Les Sables D'Olonne

Les Sables D'Olonne, (french for "the sand of Olonne") a town on the Atlantic coast.

The town may have entered the consciousness of others back in 2001, when Ellen MacArthur came 2nd in the 'Vendée Globe' the round the world 45,000km yacht race, usually held every 4 years, with the next one scheduled to depart on 10th November 2024.

Our camp site was just 7km south of town, along a lovely coastal path, so with the sun shining we got the bikes out, and with the sea to our left we headed north into town.

The coastal route started with lovely rocky outcrops before settling into a 3km expanse of soft golden sand, we stopped regularly along the way, mostly to admire the views and watch the sail boats out in the bay.

Arriving at the marina in town, it was clear a few boats had arrived early for the start of the Vendée (this year there are 3 British skippers taking part) one of them is Pip Hare.

Pip used to live opposite Jo in a village outside Cambridge, Jo being friends with Pip's sister Katy at the time, the family also used to own a brown donkey, kept in the field behind Pip's house.

After a wander around the pontoons, we noted the boats already in port - most likely getting prepped ahead of the 40 boat race.

Guyot Water family - Benjamin Dutreax (Fr)
Teamwork SNEF - Justine Mettraux (Suis)
D'Ierteren - Denis Van Weynbergh (Ger)

Fun Fact: Les Sables D'Olonne is twinned with Worthing... given its sailing credentials I was expecting Cowes or Dartmouth!

Along the route to town roughly 50m out from the beach on the rocks between Les Roches Noires and Tanche is a 10ft statute of Ulysses, representing the mythological marine hero, it can be approached at low tide and can easily be seen from the embankment at high tide.

The walk out is quite tricky over slippery rocks..... but hey..... anything for photo of a mythical creature of the sea!

Crepes (one sweet one savoury) and a beer later it was time to cycle back to the camp site..

Sables D'Olonne .. what a fabulous little grown up seaside town.Read more