Return to the Island

Wednesday the 21st and we went to Ile de Re for our second visit of the holiday. So why, you ask is there a photograph of a queue of traffic. Well this is not just any traffic - this is "getting on to the island traffic". And it is not just any "getting on to the island traffic", this is the melee of traffic, a melee of eight lanes trying to crush into one lane after we queued for 10 minutes waiting for the tolls to reopen as the bridge was full. Once through (having paid the €16 eco-toll) it took another 10 minutes to actually get on to the bridge and the best part of 5minutes to travel the 3km over the bridge. We had the sense it was going to be busy on the island that day. We found a spot on one of the beaches of Le Bois-Plage en Re and lolled about reading and staring around. There were lots of English voices all around. The beach was adjacent to a pretty big five star camp site which also had a restaurant open tout le monde and we ended our stay on the beach with a very pleasant and civilised lunch. The picnic we brought was destined to return to Nantilly untouched.
We had a second session on the beach, further along the south coast and stayed until the incoming tide forced off the beach and therefore set up a visit to St-Martin-de-Re

So what is a picture of a busy beach doing next to a description of a visit to SMDR? Where is the port and the ice cream shop? Well, we approached the town from the west and attempted to park in one of the car parks on that side of the port - they were full. So we returned to the main road and headed for the large car park by the Citadelle on the east side, which was very busy but we found a space. As we walked past the Citadelle we turned right (east) instead of left (to the harbour) with an idea of investigating the Citadelle. This proved a non-starter as the whole of the area is strictly no entry as it is all clearly part of the prison. It is amazing how there are no signs identifying this huge area as a gaol. Yet it is home to France’s largest correctional facility, and until 1938 was the departure point for convicts bound for the French penal colonies. Walking past the Citadelle, turn the corner and viola the beach - and very nice it looked too.

Thursday the 22nd and our looked for visit to Ile de Madame happens. And we weren't the only people to have the idea. There were lots of cars in the car park and a constant stream of people and vehicles crossing the causeway. We stuck to our plan to do the 6km round trip walk and we were very glad to discover a footpath on the other side of the causeway to be able to leave the traffic behind. The island fortress has a particular piece of grisly 18th century history in that 700 priests were sent to the island in and around 1794 of which 254 died of disease and there bodies disposed of in a large funeral pyre, now marked with a large cross consisting piled up rocks in a field.

Dozens of carrelets on Ile Madame

The fort can only be visited with a guide at set times and we were not disposed to wait for the next tour, nor pay the €4 each required. The path around the island makes for a pleasant stroll and about halfway round you discover the reason for all the traffic. In a 40+ place car park and along the sides of the road were in excess of 100 vehicles the passengers of which could be seen havering around the exposed rock pools collecting oysters and mussels. This was the first couple of hours since the low tide and those in the know (a lot of people) knew that there was free, rich pickings. A return to Brouage for lunch and then home.
The plan for Friday was a trip to Fouras and a visit to Ile D'Aix, which had been thoroughly recommended by Michael and Anne-Marie when they visited us early in the holiday. However we changed the plan and decided on a big bicycle adventure. We cycled to Rivedoux on Ile de Re. Now clearly for the likes of Bradley Wiggins such a trip is a mere warm up but for us the 11km journey to Rivedoux was something of a challenge.

The journey took about 90 minutes which included a couple of stops for short rests and to confirm that we would carry on. The trip across the bridge was a bit windy - as was one of the excursion's participants.
A comfortable bench by the shore provided the perfect place to recover from the journey and a few yards away was La Chaloupe bar-restaurant - that provided a very decent meal on the terrace, before the return journey. It was with some regret that we left La Chalopue as that evening there going to be live music billed as Soul Revival.
Well we made it back - but that was not the end of the day's events.

After a short, post-22km-bike-ride-power nap we headed in to LaR and to the home of Atlantique Stade Rochelais, the local Rugby Union equipe. They were playing a friendly against Agen and we secured a couple of excellent seats in one of the grandstands. This was the second time we have been to a match here. The first time we had "standing only" tickets for an area behind one of the goalposts. I thought it much more enjoyable to be in good seats, though one has to say they did cost €27 each.

All in all a super day.

Saturday 24th
Mostly a day of catching up with things domestic and professional but by 4pm we felt well and truly caught up so we drove into LaR for a final tootle around the Old Port area. It was great to see it teeming with people and activity and we also discovered that there are ferries to Ile D'Aix from LaR - no need to drive to Fouras first. We thought that this was a real possibility for Sunday and could even fit in to our hoped for game of golf in the late afternoon.

I started writing this post bright and early on Sunday morning, I say bright and early but it is not particularly early and it is certainly not bright - in fact it is pouring down. The various weather forecasting sources indicate it will progress throughout the day from showers to rain to thunderstorms, by late afternoon and not clearing until 10pm. Looks like the last full day of our holiday will be the first to be disrupted by bad weather.