29.03 Day 194 . . . Golden Balls

So - Île d'Oléron is an island and canton in the Atlantic coast of France (to the west of Rochefort). It is the second largest island of Metropolitan France, after Corsica. The capital, and largest town, is Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron in the centre of the island. With a length of 30 km and a width of 8 km. It has an area of 174 km2 and more than 21,000 permanent inhabitants.
The inhabitants of Île d'Oléron are known, in French, as Oléronais (women: Oléronaises).
Since 1966, there is a bridge that connects the island with mainland.
It was at Oléron in about 1152 to 1160 that Eleanor of Aquitaine introduced the first 'maritime' or 'admiralty' laws in that part of the world: the Rolls of Oleron.
In 1306, Edward I of England granted the island to his son, Edward II, as part of the Duchy of Aquitaine.
On 20 March 1586, the island was taken by Agrippa d'Aubigné.
During the Second World War, the island was occupied by German forces and fortified. It was liberated by Free French Forces in an amphibious assault code-named Operation Jupiter on 29 April 1945. The French cruiser Duquesne fired 550 heavy shells at the German artillery batteries. The garrison surrendered on the following day - they don’t like it up em’ Captain Mainwaring!
Anyway we got up and pottered to the breakfast hall where we helped ourselves to all sorts of buffet types goodies. I think I over indulged with slices of cheese!
Back to the room and grabbed our bits to go touring the island.
First off we went searching for a restaurant near to us that was highly recommended for sea food and effectively sits on the beach at the waters edge. We wanted to book it for this evening. All along the strip where we thought it might be, the restaurants were all closed or being tarted up - probably for next week as all the children here are on holiday. We did however go for a lovely walk along the port and to where the actual restaurant was situated. It was obviously closed. Don’t believe everything Google tells you. The fisherman’s building here are all brightly coloured very much like the Caribbean and so we took a good few photos along the way.
We set off north mostly to the west side heading toward La Cotinière which we had been recommended.
We stopped once to check out an obvious entrance to the beach near a water sports facility at Wind Oléron Club - which was ok but nothing special.
We continued on and found our way into Cotinière despite the road closures - again it is a tidying up of the port pre holiday season. We checked out the port and also a fish mongers. Inside we had a little French lesson trying to work out what all the fish were by their French name. One we keep seeing on our travels is Merdu . . . which is Hake - very popular here it would appear.
We then drove east to the centre of the island and the islands capital Saint-Pierre-d'Oléron. Tre had decided to drive to give me a break and was going to drive the rest of the day. After almost parking Rox in a bush (rolling forward when trying to reverse up a hill) and my attempting to help her park in some weirdly marked parking bay lines, I guessed I would be driving when we set off again.
On arrival as always we realised we had missed lunch time and it was also Wednesday afternoon so everything was shut 🙄. We grabbed a beer and a rose for Tre and sat outside a bar in the sunshine.
The small church near to where we were sat, so obviously we had to have a look inside. Église Saint-Pierre was lovely - with stone walls making it look so much more rustic than many we have seen recently.
We then did a little window shopping before returning to Rox to continue our travels. We really liked the feel of Saint-Pierre and there was obviously areas we hadn’t visited - so agreed we would return tomorrow - Tre had spotted earrings in a shop window 🤔
From Saint Pierre with me driving - we headed north east to Sauzelle taking the roads through the numerous oyster bed areas that are massive in this island. I’ve not even mentioned them yet. On a map they look like very small separated farmers fields, but are actually small ponds split apart by grass banks rather than hedges.
We drove straight through Sauzelle and south easterly towards Boyardville, again driving through the Miriad of oyster ponds. We stopped briefly in an attempt to get a photo of a Cormorant that was perched on a boat launching jetty.
The Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo ) is a large, black, and conspicuous waterbird, the cormorant has an almost primitive appearance with its long neck making it appear reptilian. It is often seen standing with its wings held out to dry. Regarded by some as sinister and greedy, cormorants are supreme fishers which can bring them into conflict with anglers, thus causing them to be persecuted in the past.
Onto Boyardville - yet another port packed with oyster boats but also some more regular looking shops. Again most of the shops were shut but we spotted an ice cream parlour (well it was a restaurant but all we wanted was ice cream) along the dockside. As soon as we sat down it began to rain - first time since we started this little journey.
We took up residency at another table inside and both stuck into a full on totally unhealthy base of ice cream and whipped cream. One each - we hardly spoke to one another until finished.
Back to Roxvanne we headed for home - that being the hotel.
I had been trying to get Tre to go for a swim and sauna etc with me, but was not getting excited vibes. When I started my journey to the pool Tre agreed to keep me company - dressed with her book. Better than not at all I thought.
When we arrived at the spa which was empty and so we had sole use, Tre was gone! She returned five minutes later with swimsuit on and towel in hand. To be fair the spa was bloody lovely, really warm, sauna, steam room, light room and pool with various jets and bubbles. We spent well over an hour getting healthy 😂
Back in our room we dressed and headed out to try and find an open restaurant. The only one we had seen open was called Grunge - which we didn’t much fancy. We hunted all around the fairly small town with no luck. It was drive to another town and possibly find nothing or go to Grunge.
So Grunge it was . . . and it was bloody amazing!!!!
The girl that ran the place was as happy and chatty as you like with nothing being too much of an issue. We had six oysters for starters with shallots finely chopped in vinegar to add to them . . . Gorgeous!!
Main course was Magret - now I and Tre have had quite a bit of Magret in various places and this was by far the best Magret we have ever had - words can’t explain how good it was. We did make a point of telling the owner lady how fab it all was which was handy as she said her husband was the chef!!
We then shared a lemon citrus cheesecake with chantilly cream . . and golden balls 😂
We spent an absolutely fab evening in the restaurant we had almost snubbed because of its name - lesson learnt!
Back at the hotel we did nothing but pile into bed and reflect on a lovely day and fantastic food. Two nights of food and two nights of being bang on lucky little buggers to have found these two gems!!
Tomorrow we head north.Read more