Wednesday 29 July 2015

Sunny Days

We didn't intend to holiday on the Ile de Re in France again this year.  We had booked a lovely looking campsite on the Ile Noirmoutier, but in early April, a fracas between the lady Mairee of the town council and the Parisian owner of the campsite erupted and Lady Mairee seized the campsite for the town council  The whole shebang was worthy of a Joanne Harris novel! Anyway, it left us not really knowing what we were going to, so we got our deposit back and booked the campsite we had been to a couple of times before in Bois Plage on the gorgeous Ile de Re.  The best Plan B ever!

 I worry that future holidays will always be compared to this fantastic perfect little place.  Our campsite is fairly central and perfect for exploring the 10 unique little villages that are dotted around on the coast of the Island.
 I love everything about the place.  The Frenchness, the people watching, the markets, the beaches, the food, the cycling, the camping.  It's all perfect.


 We had great weather.  It was hot for the whole fortnight.  The sea breezes made the heat very comfortable.  The cycling and the daily swimming in the sea meant I came home a few pounds lighter - even though I had indulged in a huge daily ice cream (the flavours were immense!!)
 Every where smells of flowers.  The air is so perfumed.  The colours are a feast for the eyes, so soft and muted.
 We sat for hours in the little bars around the various harbours - people watching.  The Island is a favourite haunt for Parisian's, there are very few English and whilst the people on the campsite can speak good English,  it isn't spoken too well any where else.  We love that because it makes us have a go at using our school French (along with a lot of pointing!!).

 The whole atmosphere of the island is so relaxed that it becomes infectious.







 And at the end of every perfect day, you are treated to a picture perfect sunset.



It's beautiful.  It really is x

Sunday 26 July 2015

Sailing from Portsmouth

I've been on holiday to France and it's taken me longer than usual to get back into the swing of things.  I can't even blame the holiday washing as we wore very few clothes as the weather was extremely kind to us and we wore mainly swimwear for 2 weeks! 

We started our journey fro Portsmouth again - on a very hot day.  

 I had noticed that the tickets we bought for the Historic Dockyard were still valid, so as we had all day to explore before we caught our ferry, we decided to look around some of the exhibits that we hadn't seen last year.
 This was the first time I had ever been on a submarine.  It was fascinating, but confirmed my suspicions that I never want to go to sea in one!!  It was extremely claustrophobic and I could not imagine 75+ Matelot's on board with all the supplies that they needed..
 The guide pointed out that they would have been able to smoke abord too - I cannot imagine how bad the air quality would have been.  You didn't get your own bed either as there is not enough room.  The beds were used on a shift system!


 All the guides had been submariners and were very informative.
 After our visit to the museum, we decided to wander around Spice Island, the older part of Portsmouth.
 There is so much to see.
 I love the mix of buildings across here.


 I bet if walls could talk they would have a tale or two to tell.

 We sailed just after 8pm.  After a lovely evening sailing past the Isle of Wight with a drink on the deck, we retired to our cabin for a sleep....
 ... and arrived bright and early in St Malo in time for breakfast.

It was lovely weather across in France too for the start of our French vacance.