A short 15km drive brought us to Ars en Re which is classified as one of the “Plus Beaux Villages de France”. We found the parking place which was described on our favourite park4night app - it’s just a grass carpark but has no height barrier and allows 24hrs parking.
We set out to explore the town - there are lots of old white houses and flowers around. To be honest we weren’t that impressed - we have seen far prettier villages - perhaps it’ll be “plus beaux” later in the year when more flowers are out!
In the village centre there was a sign describing the cycle routes around the northern end of the island. As we made our way back to Kiki we both had the idea take our bikes and explore the rest of the island. We had coffee and then I unloaded our bikes whilst Emma made a packed lunch.
We picked up the dedicated cycle path next to the carpark and followed it for a few km to a junction where we turned left and continued onwards through the village of La Tricherie where we picked up the coast path. We followed this to the Phare des Baleines which is an impressive 60m tall lighthouse. Closer to the sea is the original 30m stone lighthouse which has recently been restored.
We continued onwards, following the coast through the pine forest of Lizay until we came to the village of Le Grand Marchais. There was a small market in the middle surrounded by pretty whitewashed houses. We headed to the coast and stopped for lunch at the Plage de la Chiouse.
After lunch we continued south until we reached La Patache where we rested a while looking out at the flat bottomed boats moored offshore.
Our route back to Kiki was along some superb cycle paths through the nature reserve of the Lilleau. This wetlands area was teaming with birds - we saw swans, moorhens, several herons, little egret and long legged avocet. We finally arrived “home”, having cycled 30km today!
We had our meal and settled down for the evening.
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