best beach
La Rochelle - belle et rebelle
The history of La Rochelle is both interesting and complex. It was built on its ability to trade in Salt and wine and became prosperous and cultured. Like so many cities in France and throughout Europe it was stormed (the English in the 13th century who failed!), defeated, razed to the ground, and rebuilt as changing allegiances wrought havoc on the city and its people. Renowned as the Protestant stronghold for the Huguenots during the 16th century, it became a threat to the King’s unification plans for France and after the Great Siege in 1628, led by Cardinal de Richelieu, King Louis XIII ordered the destruction of the town's fortifications, but spared the large towers on the seafront.
The towers guard the old city port entrance and give the iconic pictures of La Rochelle seen on nearly every postcard. The towers are really worth visiting and the main oval rom in the Chain Tower held many interesting prisoners during its time as a prison. The wooden doors are still preserved today and the pictures carved by the political and foreign prisoners on the stones give an indication of what life was like for those incarcerated there. The lantern tower is fascinating with a really beautiful carved stone edifice around the lantern. There are beaches and gardens close by and of course Les Minimes, the largest marina in France.
Escaping the city, we enjoyed the anchorage just off the South East corner of Ile de Re for a night and then had a delightful sail across to the little used port of Douhet on Ile D’Oleron. On the north coast just south of St Denis, it is surrounded by the most amazing salt marshes and the best beaches for avoiding the Atlantic rollers. La Brise des Bains is a short walk or cycle from Port Douhet and has one of the best markets on the island. And a beach bar with an outlook straight from the Caribbean.
Leaving D’Oleron for a short while we then sailed up to Ars-en-Re. It was a sail of 2 halves with the afternoon sea breeze kicking in and giving us a serious tacking job after the fickle winds near the bridge. Ars has the most amazing entrance through the salt marshes and our timing had to be spot on to catch the incoming tide to give us sufficient water to reach the outer port. We agree that Ars has the very best of the markets on either the mainland or the islands so we spent a few happy hours browsing, tasting and buying the local specialities. Much of the flavoured salts that we enjoy cooking with came from this market. Hiring bikes again we cycled around the salt marshes to the north and east of this beautiful island. In strong sunshine and little winds we appreciated the apparent wind created by our pedalling. So many of the islands, tourists hotspots for the French in July and August, have provided a brilliant cycle network of offroad way marked trails. When hiring bikes it is essential to ask for the “comfort” bikes – their saddles are broad and gentle on the derriere! There are also e-bikes available, which come in handy for the longer trips.
We were so lucky to join up with our friends Andy and Jane Holloway on Malaika; they had just completed an epic crossing of Biscay to the Northern coast of Spain in May and after a month of exploring there returned to meet up with us. We had a fun week exploring La Rochelle, St Denis D’Oleron and St Martin de Re. We cycled and walked, drank beer and wine and enjoyed the local cuisine.
After they left us for an explore further North we met up with our friend Fiona which as always turned into a gastronomic delight of a week. Also swimming and walking and cycling with her allowed us to explore some of the areas we had missed on previous visits.
Ile de Re
St Martin is a picture postcard port surrounded by the white buildings and restaurants and bars – all selling fresh fish caught “locally”
Connected to the mainland by a bridge of many spans, Ile de Re has maintained most of its charm and laid back holiday atmosphere although it is more commercialised and busy than some of the other maritime islands. Visiting St Martin de Re was a must for us again as we had not really had a chance to see more than the immediate vicinity last year, as it had been just too hot to enjoy ourselves!! The Vauban at St Martin was designed and built in 1681 and it really is a masterpiece of forward thinking showing a deep understanding of both military and naval tactics of war. Built to withstand invasions from both the land and the sea it still stands rock solid today, and we spent many hours wandering around the ramparts and trying to understand the workings and logistics of the place. Fiona and I walked over to the nearest beach and enjoyed a swim on one of the many hot days of her holiday. It was easy to see why this port was used as the depot for convicts on their way to the penal settlements of New Caledonia and French Guiana. It got the prisoners out of the way from the mainland and was too far away to facilitate an easy escape via the sea. Alfred Drayfus was imprisoned there after his (wrongful) conviction for treason before being despatched to Devil’s Island. It was in this indoor market in heart of St Martin that we bought our cured fillet mignon – a delicious treat for aperitifs and sharing with special friends.
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