Hurrah! Albeit just a little bit of journaling, I do have some writing to fall back on for this post:
(21st - 26th June)
Île de Ré is just off the coast so we didn't really have much a drive ahead of us once we'd checked out of our hotel in La Rochelle. We did, however, need to pick up lunch and supplies for our cabin and as our camp ground was practically at the furthermost tip of the island, so it was still almost 4pm by the time we arrived at our new digs.
We were staying a La Phare, and our initial thoughts were good. We hadn't managed to get a premium cabin so even though our bedrooms were pretty pokey and there wasn't a great deal of space between units, our digs were still immaculately clean and modern and the whole site felt fresh and trendy, and we we immediately settled into the campsite vibe.
With five nights booked, we were able to unpack properly and once this was out of the way, we headed straight for the pool to enjoy the little bit of sunshine that we were being rewarded with. It was just great, feeling a little sunshine on our exposed skin, and letting William play in the pool. With it being so long since he's been swimming (bloody covid), he wasn't too confident in the water though and needed quite a bit of coaxing to move into the deeper parts of the pool. It's early days though, and I'm sure he'll be back into it in no time.
The sun continued to shine on the Tuesday. Iain and William hired bikes first thing and went adventuring. My back was giving me some jip (likely a result of all the driving / sitting in the car) so I went to the gym and did some rehab. Later in the day, I also got my hands on a lady shopper and we went on a jaunt to the little township close to the campsite: Les-Portes-en-Re. It was absolutely stunning. We managed a bit more time around the pool, and had a simple dinner at home. Campsite holidays definitely work for our family.
On Wednesday, I started the day with some more rehab. The weather wasn't great; overcast and quite cold, so it wasn't going to be a day of lounging by the pool. We decided on a cycle out to the lighthouse on the most westerly tip of the island. It was probably around 10kms each way which is a decent nudge on a city bike when you have a head wind! Fortunately, the entire island is crisscrossed with cycle paths so it was a really cool adventure. You can tell from the photos, however, that it was a bit of windy day out a the lighthouse point!
In the evening, we'd made plans to meet an old rugby contact of Iain's from NZ. Johnny is an S&C coach so there was quite a bit of talking shop but it was also great to share stories about Aotearoa and people we all knew. It also helped that Johnny has three kids so William was suitably entertained while we blethered over a beer.
The weather came good again on the Thursday (so mixed for this time of year!) so we spent quite a bit of the day adventuring on the bikes, playing in the pool, and lounging around in the sun. We went out for dinner at the restaurant onsite and it was simply delightful. Proper holiday day. Hurrah!
The Friday brought yet more brilliant sunshine and we headed to one of Île de Ré's most famous beaches to enjoy the weather: Plage de Trousse Chemise. We timed it absolutely perfectly as the tide was just beginning to come in when we arrived so we saw the huge sand bank, but also saw it getting very quickly eaten up by the Atlantic. William had a ball!
We made an effort on the last night by getting dressed up and headed out for dinner at the restaurant onsite that we'd gone to the night before. It was a momentous evening: William lost another tooth!
All in all, we had a great time at La Phare. It made us realise how much we enjoy the cabin type holiday as it gives us all a bit more space, and there's always stuff for William to do. However, with awful weather on the forecast for the weekend, it was time to more on. Next stop: Bordeaux.
Lorna.
No comments:
Post a Comment