Well a thoroughly miserable day for us today as it managed to drizzle all day and was just grey so I’m afraid we were unable to do this little island justice.

We started our day with a wander down to the nearest beach – Plage de la Côte Sauvage, by somehow managing to wander onto Military land. When we realised, due to a sign on the beach, we decided to make a pretty hasty retreat back the way we had come and wander around the village instead!….

On returning to the van we dried out in the warmth for a while to see if the weather looked like it was going to improve, by lunchtime however with no break appearing likely we decided to go for it anyway.

We drove around to the north eastern tip and the small village of Les Portes-en-Re and finding somewhere to park up we set off on a walk through the woods to Plage du Bucheron, Plage de Trousse-Chemise and Plage de la Patache….

Lovely soft sandy beaches with calm waters backed by Pine forests – on a sunny day just beautiful.

In reality to do this island justice as there are beaches all down the west side, you would need to spend several days here, but I just really wanted to get a flavour as we are fast running out of time and there are a couple of other places I want to visit on our way back north. Coupled with the fact that the Aire was overpriced and beginning to resemble a lake and the weather so awful, I had decided that we would move on today. So whistle stop tour of the remaining main beaches included – Plage de la Courade-sur-Mer….

And Plage de la Bois-en-Re….

Before returning to the mainland and driving a little further north along the coast to St Vincent du Gard – here’s hoping for some better weather tomorrow.

Thoughts of the day:

• Many streets in the villages have weight limits of 3.5t so I am wondering how all the bigger vans that seem to be favoured by the French get by.
• I’ve said it before and I’ll no doubt say it again a flat grey sky is nobody’s friend – it is impossible without distorting the colours dramatically to get a good photo no matter how appealing the subject is.

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 76
• Miles walked – 5
• Beaches – 6
• Aire – £12.25