{"id":6412,"date":"2022-05-07T06:15:12","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T20:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=6412"},"modified":"2025-11-12T02:30:57","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T02:30:57","slug":"idling-around-the-ile-doleron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2022\/05\/07\/idling-around-the-ile-doleron\/","title":{"rendered":"Idling Around The \u00cele d\u2019Ol\u00e9ron"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So here we go, travelling from over here to over there.  Not sure yet where over there is, but at the end of this jaunt in Reggie I guess we\u2019ll find out.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Breakfast in Reggie<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday 4th<\/sup> May 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had breakfast guests again and then the two of us set off on our new bicycles for the first serious ride.  My new E-bike has been named Apollo\u2026..because that\u2019s what is written on it\u2026.simples.  There are cycle routes all over the \u00cele d\u2019Ol\u00e9ron, so it\u2019s a good place to get back in the saddle again after six years of non-peddling. I only used my leg power all the way from the campsite to Saint Pierre d\u2019Ol\u00e9ron and I have to say that my new noseless saddle turned out to be a brilliant purchase. It\u2019s way more comfy than a traditional saddle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Laura catching flies while cycling across the \u00cele d\u2019Ol\u00e9ron<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We wandered around the streets for a little while, then stopped for drinks in a caf\u00e9 until the Charltons drove into town.  The four of us ate French quiches (first ones in France this trip) sitting in a pretty park, then we farewelled our chums and set off again on our bikes.  We cycled across vineyards back to the west coast at La Cotini\u00e8re, still only using pedal power. The dark chocolate gelatos (first ones in France this trip) were really delicious and provided more fuel for the cycle back up the coast road to the campsite.  On this section of the trip, I did use warp factor 1 to help me fight the head wind and I left Rodney metres behind when I briefly hit warp factor 2.  I\u2019m keeping warp factor 3 as back up for a hill one day. Back at the campsite Julia joined us at the indoor swimming pool for a while; the 27c water was a lovely temperature to wiggle around in after cycling approximately 18kms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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St Pierre d\u2019Ol\u00e9ron<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kevin drove us back over to Saint Pierre d\u2019Ol\u00e9ron in the evening for a very tasty fish and asparagus meal at the Auberge Saint Pierre.  It was rather chilly sitting outside this evening, but the fantastic, warm, chocolate souffle made up for the lack of warm clothing.  Tomorrow morning, we will pack the bikes back on the rack, roll in the awning and head further south without our old friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sunset on the beach at Camping Le Suirot<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thursday 5th<\/sup> May<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took us a while to complete the whole \u2018pack up and go\u2019 procedure.  Not necessarily because we were out of practice; there\u2019s just a lot to do when you\u2019ve really settled in for a few days.  The awning was wet with condensation and as we rolled it in, the water was squeezed out and dripped all over the ground sheet.  I was very glad we had already stowed the table and chairs.  The toilet was emptied (did you really want to know that?!!! But it\u2019s all part of the pack up procedure). After a final goodbye to Julia and Kevin, we drove out of Camping Le Suirot near L\u2019 \u00celeau and drove down the coast road as far as Saint Trojan Les Bains.  We stretched our legs around the village and out on to the quay. A lot of the old, brightly coloured fisherman sheds had now become artists\u2019 studios, or cafes and restaurants and absolutely every eatery had oysters and mussels on the menu, funny that, for a fishing village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the quay at Saint Trojan Les Bains<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before we left the campsite, the German man in the motorhome next to us, the Yorkshire man with two large black labradors and the lady on reception all told us the weather was \u2018bad down south\u2019. One of them even reported snow on the mountains in Spain!  But we weren\u2019t going to stay where we were any longer.  We headed off the island and \u2018down south\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Saintes we decided to save some time and joined the p\u00e9age to Bordeaux.  Just north of the city, we threw in a quick pit stop at the pretty Aire de Christoly for the usual lunch, to which we added a bit of Brie today, Wendy.  When we got to the end of the p\u00e9age I had the old fun of paying the toll. Yet again, just like in Eileen, Reggie was too short for the truck ticket slot and too tall for the car one.  With seatbelt released and a big stretch out of the window I managed (just) to pay the \u20ac16.30 using the truck one. Reggie managed to bypass Bordeaux very smoothly and we turned off west out to Cap Ferret.  We drove south, right down to the furthest point of the land spit, until we couldn\u2019t drive any further.  Sadly the dunes were blocked to access, but the view across the Bassin d\u2019 Arcachon to the enormous Grande Dune du Pilat (the highest dune in Europe) on the opposite side of the channel was lovely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pointe du Cap Ferret<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From there we retraced our route back north to the quite small Camping Le Cigale and set up our home on wheels for two nights. We spent the day doing a load of washing, catching up on emails, etc., then went for a bike ride into the village of Ar\u00e9s. We cycled to the water’s edge, along to the east, out to the north edge of town and then back to the campsite with tonight\u2019s dinner.  While Rodney prepped Reggie for Saturday\u2019s departure, I whipped up pork and mushrooms in a cream and pepper sauce served with carrots and new potatoes; our first proper home cooked meal this trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cycling in the pine woods in Ar\u00e9s<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So here we go, travelling from over here to over there.  Not sure yet where over there is, but at the end of this jaunt in Reggie I guess we\u2019ll find out. Wednesday 4th May 2022 We had breakfast guests again and then the two of us set off on our new bicycles for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":6409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-routes-around-europe-in-reggie-the-motorhome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6412"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8092,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6412\/revisions\/8092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}