A morning cycle to the supermarket to buy supplies, before welcoming the Spencer’s to our campsite!

We had planned the beach but the kids enjoyed chilling out on the site, playing on the park and making friends with the other French children. Katie suggested they give them a high 5, but she got the number wrong so now a high quatre is the order of the day!

With the mummies enjoying lot of gin and tonic, it was early beds all round to prepare for the long cycle the next day to meet up with our friends again!

I didn’t’ sleep brilliantly last night, I just couldn’t get comfy and had just finished my 4th book of the holiday (fat girl slim… must get running again!!).

It was raining, and i could sense that it wasn’t going to stop… and I had forgotten to preorder the bread from the campsite…

We got packed up and left the campsite with a minimum of arguments… with Fraser not wanting to go swimming to wind his sister up… and her not washing his bowl up to pay him back!

We left the site and were impressed by the new windscreen wipers on the van… for. A bargain 4 euro for the pair! We then remembered it was Sunday and that the shops were shut which was going to make our lack of food, and breakfast slightly more worrying! We were headed south in the direction of Royan to get the short ferry across to Soulac. Along the road we managed to find one open bakers (several closed supermarkets…. 8 actually, all closing 5 mins before we arrived!!) and got a bit of bread and some really delicious pastries.

We were lucky to arrive and get straight on to a ferry within a few minutes. This meant we were straight on our way. Once on board we cracked open the double, and found a couple of new games we could play with it… OH MY WORD…. I shall just call it Dobble Extreme.

We go to the campsite, and ended up back on the same pitch we stayed at 3 years ago…. perfect! We had some lunch and set up the tent in super quick time…. just before the heavens open end.

It just didn’t stop raining all afternoon… there was only one thing for it, we put a film on, snuggled down and opened the wine!

With the kids safely deposited into bed, Stew and I are foraging for food! Apparently summer is back again tomorrow!

The weather this morning was miserable, I woke up really early and sat in the drizzle…. Knitting!

This camp site ask you to pre order breakfast and the selection we had this morning was amazing!

Whilst we sat waiting for the endless showers to pass, the children had a well earned lazy morning watching a film and chilling out whilst we drank coffee and read our books.

We decided enough was enough and we would head out into the rain and set off on the long ride to La Rochelle…. with the prize of a 3 scoop ice cream from the world famous Ernest Gelato….

before we set off Fraser had skidded off his bike, scraped his legs and hit himself on the cross bar… somfor the first 15km he rode his bike standing up.

We flew over the bridge, and we would find out later this was due to the strong wind being behind us!!

Once on the outskirts of the city we stopped to adjust the bike seats for added comfort… Fraser sat on the grass and a huge gust of wind blew penny’s bike over and the handle bar landed right on his head…. it was awful! With no idea where we were and the shock of the huge bang on the head I was really concerned! Eventually Fraser was cheered up when I went for a wee on the side of the track… apparently he’d never seen a girl scoot down for a wee…. and further for the amusement, a passing elderly cyclist got to see the sight too!!

Back on our bikes we headed into town and found a spot to park our bikes… I felt sure the weather would mean we wouldn’t have to queue… but no! The ice cream is that good the queue went out the door and around the corner as usual. Then children had been looking forward to this since we left home and had been planning their flavours on the journey.

We had a walk around the port and decided before long to head back to the island… the clouds were looming blackly over head… Frasers words were they were very threatening.

We snaked out the city quickly and passed wee corner, when stew and Fraser decided it was their turn for an au natural wee! Fraser, full of calamity rose straight into stationary Penny! No tears this time!

The traffic to get onto the island was choc a block so we picked a car each to beat! Our cycle into the wind was hard, Fraser was feeling the burn and penny was powering up the hill. We flew over the top of some impressive wind surfing, and down the hill… passing the man who had seen me earlier squatting in the bushes… much to the children’s delight!

Back to camp, 40km later the children hit the pool. Penny challenges an older boy to a race! She did doggy paddle and he swam his fastest!! She is such a monkey!

Stew and I had a couple of drinks and ordered the children some pizza as a treat for their great efforts of the day!

Back for some food and a game of shadow puppets at the van… all of our sore bottoms are tired and tummy’s full of ice cream.

Today started well with some granola, fruit and yogurt…

We got up and dressed and the children even helped with the washing up… I however needed to do the weekly wash! In a van the size of ours, we only really bring 5 days of clothes and its always necessary to wash a few bits every couple of days, but the weather has made this tricky! This morning however I got it all sorted, and hung, widow twangy style, everywhere!

We headed into the town of Sain Matin for a ride and a shop. This really is such a fab place to come… there are many tandems available to hire…. for some reason we were not permitted!

We managed to get an oyster glove thing for stew as he now has several puncture wounds in his hands from the hundreds he has opened this week! The shops are exquisite and offer only the most unique of products.

We cycled home via the shops for some essentials (melon and pate) and then had some lunch.

The kids hit the pool and i took advantage of the golden thing in the sky to do some washing! We all had a great play in the pool for a few hours, before happy hour in the bar and pétanque for the children.\

Back at the van a delicious BBQ was very much the order of the day before trying to get the children to sleep with a background bass sound of euro pop whist catching up on many days of the blog!!

Sorry for the interrupted service, but normal service will resume!

Our time in Noirmoutier had come to an end… for the fire time i felt ready to move on… the nights in the campsite had been very rowdy and showed the impact of reduced security on the campsite… in fact, someone in the neighbouring tent had had their boards stolen the previous night.

