For those that read yesterdays posting about day one - theres more! Oh yes indeed! Tune in for tomorrows final leg ;) Day 2 - 21st June loomed bright and breezy, I was a tad worried about the weather as I heard strong winds during the night but it was fine, it was a little overcast but thats not a bad thing either, ahh actually yes it is as you tend not to put on quite so much suncream and then forget to take it with! We were heading out today for the furthest point from us Saint Clement des Baleines where the lighthouses are, a very popular attraction as the lighthouse is open as a viewing gallery and also there is a museum to peruse as well. BUT we were not going to be going there for these attractions but just to see what its like off road and we were loving it! We stopped for a new map at the Office de Tourisme on the outskirts of Les Portes on Ré, just like the lady in La Flotte the young lady was extremely helpful and so friendly, she also informed me it was 32 degrees and climbing! Ah, thats why were really, really hot then! She even reminded me to make sure we kept drinking (water) and to stop when we felt tired or dizzy, so sweet! She was thrilled when I mentioned we were off to the Bird Sanctuary, its a place that doesnt attract many tourists this time of year apparently! Our route would take us through the Fier dArs, Lilleau des Niges nature reserve,which is a wonderful and natural area for many kinds of bird life, there is also a Bird Sanctuary you can pay to visit at La Maison du Fier which is run by the LPO - well worth a visit by the looks of it but we decided we would see probably as much on the cycle path so stuck to that. We did see lots of Black Headed Seagulls, Albatross, Egrets and Black Winged Stilts. Our next stop was the very busy town of Ars en Ré the church steeple stands out from miles away, the black stands out whether the sky is the electric blue we had or Winter grey! As it was market day, so we decided to carry on and come back later when it would be much quieter! In the meantime we would carry on through pine forests to our destination.. Le Phare - and it felt quite far as well! We had a bite to eat and then walked up to the sea wall and the beach oooh and the cool, cool sea - actually it was quite warm but very welcome to the pedal warmed feet! By now it was hitting about 30 degrees, so we chilled for a while and watched the world go by. As we still had to get back to Ars en Ré for dinner we decided to leave the beach and the sea to start the next stage back....the good thing about the Island is the paths all lead you to where you need to go! So back up yes up hill despite what is said it is NOT flat but luckily it was through the pine forests so plenty of shade! It was a bit early to eat by the time we arrived back so we went for Apperos in the harbour and met the most fabulous waiter Douglas, who had time to talk to us (as it was the end of his shift) we ended up putting the worlds to rights and finding out how it was living on the Island 12 months of the year, he and his partner as he says are ok as they inherited a family house, living here in the summer is great and seasonal work is always good as the other six months of the year can be used for travelling and surfing turns out he is an avid surfer so goes South to indulge his sport - last year he went to Australia and surfed whilst his girlfriend did her diving! He loves his life and intends to bring up their children (when they decided to settle) as its a great place, very friendly and good schools (winter can be a bit uncertain as there isnt much to do, so a lot of drunks are found!) We had such a lovely chat it was a shame he had to leave! We decided to go into centre ville to have a wander, maybe take some photos, and walked slap bang into a wedding party, sadly I couldnt quite reach the Bride and Groom - it was a day off but the thought of capturing them leaving in their little blue sports car did certainly pass my mind, but there were too many guests in the way! So it was finally time to eat and what a wonderful dinner we had at Le Clocher Hotel hotel-le-clocher/ I had Dorade, a first for me, it was delish and of course Mr PJP went with the Moules! Afer a long, hot but fabulous adventure we were pretty starving and it was worth the wait! Of course we still had to cycle back after eating so headed off just as a band was getting going! The ride back was actually quite unpleasant by the time we got back to the first nature reserve the midges were out in force - thank goodness for sunglasses, at this time a hat and some kind of full suit of armour would have been useful as well! It really didnt do much to make you want to be out on the bikes at this time of the day, and did take away some of the pleasant feeling wed had, but thankfully on the other side, back into vineyard territory and they all but disappeared! Funnily enough I didnt spot any swifts or swallows as I would have thought that it would have been a gourmet feast for them! So after a (what we thought was a quick freshen up!) it was to the one of the beaches of Bois Plage en Ré for what I hoped would be some fabulous sunset captures, we left it too late though, and the sun had left us leaving beautiful colours however! The sea was once again welcome to our poor hot feet, and the sky was still quite spectacular! After sun set we sat with all the other people who like us were just enjoying the last of the day, being as it was the longest day and the first day of Summer where else could be more perfect? Across the sea to the Vendée we could see flashes and some amazing orange colours from fork lightning and rather large rumbles going on! It didnt come our way thankfully! Back at base we enjoyed sitting out on our balcony and enjoying the last of the days warmth. Tonight I learned from yesterday and went around opening all the windows and leaving them on the security catch, at least it was a tad cooler inside. We tallied up our cycle of the day and we had roughly covered 60 kms (including yes - you guessed it - the routes we found that took us away from the cycle paths!) We spent most of the day in extreme heat and funny I did point out that if we were at home we would not have been out cycling in the heat! Its strange how you just go with the holiday flow isnt it? Going back through the photos and looking at the birds and the way of life of the island seems so far away from what we are used to inland! And the sheet this warm Saturday night - well it was not all one sided thats for sure :)
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 09:00:02 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015