Monday 24 September 2012

France 2012, Day five, Charente-Maritime

Day five, Sep 5th 2012

Rather than hang about in the small van we set off for a drive to the coast. I just drove and we ended up in Royan, the big town in the area. We parked up by the ferry terminal and had a very short walk. I was a bit disorientated, thinking that it was ferry over to Oléron Island but it is in fact the ferry across the the Gironde. The Gironde is the name of the estuary formed by the Garonne and the Dordogne rivers after their confluence.

La Gironde (2002)

I did get my bearings later, the island is on the other side of the peninsular. Just around the corner from the ferry in a lovely little cove, filled with some of the many fishing machines seen along the Atlantic coast.

Pêche au carrelet (Fishing for plaice)

From there, we headed back along the coast in the direction of the campsite, sticking to the sea front whenever possible, A bit further along the coast we stopped off at another lovely little cove and went for a plodge in the Bay of Biscay. 

It was very hot, better than we had expected the weather would be but as good we hoped it would be. Very nice for walking on the beach

We made a couple more stops for photos along the way, a lighthouse and a lovely little white church but didn't stop anywhere for long.


Eventually we passed through our local beach resort at La Palmyre and carried on to a lighthouse on the end of the peninsular. You could pay to go to the top of the lighthouse but none of us fancied the climb. We did however take the opportunity to use the toilets there. There are quite a few lighthouses in the area, there was another large one there and we would visit later in the holiday.


Barbecue supper again, with a few beers, what else can you do when the sun is shining, especially when we have had so few at home this year. The sandy ground around our van was very dirty and our feet where filthy, we would be moving on soon anyway.

Barbecue supper

The gas to the van kept tripping but we got the hang of getting it back on and the workmen did come to look at the fridge, promising to bring a new one.

Day Four or Day Six

No comments:

Post a Comment