Yet another glorious morning and after a leisurely breakfast we drove toward Noirmoutier, the plan being to park in the very large car park on the outskirts of town and cycle around the northern end of the island. As we approached it was clear that Noirmoutier would be very busy today and the car park was filling very quickly. Nevertheless, we found a space, unloaded the bikes and off we rode. There is a market in town today and a very popular one at that. We wandered around and marvelled at the fresh produce and fantastic displays of fish and seafood which never cease to amaze us when we visit France.
Soon the crowds became too much and we cycled along a very long straight track, parallel to one of the many inlets of the sea with a fairly precipitous drop on our right hand side. Made even greater since it was low tide.
As we approached the sea front, it became obvious that there was something else happening in Noirmoutier today. There were lots of people walking down to the beach and cars parked everywhere. We went off to investigate and discovered that it was palourdes season. Hundreds and perhaps even a thousand or so were on the beach digging for clams
After the Palourdes fest we cycled anticlockwise around the island passing numerous camp sites and cars parked everywhere. Beach after glorious beach appeared and was left behind until the LLW insisted on coffee time and we stopped at Le Plage de Mardi Gras. As you can see and in spite of the large number of people on the island, and temperatures of 25C, the beaches were hardly crowded.
It has been an excellent ride and we found the car park quite easily and clearly many of the market goers and palourdes hunters had retreated to whence they came. Back to the apartment for a short while and a chance to catch up on the cricket before driving down to one of the local beaches for a swim which was perfect.
One thing we have not mentioned is the preponderance of Camper Vans! Having used a Camper Van on a number of occasions in New Zealand we thought that NZ was prime territory for said vehicles. How wrong we were. The west coast of France probably has the highest concentration of Camper Vans in the world. Just down the road from our studio apartments is what appears to be the world's largest dedicated Camper Van camp site. So popular that queues form early afternoon of hopeful happy campers waiting for a possible vacancy.
Driving back to the apartment the LLW managed to find a boulangerie patisserie and a small Spar to procure some essentials for dinner. Amazing early on a Sunday evening in France.
Tomorrow we start heading homewards in earnest. A 4 hour drive to Bayeux where we will stop for a couple of hours and then on for a further 40 minutes to Caen where we are booked in to a Priory Hotel in the centre of the city. This should be good for a quick 9 mile journey to Ouistreham and our ferry back to Portsmouth.
It has been an excellent trip and we have loved every minute of it. The weather has been fantastic and indeed we both agreed that 2018 has been the best ever year for holiday weather.
Soon the crowds became too much and we cycled along a very long straight track, parallel to one of the many inlets of the sea with a fairly precipitous drop on our right hand side. Made even greater since it was low tide.
As we approached the sea front, it became obvious that there was something else happening in Noirmoutier today. There were lots of people walking down to the beach and cars parked everywhere. We went off to investigate and discovered that it was palourdes season. Hundreds and perhaps even a thousand or so were on the beach digging for clams
After the Palourdes fest we cycled anticlockwise around the island passing numerous camp sites and cars parked everywhere. Beach after glorious beach appeared and was left behind until the LLW insisted on coffee time and we stopped at Le Plage de Mardi Gras. As you can see and in spite of the large number of people on the island, and temperatures of 25C, the beaches were hardly crowded.
Another 40 mins or so of cycling took us to the village of L'Herbaudier at the very north western tip of the island and a small restaurant was found specialising in Moules frites and excellent the moules were too! We cycled back to Noirmoutiers via a dedicated cycle track which passed through open countryside and hundreds of the salt lakes which so typify the islands off the western coast of France.
It has been an excellent ride and we found the car park quite easily and clearly many of the market goers and palourdes hunters had retreated to whence they came. Back to the apartment for a short while and a chance to catch up on the cricket before driving down to one of the local beaches for a swim which was perfect.
One thing we have not mentioned is the preponderance of Camper Vans! Having used a Camper Van on a number of occasions in New Zealand we thought that NZ was prime territory for said vehicles. How wrong we were. The west coast of France probably has the highest concentration of Camper Vans in the world. Just down the road from our studio apartments is what appears to be the world's largest dedicated Camper Van camp site. So popular that queues form early afternoon of hopeful happy campers waiting for a possible vacancy.
Driving back to the apartment the LLW managed to find a boulangerie patisserie and a small Spar to procure some essentials for dinner. Amazing early on a Sunday evening in France.
Tomorrow we start heading homewards in earnest. A 4 hour drive to Bayeux where we will stop for a couple of hours and then on for a further 40 minutes to Caen where we are booked in to a Priory Hotel in the centre of the city. This should be good for a quick 9 mile journey to Ouistreham and our ferry back to Portsmouth.
It has been an excellent trip and we have loved every minute of it. The weather has been fantastic and indeed we both agreed that 2018 has been the best ever year for holiday weather.
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