We headed off waved away by the Lealan’s, but had to stop for one more bag of Oysters… these Oysters were so sweet and delicious…. we all wanted just a few more.

We got off the island quickly with no traffic jams and headed down the coast. We realised quite how far it was to the other side of le Grois as over some wine we had considered a project for next year to pass over the bridge and the Grois in one day… but its a long long way!!

We stopped in La Rochelle…. shopping supplies needed (wine) and we headed to decathlon as poor Fraser’s bed has been deflating and we thought he deserved a new one!! We nearly bought a larder unit for the van, but then found what i will call a plate hammock which fits under the table and cost 5 euro!! It’s amazing! Heather, you need this! In fact all my camping friends, a table hammock is the business!!

We made our way to the campsite… there is a story here. I forgot to book a site for the busiest 3 nights of our trip… i don’t know why… but i did so we have ended up staying in a site which we said we would never stay in again!! It noisey, dirty but well located for Saint Martin which is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL town I think i know of. I love it here.

The evenings bingo sound in the background,with its over amplified crackled helped the children off to sleep around 11 after a few words and a competitive game of pétanque! At least we got through some pages in our books!!

Today was the big day with the cycle ride… all the training Heather had done was put into practice… we left the campsite headed for Le Grois, a road only passable for 3 hours a day, hidden by the tide and a Secret passageway onto the island of Noirmoutier.

The wind was against us…literally all the way!!!!!! I don’t understand how it could be!!

On the way out we stopped and booked a restaurant as an incentive.

We cycled along the coast and reached the crossing point a little over an hour into our journey. We started the crossing and stew and I calculated that we through that we could make it right to the other side. The road is 4KM through the sea, and you will understand that there is little room for Error!!! Once the tide starts to march in… time and tide wait for no man!! Through the children’s protest at the cobbles we made it with time to gobble down an ice cream and turn around for home… even stopping to climb one of the Emergancy towers… these are designed for those who are stuck and need to seek refuge! I was thinking that I could imagine my dad and Joe riding their bikes out there and lugging their fishing gear to the top of the tower and sitting the tide out in search of the big one!!! I don’t even know if people do that!

On the way back there was a disaster. Fraser hurt his shoulder, and needed to limp back at slightly slower speed… meanwhile Dave and I were hero’s for an elderly plump french damsel in distress who’s car had broken down in a crucial part of Noirmoutier! With no English from her and very limited french from us, we enlisted the hel;p of passers by, Dave directed traffic and we got her off the main road into a lay by. I loved how her first reaction to breaking down was to put on her high vis, even though she had no idea how to use her mobile phone which clearly was designated for Emergancies!!

Once back, we had some lunch. I’ll be honest, the cheese didn’t stand a chance against Heather, Dave and I and then I got out granny’s port decanter and it was chilly and we all needed a nap! The kids faired rather better and followed their 38km bike ride with a film whilst the cheese eating adults had a snooze and stew READ HIS BOOK!!! Who knew he could even read!!

We somehow got up, showered and dressed and braved the rain and heavy wind into the town for the restaurant. I really enjoyed a seafood selection whilst the others had other fish or mussels…. a great dinner. Everyone was envious of Fraser’s Hamburger Pizza!

We headed back in time for the promised last night open air cinema, with some new friends and the adults finished their first holiday leg watching the amused faces of passers by…. trying to work out how such a teeny van had an open air cinema!!

Melon smiles for breakfast set the tone for a great day on Nourmoutier!

After an hours cycle repair and following the previous evenings cycle tuition for heather we got on our bikes for a training ride… we were headed to the oyster producing part of the island for lunch.

Since the children had all decided they love oysters or prawns, we got on board stopping at a super market to have a mooch around and stick up with some more food for dinner.

We found what we needed including some cans of pop for the children and baguette, and cycled along the cycle track to the oyster producer. I don’t believe they come fresher. After a test of my french,5 euro each got us half a doused oysters, a small glass of very cold wine and some bread. For those not keen on oysters (heather was now converted!) there were prawns for a similar price. We added som baguette and the kids enjoyed their fizzy pop.

Back to camp we headed to the beach for some paddle boarding, before a shower and bBQ. We made some new friends and invited the neighbours around after the kids were asleep for some wine and stories of france

A very slow morning, with lots of coffee to start the day. We had a leisurely french breakfast and enjoyed some time chatting whilst the kids played.

We got ourselves sorted onto our bikes and went out for a tour of the north of the island…. finding great little bays.

Back and into the sea for some paddle boarding to hone our skills before getting ready to head out to the local restaurant on site for a great meal.

Hot on the tails of the previous days dinner, everyone had decided that number 4 oysters were brilliant. We cycled into town and had a good look around.

I didn’t buy the NO! Hoody ive seen for the last 5 years (again) because no one should spend 75 euro on a hoody!! Even though I had prepared myself to shell out 50 euro on it having converted it for years!!

Penny spent some of her pennies on a knitting doll and Fraser decided he would invest in a watch.

We all met again in time to head around the other side of the river/steam/inlet to a new oyster shack we had found… we had a great light bite and glass of wine in the sun and understood a little more about how oysters were grown in this area.

We took some back and had an amazing bbq where we cooked oysters with our steak and it was a taste sensation!!

More paddle boarding and fun in the water before a brilliant open air cinema from freckle….happy happy times

The Lealan’s arrived… lots of unpacking and inflating of water craft before a brilliant BBQ in the evening.

Before that we had a trip into the town and looked at the Webber BBQ’s…. and stew was looking at his amazing machine he has at home and thinking what a brilliant wife he has for getting such a bargain when she had had too much wine!!