22nd august 2016

at one point this summer four of my five siblings were away from blighty and three of them in france. so a week chez nous with my sisters and then off to south of la rochelle to spend time with my brother and his family,with the tent, bien sur!

an easy drive towards bordeaux and then turn right for the north.

easy to find, thank goodness, and a delightful campsite with lots of trees and flowering shrubs.

the tent went up a bit wonky but seeemed stable enough in the blustery wind.  steve, catriona plus isobel and william, soon found us and we adjourned to theirs for a bbq and card games….

a lovely night’s sleep on the single mattress although woken early by the squadron of ducks on a nearby stream who went in for random quacking sessions, mainly just as the sky was getting light!

we ate breakfast on an amazingly quiet campsite, given the number of campers, most of them families with small children. all very pleasant and unexpected. isobel and william wandered round and reminded me i had promised to go swimming with them. but before that lou and i went for an explore.

always a hairdresser!

high sea defences reminded me this area suffered badly from hurricane xynthia in 2010.

a very pleasant boardwalk to the town centre and la rochelle across the bay. i had a paddle and collected one of the smoothed down oyster shells from the shoreline.

a coffee stop at le poseidon and a swift call to the family about booking for the evening. answer in the affirmative!

a before lunch swim with the neice and nephew as promised. lovely little pool and spotlessly clean.

the afternoon was spent hiding from the heat. that’s where having a large camper van that throws a lot of shade comes into its own over a tent. our shade was the moving shadow of a small tree or squeezing into the sliver beside the car! 🙂  i discovered that steve’s lot love a card game and i learnt a new one so well that i won, twice!  then it was back to the pool with the ‘mermaid’ and the ‘shark’,

in the cooler evening we strolled down to the cafe/bar to feast on fruits de mer and moules frites. i loved being seated between a niece ripping prawns apart on one side and a nephew slurping moules mariniere on t’other. no fussy eaters in this family! 🙂

a lovely evening en famille, more so as they happen so rarely now we live miles apart.

another good night’s sleep although i would have happily throttled the ducks. steve and catriona had warned about the owls who hoot in a most disconcerting way. and sure enough, just after we settled in, the odd piping noise began. for all the world like a car alarm or something similar. in fact, one trip advisor reviewer complained about the alarm that kept him awake! 🙂    (after the hols i identified the owl as a scops/petit duc)

sea mist greeted us next morning, how very dare it?  a cuppa courtesy of lou and then the packing up began. the groundsheets were pretty damp despite the intense heat so the giant bin bags came into play and a soggy tent to squeeze into its bag.

everything back into the car, we checked the pitch, comme d’hab; wished a ‘bonne route’ to our departing french neighbours and then it was the farewell to the family.

( the folding table in this shot collapsed the next day, was it something we did?)

so, a more expensive site than our usual stopovers but well worth it for its facilities and welcoming staff. we might be back…..