappuccino!).

Unfortunately, the rain didn't relent, so we decided to visit the rather prestigious church (the original church on the site dates back to the 11th century, whereas the current incarnation was built during the 17th century). The main draw of the church is a climb up to the bell tower, from where there are quite stunning views over the town. 

The church touristy stuff done, the rain still showed no signs of calming down. Thankfully there are plenty of shops in Saint-Martin, so shopping it was then! I bought a pair of shoes! Eventually, we'd been to all the shops, and yes, you guessed it, the rain kept pouring down. So eventually, after buying some rain capes, we decided to cycle down to Sainte-Marie-de-Ré, where we were planning to stay the night.

We were staying at a friend of Francoise's house, a charming little place right near the main square of the village. After settling in, and having a warm shower, we headed off for dinner. Francoise had scouted out a nice little restaurant called Le Bistrot du Bar A Quai, located just down the road, for the occasion.
We had a very nice meal there, the food was good and the company even better!

The next day, we god up, surprised to find the sky was blue! Keen to make the best of the good weather, we jumped on our bikes and headed off to explore. We made a stop at La Couarde-sur-Mer, a nice little village (again, a very harmonious place, with its nice church, and white, well-maintained houses). We stopped for a coffee and some cakes, and explored the village for a bit, after which we headed on, keen to continue our exploration of the island.

The next section of our bike ride took us through some marches, which were  historically (and still, it would seem?) used for sea salt production. Very picturesque little place, reminds me of what we saw in the Vendee last year. Perfect for cycling as well, as is the whole island.

The main objective of our bike ride was the Phare des Baleines lighthouse, located right at the far end of the island. We arrived early afternoon, a bit earlier than expected. I have to admit I was a little bit disappointed by the place - I was expecting a windswept lighthouse in rugged terrain. It is probably windswept, but all the touristy shops along the road leading up the lighthouse (and the tourist crowds that went with it all) was a bit disappointing. So rather than going up to the top of the lighthouse, we decided to head off back towards La Rochelle instead.

On the way back, we stopped by yet another pretty village, Ars-en-Ré. All the village on the island are actually pretty similar - all very picturesque, well maintained and well preserved. We had a quick tour around the village, and then carried on. We cycled back towards the bridge, cycling by the southern coastline this time, taking in some pretty splendid views across windswept beaches.

After cycling across the bridge, we eventually arrived at Puilboreau, rather tired but very happy after a couple of great days on the island!