The shops are shut… (26/10)

Wo knew that the supermarkets shut on a Sunday in France, not me, “A day of rest”, just make sure you have your tatties in for the roast or you’re stuffed….

Anyway…

A trip to La Rochelle and Il De Rey island today.  It’s over 20 years since I was last in La Rochelle, a family holiday to I think caravan accommodation, kids were very young and it was great fun.  Driving through parts of t today I had zero recollection of any places I might have visited on that previous occasion.   

So it was on to todays main attraction, parking up and then cycling over a rather large bridge to Il De Rey Quite handy was that they have ample free parking just before the toll section of the bridge.  Parked, changed, checked the bike was all good and off I went.

The trip across the bridge was pretty cool.  The views to the island were great, plus seeing various speed boats and a catamaran on the sea helped get into the holiday mood.

The nasty tolls 💶 

Start of the path for the bridge

The path over was really good, smooth and only for cyclists, other side had a walkers/runners path.  Bit a a climb first half then wheeeeeee down the other side, almost two miles in total.

Then it was onto the island of Il De Rey, scenic, pretty, and i think rather expensive given the size of most homes.  Cycling paths very well marked out and even when using roads drivers were very considerate (which ive found all over France).

I stopped off to take the above photo, to give an idea of the incredible infrastructure that the bridge is, unfortunately my photography skills not quite getting the image across. Hey, it has my bike in it though so thats what counts really 😃 

After a few miles on the island I felt a tweak in my hamstring, nothing bad but decided to take a different route back, fair enough having to go back but at least see other parts of the island while doing it ! The tweak is my own fault, I wasnt cycling much at all before I came on this trip and have cycled 3 out of the last 5 days - oops.  Thankfully a bit of a stretch back at the campsite and all seems fine.

On the way back I saw quite a few fisherman on the beach, fishing on the Atlantic Ocean, living the dream 🎣 

Photo from just above the car park looking over to the island.

Back over the bridge, back to the van, changed and off to the supermarket to get something for food later on…..or not (see above).  Thankfully I have plenty of food in the van, just fancied something different.

Back to the site, shower, food, chat with Louise, listen to the Rangers game (they won, yippee) and start getting ready for my next campsite stop off tomorrow - Bordeaux

#vanlife #vwcampervan #roadtrip