Sunday 18th Oct.

Ars en Re
Now, Sundays like Mondays and Wednesday evenings can be a little tricky in France, but we had decided to change the habit of a lifetime and go for a lunch instead of supper. Fortunately Vivi had pre-ordered a Poulet roti so we were confident of being fed. That organized we went in search of a café where they provided wi-fi which we found and it worked. The most entertaining aspect was a man and his very small dog who sat side by side and shared a large plate of smoked salmon and fries. We ate lunch in the sunshine on Holly’s balcony and then set off to explore St Martin de Re. Allegedly the smartest town on the island. It was pretty, it was a fortified citadel in fact the town is surrounded by a star shaped rampart and in the 1600’s could accommodate the entire population of the island. There is also a harbour and the whole town was heaving with tourists . So we had an ice cream, window shopped and went home. The wonderful thing about the Ile de Re is that it is completely velo friendly, there are cars but as a cyclist you simply never come into contact with them, if you do you are probably lost and should not be where you are. Added to that the whole island is completely flat which is a bonus over for example Bulbarrow, although there are possibly some, but not many who would disagree.