Back to the Mainland

We woke up to sunshine in a clear blue sky - there’s some cirrus around so we know rain is on its way in a day or two.

First stop this morning was La Flotte which is a small town just before the bridge back to the mainland. We parked in the dedicated motorhome parking area just outside the town and walked through the town and down to the harbour. The tide was out and all of the boats were sitting in thick mud - the Atlantic coast is so very different from the Mediterranean. We wandered around the harbour and then followed the coast path until the houses ran out. We then made our way back to Kiki by a circular route.

After coffee we drove a few km to Le Fort la Pree which is the oldest military building on the island. Unfortunately it was closed so we carried on over the bridge back to the mainland. We liked the Ile de Re, particularly as there are lots of easy to follow cycle paths which means that you can pretty much cycle everywhere.

We stopped at a very random MH service point in a tiny village called Charon where we we able to empty and fill for free. A little further on we found a picnic area next to a canal where we stopped for lunch. Sadly we weren’t as prepared as our French neighbours who had a fully laden picnic table complete with table cloth, cutlery and wine glasses - they certainly do lunch in style!

En-route to our stopping place for the night, we visited a couple of menhirs and a dolmen. The menhirs were quite large - perhaps 10m tall and were located in a pretty little grassy area in the middle of a cornfield. The dolmen was quite impressive, as it was intact and contained the original stones blocking off the individual burial chambers.

A little further on we came to Talmont where we’re stopping in the Aire de Camping Car. We parked up and bought our parking ticket before heading out for a walk around the nearby lake. This didn’t take very long so we extended our walk by following a waymarked route around the village - I remarked to Emma that it was a bit like “beating the bounds”.

On returning to Kiki we sat outside and read for a while before supper.

After eating, we took a quick walk the other way around the lake before settling down for the night.