Chateau and Velo Rail at Commequiers

One of days out was to the Velo Rail at Commequiers. We first discovered the joys of the Cycle Trains when staying in Seine et Marne in 2013 and so were keen to have another go now that my son was tall enough to pedal! 

We allowed time to picnic on the way having pre-booked for 2 pm (be warned its very popular so you have to reserve...). So we hunted down the Chateau Commequiers:

Unfortunately due its state of disrepair the castle has been closed for access since 2014 and they are raising funds to rescue it. They still use the grounds for a medieval spectacular in August:

Hidden in the woods we discovered a children's play area:

Reasons to be Cheerful A French Holiday #R2BC

Its June already - nearly half the year gone - so the hosting baton passes back to me from Michelle. She and I have both just returned from France so I am sure we will have similar reasons to be cheerful! I hope people will find plenty of things that have made them smile over the past week and can link up and visit each other. I will comment and share all the posts that join in.... 
Meanwhile here are my French reasons to be cheerful:
French food 
I love French food and had a chance to sample from yummy desserts and gallettes whilst staying in France:

Beautiful Beaches

I have already mentioned the beautiful beaches we visited at Les Mouettes and Noirmoutier. The Vendee coast is mostly unspoilt and so clean:

Chateaux

Some chateaux we only saw from the autoroute but we did get close to a few although Commequiers chateau is in danger of falling down:

St Jean de Monts - Panoramic Wheel

On our way back from Noirmoutier we stopped in St Jean de Monts for an ice cream. As we parked up we spotted the panoramic wheel:

Now as a family that is scared of heights some of us are mad enough to confront those fears when it comes to giant wheels! My son has now grown up enough that he will do things that scare him:

This was a video I made as we went up to the top of the wheel:

#CountryKids Ile de Noirmoutier

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:

#CountryKids on the beach at Les Mouettes, Vendee

It's been all quiet on the blog as we have been in France enjoying the camping break I had partly won from Canvas Holidays. On our first full day at the site it was extremely hot and sunny so we headed down to the beach (it turned out to be a longer walk than advertised!). It was almost deserted as was not French holiday season:

My son lost no time in heading down to the waves whilst the adults set up base:

It was so peaceful and quiet as well as being very clean. I suspect that in August it is packed out with holiday makers:

My son soon started work on building a marble run to see if we could make videos like some of the ones he has been enjoying watching on YouTube: