Monday 2 September

Busy day today. Lottie got me up at 7.10am by squeaking that she wanted to go out. I had to throw on some clothes and take her for a walk as she needed to wee and poo desperately.

We set off for Il de Re, stopping at a supermarket on the way.

Over the bridge to Il de Re

We arrived at our campsite, Chardons Bleus, and had the longest ever check in. The young girl checking us in was learning on the job and very sweet but unfortunately her understanding of English, and english grammar, was not all it could be, so several times we had to go over something again and again. I told her at the beginning of the conversation that we were using ACSI but at the end she said it was 57.90e for 2 nights, so I said no, it wasn’t (very nicely). Yes it is, she said, no – we have an ACSI card I said. Eventually an older woman spoke to her and told her what to do on the computer. 37e she said, that’s better I said. Took us about half an hour to check in.

We only had about 5 pitches to choose from and only 1 that had the slightest chance of any sun, so that was the one we chose. The first job was the washing which needed to be done so we changed the bed and loaded the machine. Once we’d had lunch and put the washing out we cycled off to La Flotte for a wander round. The tide was out so Lottie didn’t get a swim, but she did have a walk on the beach. There were several people out digging amongst the seaweed, obviously foraging for something. I did go into the tourist office and asked the girl in there what people on the coast were digging for – ah, she said, there is some construction going on. No, I said, they are digging on the beach – ah she said, they’re building a new part of the cycle path. No, I said, they are looking through the seaweed – a ha she said, they are looking for maybe shellfish?? With a shrug of her shoulders. 🙄 We had already worked that out.

People out foraging for shellfish

We had an ice cream and sat on the side of the harbour. What do you want to do next, I asked Paul. Just sit here and do nothing, he said. What??? I find it very difficult to sit and do nothing. Give me a book and I’ll sit for ages. But I sat on my hands and looked at the boats for as long as I could, for Paul.

La Flotte

Eventually we went back to the bikes and after a bit more of a cycle around La Flotte, and a cycle around another campsite at La Flotte, we made our way back to the campsite.

Unfortunately we didn’t have any sun on our pitch so we made a G & T and sat on an empty pitch 2 down from ours. This worked well until someone came to look at it and decided to have it. They were a lovely young couple with a toddler and even said we could stay at the end of the pitch but it didn’t seem right. 😆

We are surrounded by young families with under school age children, they are all lovely families and the children are delightful.

Lottie had the first shower. She’s been in various streams, rivers and sea water so needed a freshen up,

The first night tonight that we’ve not showered in the van. The ‘facilities’ here are nearly new and very good, lots of room and very clean and even a hairdryer that actually dries hair, not one of those ineffective ones that are usually there.

Just got to decide what we’re doing tomorrow now.