An extended stay on the Il de Re
We loved the Il de Re that much, that we decided to stay for an extra few days. The weather was fabulous and perfect for cycling and exploring. We visited the light house on the North of the island, it is magnificent, as is the old tower next to it. We enjoyed the slow pace of life and spent the afternoons chilling out and reading by the pool.
On our cycle ride on Tuesday we went past a wine cellar,
we quickly turned the bikes around for a tasting session and left with 3 litre box of Rose - not easy to carry on a road bike!! By Wednesday, we decided we had better move on as we would not have enough time to explore Brittany.
Undiscovered island of Noirmoutier
Most people have heard of the Il’s de Re and Oleron, but like us, probably not Ile de Noirmoutier. We have been loosely following a French road trip in the book ‘Take the Slow Road’ by Martin Dorey that has taken us through some amazing places up the Atlantic coastal road.
What a gem of a find! The island is not as polished and touristy as the others, in fact we were the only British van on the bustling municipal campsite and we only saw one other British couple in the 3 days we were there. It is like a hidden French secret that even the German and Dutch have yet to discover. The picturesque harbour town of Noirmoutier, on the north of the island, was vibrant, with dozens of cafes and restaurants. There is a castle to explore and we cycled the length of the harbour walls to have a picnic and watch the world go by.
There are several campsites on the island, we were aiming for the Camping Huttopia site, however, it was the start of their peak season so the ASCI card was not valid making it over €35 a night. Instead we headed to an aire run by the municipal site at la Gueriniere, it was €11 a night with full use of the campsite facilities including the pool. Infact we decided to stay on the actual campsite in the end as it was only €17 a night including electricity and space to get the awning and bbq out.
The campsite was a bit of a treasure really, located centrally, so we cycled everywhere. It was also only about a kilometre walk to the blockhaus remains on the beach. These are a series of German defence bunkers built during the war to protect the Atlantic coast from allied invasion. They are covered in graffiti art that changes more frequently than the seasons! The photo’s of artwork we had seen on google maps were completely different, so worth a visit each time we visit the island in the future.
Road trip through Brittany
The last couple of days have been spent slowly heading north as we need to be in Caen on Thursday for the ferry home. Where has the time gone??
Our first stop was the historic Breton city of Vannes which has a warren of streets tightly packed with medieval timbered building painted gaily in bright colours. It is a harbour town steeped in history back to Roman times.
Having stayed on campsites for the last few weeks, we decided to head in land to find a park up for the night and ended up in a really pretty town about 20 minutes north of Vannes.
Following the coast round we next headed to the artist town of Pont Aven and had a mooch around the various galleries before heading to our next destination of Concarneau.
We were slightly disappointed with Concarneau, it is a town we had stayed at about 20 years ago in a big family group and we have really fond memories of that holiday. It is certainly a pretty, busy harbour town with the old historic centre inside the walls of the vauban defences. The meandering streets of medieval buildings were very striking, maybe it was the fact that we visited on a wet Saturday afternoon.
However, we did really enjoy our visit to the town of Quimper this morning, it was quiet, with the shops and cafes just waking up. We had the streets to ourselves and could take photo's to ours hearts content.
The health benefits of life on the road
We have been away for over 4 weeks now and I can see the health benefits we have gained quite clearly! We have walked over 120km and cycled over 300km. This sounds a huge amount of exercise and does not include just ambling around the towns and villages. We have found that once we are parked up for a day or 2 it is easier to either walk or cycle everywhere and on the French islands in particular it is so easy to get everywhere on the warren of cycle paths. We had a fab time in the first week hiking in the Picos de Europa mountains of Northern Spain and we have enjoyed many coastal path walks.
We are also eating pretty healthily, although still probably more carb loaded than at home due to lunch being a baguette and cheese most days, but we have not really stocked up on much junk food, if its not there, we can’t eat it!
Now we have a good base of cycle fitness again, we are going to try and get out regularly back at home and over the summer, cycle into our local town instead of driving.
The joys of campsite book exchanges
For the first time in years I am racing through books. One thing I have really appreciated and enjoyed is the campsite book exchanges for 2 reasons:
1. I can ditch books I have read releasing space in the van but more importantly,
2. I have discovered new genres and authors that I would not have previously considered as beggars can’t be choosers finding English books on French campsites. I loved the book ‘five Quarters of an Orange’ by Joanne Harris that I found and have already earmarked other novels she has written for when we get back to the UK. Even Richard found a novel to read!
So, just a few days left to explore northern Brittany before we catch the ferry home. We are really excited to get home as we have lots of people coming to visit us in The Dales and we have a busy weekend in Sandbach with friends and family.
Have a great week
Jackie and Richard x
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