 |
| Cycling on Ile de Ré |
I don’t know about where you are,
but the weather here in our little bit of French paradise is quite horrid
today. I have decided we need a day trip out, so come with me as I return to
the sunnier days of last September when we did our very own Tour de France, or
at least a Tour de Ile de Ré.
Ile de Ré is a small island (30
km long) just off the coast of La Rochelle in the Charente-Maritime department
and is about an hour and a half drive from us. It is a very popular holiday
destination and home to some very exclusive (and expensive) hotels and
accommodation. It is accessed by a 3km bridge, that when you approach by bike
like we did, looks very imposing and a little intimidating. We left home at 8
o’clock in the morning with the church bells ringing the Angelis and the sound
of gunshot echoing in the distance, as the first Sunday of the hunting season
got under way. We had a couple of near misses on route as a ‘lucky’ fox dashed
in front of the car, causing Ade to make an emergency stop and just as we approached
La Rochelle we saw our first ever sighting of a wild boar, just out for a
stroll on the dual carriageway. Hunting season or no hunting season, I didn’t
think much of his survival chances poor thing.
 |
| The bridge from La Rochelle |
There is a large car park with
viewpoint (belvedere) just before you enter the tolls for the bridge and this is where we
left our car, for free, for the day. The tolls are quite pricey in high season
(from 20th June to 11th Sept) at 16€ for a car, outside
of these dates it is a more reasonable 8€, and Ade wanted the challenge of
cycling over the bridge. The original plan had been for Ed and I to take our
bikes over on the shuttle bus and meet up with Ade on the island. However, as
we left we were talking to Pierrette, our neighbour who is in her seventies,
and she casually slipped into conversation that she would be happy to cycle
over the bridge too. We were not alone in leaving the car and packing up day
bags and picnics onto bicycles, there were many families with young children
and we all set off to tackle the bridge together.
Ile de Ré can be difficult to
navigate by car as it quickly becomes a very long traffic jam, but with over
100km of marked cycle paths it really is best explored by bike. Not wishing to
brag (too much), with 80kms clocked up over four and a half hours in the saddle
I think we pretty much sampled nearly all these paths, but as it is flat and
open it was very easy cycling. Once we are back to our summer fitness levels
I’m sure we will return to see our favourite sights again, at the moment I
can’t imagine completing that distance in one day!
 |
| La Flotte, Ile de Ré |
 |
| Ile de Ré salt |
Our first stop for morning coffee
was the busy port of La Flotte, where we even struggled to find space to
leave the bikes, as everyone (on the entire island) seemed to have the same
idea. Fuelled up with coffee and dark chocolate (and coke for Ed) we continued
to follow the coast to St Martin-de-Ré and on towards Ars-en-Ré, cycling through vineyards, salt marshes,
and past wading birds, oyster bars with fantastic views and unfortunately more hunters. We picnicked in the pretty village
of Loix and made it to the lighthouse of the whales ‘Phare des Baleines’ for a
mid afternoon ice-cream break. Energy levels were again topped up with beer or coke and snacks before we cruised back to the bridge, which seemed a lot
steeper from this direction. Tired but very pleased with ourselves, and
especially with Ed who wasn’t quite 12, this really marked the high point of
our 2012 summer of cycling. Now all we need is for some nice weather to get back
out on our bikes – fingers crossed for this weekend.
 |
| Oyster bar with view Ile de Ré |
 |
| Phare des Baleines, Ile de Ré |
 |
| At the end of the day on Ile de Ré |
The Ile de Ré sounds wonderful. I've always wanted to visit - hopefully one day!
ReplyDeleteTake your bikes and I'm sure you'll have a great time.
Delete