As part of our summer Tour De France we are spending 8 nights on Ile d’Oleron. We have a pitch among the trees and managed to squeeze the caravan tightly along one side leaving a nice front garden area.
Saturday 22nd
The journey from St Malo to the island was long but fun. We used a road atlas to plot our route and other than a couple of missteps (where Waze thought it was optimising but didn’t know we were very wide) we made it to the site at around 3pm.
After we roughly set up camp we went out to find a supermarket for essentials (e.g. beer, wine and food). After a long day, travelling everyone was tired and a bit hungry so we found a nice little pizza bar and had dinner out.
Sunday 23rd
We had a very chilled start to the day, got breakfast from the campsite and continued to unpack things into their places in the caravan. We strung up some festoon lights around our front garden and after some bread for lunch we went to find the local beach.
We swam in the sea and then cycled back home and had chicken pasta for dinner. There was a juggler performing at the campsite, strong Kev vibes with double diablo work although the Crazy Frog outfit was interesting!
After getting back we played a game of King Domino then bed 😴
Monday 24th
We planned to go for a bit of cycle but after breakfast Henry said he wasn’t feeling great so Juli and Henry stayed at the campsite while Lottie and I explored the cycle route towards some of the beaches.
After getting back from cycling we all went to the campsite pool and played ball for a bit. We also played a little bit of volleyball.
We opened and played a game Juli bought before the holiday called ‘Next Station London‘… its got potential
Tuesday 25th
I went for a cycle around the island while the others went to the beach, the first third of the cycle was into a 20kmph headwind which made it hard work, but once I turned around at the lighthouse it was effortless.
At the end of the cycle, we met up for an ice cream and the others continued to dig a massive hole at the beach. I went back to camp and rehydrated myself.
We had pizza for dinner from the campsite and played another game of Next Station London where (after a couple of recounts) Lottie and Henry drew with a score of 146.
Wednesday 26th
It was a little rainy so we stayed around the campsite waiting for it to clear… after a while we cycled to the local village to find ice cream.
Thursday 27th
One of the sunniest days so far so we planned to spend the day at the beach, we pitched our beach tent in some trees for a bit of shade.
In the evening we took a campsite organised sun-set train rain to the other coast. Was lots of fun, though driving through the woods in the dark on a rickety old train was a bit scary. Got some great photos though.
Friday 28th
Another rainy ish day, so after waiting for the worst of it to pass, we cycled out to some local villages, we visited the old castle (though there is very little of it left!) we had ice creams then cycled back via the super market for BBQ food.
In the evening there was a band playing at the campsite which was fun and there was a nice festival vibe 🙂
Saturday 29th
We took a cycle to the local village for ice cream and then to cycle to another beach on the Atlantic side. We didn’t have any swimming clothes with us, but that didn’t stop Henry from having a swim in the waves.
Sunday 30th
Packing up and travelling day. We managed to get everything packed up and we left the site at about 11am.