simple life

Monday 1st December 2025 – St Jean-de-Monts to La Baule-Escoublac….

/ freedombird / Leave a comment

A cloudy and very wild day with a few spit spots of rain as we venture a little further north.

We started the day with a wander down to the nearest beach – Plage de la Parée du Jonc – a rather pretty almost pink beach backed by dunes and pines and stretching off into the distance to St Jean-de-Monts with the pier just visible….

Well that certainly blew away the cobwebs and gave Tilly a chance of a run around before setting off to our first stop of the day – Pornichet and the rather pretty beach – Plage des Librairies….

This beach is the southern end of the sandy beach that stretches for some 9km backed by the resort towns of La Baule-Escoublac in the north and Pornichet. Not exactly my cup of tea as I prefer my beaches raw and wild with as little human evidence as possible but with its soft white sands and Atlantic waves, I can see the appeal.

After returning to the van we drove the short distance to the other side of La Baule-Escoublac to our Aire for the night next to the Port….

Once settled we battled against the increasing wind down to the sea front and Plage de Benoit (the northern end of this beach)….

There were quite a few Kite surfers and wind surfers enjoying the brisk onshore breeze and it was invigorating watching them fly across the bay. We also marvelled at the odd original house along the seafront sandwiched between newer apartment blocks….

Unfortunately most of the original housing stock seems to have been relegated to the second row as newer apartment blocks and hotels take up the front.

We continued along the beach which is intermittently broken up by beach bars and restaurants (mostly closed for the season) and also the odd tree…

Upon reaching the main section of beach – Plage La Baule….

At this point we decided to start to make our way back to the van for the evening. Pity we didn’t get the sunshine as I imagine this resort looks completely different in the sun.

Thoughts of the day:

  • As we are heading back up towards Normandy and ultimately Caen over the next few days we shall have the opportunity to start to put together a shortlist of our favourite beaches.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 62
  • Miles walked – 7.5
  • Beaches – 4
  • Aire – £13.45

Saturday 29th November 2025 – St Vincent-sur-Jard….

/ freedombird / Leave a comment

Now we know why France is so green – the rain continued through the night and up until lunchtime when we had a couple of hours of respite before it continued to rain for the rest of the day! I wasn’t too bothered as we had half planned to stay here a second night and we made a break for it as soon as the rain stopped and had literally just returned when the rains came back. With the exception of our first thing doggy essential walk where we did get wet the weather gods worked with us.

The beaches here are mostly tidal but for our walk there was a nice stretch of firm wet sand to walk along. There was a fair breeze coming in off the Atlantic which was being enjoyed by about a dozen or so wind / kite surfers….

The section of beach just across the road from our Aire was Plage du Goulet….

A little further to the south is Plage du Bouil…

And maybe a mile or so around the corner – Plage du Rocher….

We didn’t meet another soul whilst walking and Tilly had a blast chasing seafoam as it was blown across the sand. At Le Rocher someone had taken quite a bit of time to construct these brilliants arches and stacks from stones…

Someone had also created a cozy little seating area and wishing tree – so much more creative than mindless graffiti…..

Thoughts of the day:

  • A couple more days of sunshine for our last couple of days at the coast would be really good.

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 0
  • Miles walked – 4
  • Beaches – 3
  • Aire – £12.25 EHU

Friday 28th November 2025 – Ile de Re….

/ freedombird / Leave a comment

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

Thursday 27th November 2025 – Ile de Re….

/ freedombird / Leave a comment

A heavy frost on the ground this morning which was a bit of a surprise but that soon melted as the sun came up. We took a stroll around the village of Lussac this morning, nothing of particular interest just a small working village surrounded by vines as far as the eye could see, before heading off a bit further north.

We encountered quite a bit of fog / low lying mist as we drove on mostly minor roads for the first hour or so of our journey until the sun broke through and followed us most of the way to the Ile de Re, an island linked by a long bridge from La Rochelle….

As soon as we arrived on the island we found parking and set off for a bit of fresh sea air along Plage de Sablanceaux….

Around the corner to the kite karting section of Plage Sud de Rivedoux-Plage….

And beyond….

At which point we crossed over to the other side of the narrow island and walked back along Plage Nord…

As we are loosing the light so much earlier these days and time is cracking on, we decided to head to our Aire for the night on almost the furthest point of the island in the small village of St Clement-des-Baleines – tomorrow we shall work our way back down the island catching as many of these rather splendid sandy beaches as we can 🤞 for some sunshine.

Thoughts of the day:

  • Every vineyard we passed was referred to as Chateau this and that, but I didn’t see any actual Chateaux – is it a case of ‘a man’s home is his castle’? And Chateau…. makes for a better wine label?
  • Driving a few miles as we have this last few days, I have noticed that many properties appear externally to be in quite a poor state of repair, they don’t look unloved just lived in – shabby chic?

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 141
  • Miles walked – 4
  • Beaches – 3
  • Aire – £18.81 EHU (very expensive and nothing special – location?)

Wednesday 26th November 2025 – St Emilion….

/ freedombird / Leave a comment

A totally different day for us today – lots of blue sky if a little on the nippy side. However we have decided to move on and after a short detour into the mountains for a better look….

We set off on the longish journey to St Emilion and enjoyed a lovely wander around the village in the late afternoon sunshine….

We then drove the short distance to our Aire for the night at Lussac, as we begin our journey northwards to Caen.

Thoughts of the day:

  • Having originally thought that I would make our way back to Caen inland, I have changed my mind and as of tomorrow am going to head back to the coast to hopefully fill in a few gaps on the way home.
  • I’m sure there are many pretty villages we could call in on the way home but I’m afraid villages are just not my thing, likewise the cities – it gave me a headache just driving around Bordeaux so I am not about to attempt actually visiting a city no matter how pretty it is!

Today’s stats:

  • Miles driven – 188
  • Miles walked – 4
  • Aire – £12.69