On the second day of our stay the adults voted for an exploration day by driving up the coast to the Ile de Noirmoutier. The island can be accessed by 2 methods in a car. Traditionally the only way was to cross on the tidal road at low tide (unfortunately we had the wrong year's tide table so missed our chance!). Instead we had to cross over on the modern bridge which is one of those wonderful bits of French construction:
The island is a thriving salt producing area and we drove past many of the salt fields:
As its low season for tourism we found it easy to park up in the market place and it was only 50C for 3 hours parking! Then we wandered down along the harbour to look around:
It was quite a warm day so we decided to have a drink in one of the local cafes along the quayside. My son drank his and then tried out the bollards for leap frog! We also saw the Google StreetView car a few times so eventually we may appear on the web:
We then discovered that we had missed the chateau opening for the morning (top tip the French love closing things at lunch time!). So we ate our picnic next to it before wandering back through the town to the car:
We then took a short drive further north and discovered a gem of a beach at Plage de la Madeleine:
We returned to the chateau once it was open. My son and dad both decided they didn't want to explore it so I went in alone:
It is not a very big castle and most of the information is in French which was a good test for me! There were activities for children including a ball pit diving board, giant battleships and hopscotch (yes my son did regret not coming in!):
With the island being very flat the views from the top were pretty good. I could see the salt beds and admire the lovely tiled roofs:
The town is going to be the start of the Tour de France this year so I look forward to watching that and spotting familiar things! Its a bike friendly spot as there are no hills and bike routes to avoid the main roads.
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