Jun 28th - La Rochelle (DT to Îsl de Ré)

 A day trip today to the island of Île de Ré and the lovely little fishing village of St. Martin de Ré  

From La Rochelle it’s possible to get a bus to the island, over a 3km bridge, but being a little more adventurous we decided to go by boat, a much nicer (and noisier! 😊) option.  The village of St. Martin, although a little touristy, really is very nice.  Reminiscent of some ‘olde worlde’ fishing villages in Cornwall, it’s got a quite unusual circular dock that’s used for the many working and pleasure craft that are moored here.  There’s also a lot of heavy battlements around town and along the village’s coastline.  These are results of the island’s many changing of hands during the England/ France wars and the Huguenot/ Catholic issue in the 1600’s. 

One of the many reasons for visiting the Île de Ré was for JEM to go for a swim in the Bay of Biscay.  So, after spending a few hours in town, we took off for the beach where, despite the cold water and the jellyfish, she got her wish. 



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