France recently celebrated a three-day weekend so we took advantage of it by heading to the Île de Ré, an island that sits off the coast of France in the Bay of Biscay.
To get there we took a slightly over three hour train ride to La Rochelle, on the coast, and rented a car there for the weekend. From La Rochelle we drove over the Pont de Ré (bridge) and across the island to the far end where we rented a primitive, but cozy, cabin.
When planning this mid-May trip we envisioned warm weather and spending the weekend biking across the kilometers and kilometers of trails that crisscross the island. Instead we encountered weather that was a bit too cold, too windy, and too rainy for biking. We were glad we had a car to get around.
So instead of biking we explored a few of the towns, enjoyed some great local ice cream (amazing Caramel Fleur de Sel ice cream at La Martiniere), and, best of all, enjoyed the beaches. The kids braved the weather to wade in the water and jump waves. Erin and I walked along the beach and helped the kids find a wide array of different shells and sea glass.
Between excursions we worked on the challenge of building fires with damp wood, damp kindling and damp paper in the fireplace of the cabin. It wasn't easy but we were motivated as that was the only source of heat and the weather had us all chilled. Erin won the master fire builder award with a blaze on the last morning that finally really generated some heat.
We'd love to return to Île de Ré in the summer sunshine but being on the coast I would guess it will always be a bit hit or miss.
To get there we took a slightly over three hour train ride to La Rochelle, on the coast, and rented a car there for the weekend. From La Rochelle we drove over the Pont de Ré (bridge) and across the island to the far end where we rented a primitive, but cozy, cabin.
When planning this mid-May trip we envisioned warm weather and spending the weekend biking across the kilometers and kilometers of trails that crisscross the island. Instead we encountered weather that was a bit too cold, too windy, and too rainy for biking. We were glad we had a car to get around.
So instead of biking we explored a few of the towns, enjoyed some great local ice cream (amazing Caramel Fleur de Sel ice cream at La Martiniere), and, best of all, enjoyed the beaches. The kids braved the weather to wade in the water and jump waves. Erin and I walked along the beach and helped the kids find a wide array of different shells and sea glass.
Between excursions we worked on the challenge of building fires with damp wood, damp kindling and damp paper in the fireplace of the cabin. It wasn't easy but we were motivated as that was the only source of heat and the weather had us all chilled. Erin won the master fire builder award with a blaze on the last morning that finally really generated some heat.
We'd love to return to Île de Ré in the summer sunshine but being on the coast I would guess it will always be a bit hit or miss.
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