1st. Left St Denis, where I had been in an uninspiring camp site for a couple of days to get laundry done, with no particular destination in mind. Took the long route back to the bridge through some of the coastal villages on the western side of the Island but the narrow streets and the traffic made it slow and uncomfortable, better to come back in the fall! Once hitting the mainland I turned left to follow the coast north and have ended up wild parking outside the walls of this rather quaint medieval town. The fortifications are the typical C17th five pointed star (like Cape Town castle only bigger) The raison d’être was originally salt, later it became a military garrison. There was a ship building yard and it was from here that Champlain, a native of the town, set off to “discover” and found the French colony in what is today Canada.
The church is quite simple and apart from loosing the stained glass windows that were donated by wealthy merchants, it has apparently not changed a lot since it was built.
The Powder store housed 60,000lbs of gunpowder and was well fortified with additional external walls.
Finished the day off with half a dozen fresh oysters bought from the farm 50m away!
2nd. Went through to Port-des-Barques and walked the causeway through to Ile Madam and its fort. Back on the mainland took a walk along the sea front and bought another dozen oysters before driving to Soubis and parking in the pleasant free Aire just out of town.
There is also the posibility of riding across the causeway in a horse drawn wagon.
There was also an interesting space for the commemoration of the Priests that were incarcerated on the “Prison Ships” of Rochefort between 1790and 1795, the majority of whom perished.
4th/5th In Fouras, a very pretty little seaside town with a well off appearance. Very lived in too with all the services and hardy any property for sale, certainly no empty shop fronts. It is on a peninsular and so has many good beaches, when the tide is in, and like all the seaside resorts along the coast so far has a very shallow slope out to sea with the commensurate big tidal plane. There is a well-preserved fort and Donjon on the apex.
8th. Spent a few days here in Angoulins doing nothing much except walking and reading.
20th. Having fallen in love with the Atlantic coast I have spent the last several days wandering along it and inland a bit from it in search of the perfect place to settle. I think that I have found it in St Georges de Didonne! With Fouras and Aigrefeuille d’Aunis close seconds. So what makes the Atlantic coast so special? You may ask. Well imagine a climate that can grow olive and banana trees, Pride of India, bouganvillia, plumbago and something that loks like a cross between a Bottlebrush and a Flamboyant. “Warm/Temperate” according to the climate website. That’ll do me!
I have now been in St Georges several days and am looking at property – dangerous! I was here for the August Bank Holiday weekend and although there were a LOT of people here the beach is very long so it did not seem too crowded, the town centre was another story. Maybe the trick is to rent out your place over July/August and go explore somewhere else? In addition to the long beach, good promenades for running/walking/cycling, there is the attractive down town with its church square and covered market, the small port and the lighthouse.
There is a night market on the promenade every Thursday evening in the summer.
30th. Finally managed to drag myself out of St Georges and moved on to the delightful little Aire at Nersac. The van next to mine were occupied by and English man and his Thai wife. We spent a happy evening in the PMU pub together discussing life, the universe and everything!
capetocarpe 