Sun 18th to Tue 20th October 2026
Continuing our way back north, we spent three nights on the Île de Ré. To get onto the island, you have to cross the very impressive (toll) bridge, the second longest in France:
Sunday had been spent travelling, but on the Monday we explored the most northern part of the island on bikes, from the Camping Car Park site at Saint-Clement-des-Baleines. We relocated to the southern-most tip of the island on Tuesday and had a further bike ride around the towns there.
Monday; Phare des Baleines and Les Portes-en-Ré:
The beautiful, Île de Ré is superb for cycling. There are many dedicated cycling tracks and much effort has been made to keep motorised traffic away from cyclists. We planned to head to the northernmost tip of the island to see the lighthouse, then head along the north coast along to Les Portes-en-Ré.
The current 60 metre high lighthouse was constructed in 1856, but it replaced an earlier one, just half its height, built in 1682. It is an impressive structure, built of granite. We did not climb it as it was very busy with families enjoying a half-term break.
Nearby, there are a number of small shops, selling souvenirs and other items. We visited an artisan savon seller, who was making soap in the shop. He told us that they put donkey milk in the soap!
The stuffed donkey outside the shop is wearing trousers as this was a tradition on the island. In times gone by, donkey owners would put leggings on their animals to protect them from the constant attention of biting insects in the marshes where they were used to transport the salt harvested from the salt-pans.
The small settlement of Les Portes-en-Ré was where we had lunch, but en-route we purchased some salt from a stall on the roadside, taking in the landscape of salt production.
After eating we headed further down the coast to Plage de Trousse-Chemise before making our way back across the island to where we were parked-up.
Tuesday; Ars-en-Ré, La Flotte and Saint-Martin-de-Ré:
The Île de Ré is almost two islands linked by a narrow causeway. Before leaving the northern part of the island, we had a wander around the lovely small town of Ars-en-Ré:
Ars-en-Ré:
We then relocated to Rivedoux-Plage at the south-eastern point of the island and explored further using our bikes:
La Flotte:
The pretty small harbour town of La Flotte has a marina/harbour with many tourism focused activity based around it. We cycled through here on our way to and back from Saint-Martin-de-Ré.
There appeared to be a very patriotic vibe here:
Nearby, there are the ruins of a Cistercian Abbey which we visited on the way back:
Saint-Martin-de-Ré:
Saint-Martin-de-Ré is a small, fortified town on the northern coast. It has a large harbour/marina and impressive Vauban Bastion ramparts:
There were a lot of tourists visiting when we were there, mostly around the marina area:
That is it for today. TTFN and see-u-later.
