Talmont-sur-Gironde and Rochefort.

Wednesday 12^th June 2019:

A drab and chilly day, with rain forecast on and off all day.
So, being as it wasn’t really suited to doing anything much out doors we went for an exploratory drive.

The scenery is very pretty despite the drab weather putting a damper on everything and the architecture feels very foreign and southern European.

The light limestone buildings with the soft red/orange pan tiles do feel very southern European. A total contrast to the granite and slate we are used to at home and are familiar with in Brittany.

As the day wore on the weather did improve and we did get a chance to sit outside for a while before the rain made another appearance.

A couple of final tweaks to the awning now that it has dried out a bit and time to admire our setup, there is a caravan behind that awning somewhere!

As we travel a little light a trip to the supermarket to top up on essentials lead to the discovery of something totally unexpected and highly ironic considering where we had come from……..St Austell Brewery beer on the shelf of the local supermarché.

Thursday 13^th June 2019:

It’s not Friday the 13^th so what could possibly go wrong?

So a slow cooker meal is prepared, a timer is plugged in and set for dinner to be ready at 7pm.

We set off for Talmont-sur-Gironde a tiny walled town on the coast at the east side of the mouth of the Gironde. With fishing huts on stilts and an absolutely lovely day it was a lovely little place to walk around for an hour or two.
It was so good to be there out of season and midweek when you consider the car park is twice the size of the village!

An amazingly simple lunch of a melon, ham and mozzarella salad freshly made as you watch. Half a watermelon and half a galia melon must have gone into it. Absolutely refreshing and filling but in a nice way.

After our fill of Talmont we headed up the coast a bit to a very typical French sea side resort and sat watching the tide come in eating a very nice ice cream each.

So we arrive back and dinner is ready? Nope the timer had been set wrong and dinner was as raw as when we set off! So into the fridge it goes and our second meal at the bistro is taken.

As we’re eating (outside) we can see big, black angry clouds building off to the south. Really, really big, bad, black, angry clouds.  Like seriously big and black!  The sort of clouds that make you think shit, this is going to be bad!

We get back to the van just as the first spots start falling.  And then it happened, the heavens absolutely open and rain is crashing down.  The sound inside the van and awning is deafening, then we hear the rumbles of thunder in the distance!
The sky is being ripped apart as the lightning dances around the clouds. I love thunder and lightning but this is now starting to take the piss.   Carole doesn’t like it and can't sleep and to rub it in the dogs just really didn’t care at all.  and just crash out while all hell lets loose!  Anyway at about 1:30 in the morning it starts quieting down and we can get some sleep between the sudden heavy showers crashing onto the roof!

Friday 14^th June 2019:

So before we leave for our day site seeing we get yesterday's (raw) stew out of the fridge check that the timer is set correctly, it is, and head off looking forward to a lovely stew when we get back!

So we head off for a Louis 14^th dockyard and its famous rope walk.

So we arrive have a look around, yes the dry docks are interesting because you can see what era they were built in by the shapes of the ships they were designed to be building in them. The original dock looks like it was definitely for a ship or the turn of the 1700s by its shape. The second more 1750, slightly more streamlined and less bulbous.

We then go for a drive through the marshy fringes of the coast and discover several forts built to protect the mouth of the Charante and the dockyard at Rochefort.

The final stop of the day was at a little fishing port under that land end of the bridge to the Ile d’Oléron and a view of the Fort Louvois.

After a lengthy drive home we arrived back to find our delicious stew still uncooked. Timer had been set but the slow cooker hadn’t been switched on!

Another meal in the bistro, they must be loving it!