Ile de Re
PROGRESS
Andrew and Hilary Clark
Fri 20 Jun 2008 19:15
Our six days at La Rochelle passed very quickly, and culminated in a fun
visit by Rob and Emma, which included a long day sail in light winds to
circumnavigate Fort Boyard. I can report that there were no signs of
nefarious going-ons whilst we were in the vicinity!
After a very damp morning, we left La Rochelle in drizzle and poor visibilty
to make our way to Ile de Re. Rounding the Plateau de Chaveau just outside
LR, we had to slow down to avoid a dredger that cantilevered open along its
whole length to discharge its content onto the spoil ground. It was like
watchng a dog at a lamp-post. When it had finished discharging, it
straightened itself up again, and set off back to do some more dredging near
le Pallice.
As we approached the Re bridge, despite having both read that the clearance
was at least 10 metres above our mast tip, Hilary could not believe that we
would clear. So we inched under.
We squeezed into St Martin de Re, and wriggled into a berth outside two
motor boats. No sooner were we tied up then a 60ft Contest backed into the
harbour and berthed by the dock gate. But what a pretty little place! really
quite something. And an excellent dinner on the quay confirmed the view that
this was somewhere rather special.
Today we have cycled to Ars-en-Re along the cycle paths which pass through
the vinyards and the saltpans. The round trip was 22 miles, and as it is
some time since either of us cycled that sort of distance, we thought that
the half-way lunch was fully justified!
