31.03 Day 196 . . . Home By The Sea!

Today was our last day, so we were up relatively early packing our few bits and pieces away. All loaded into Rox we went inside to say our goodbyes to the lovely receptionist lady and paid our outstanding bill.
We had decided first thing that we would go and find one of the most popular beaches on the island, which actually wasn’t far from our hotel.
Plage de Gâtseau had a fairly large car park and we could imagine it being murder during the holiday periods. We walked from the car park and onto the most glorious (windswept this morning) beach. The sun was out with a stiff breeze, but it was stunning - and we were the the only ones on the beach. Myself being The Lone Ranger meant that Tonto was head tracker and she deducted one other person and a small dog had been on the beach at some point before us this morning. We made a plan to return here again once the holiday period was over - September time, to come down here one evening with a picnic and some beers to watch the sunset. It really was a wonderful place to visit on a last day in the sunshine with lovely views of the Bay of Biscay. We attempted to take some timer selfies, which Tre thought was funny especially when my phone kept falling in the sand - I wasn’t that amused!
Walking off the beach we called Le Grunge restaurant to book a table for lunch at 1230 - the French do like a Réservation and we have learnt to our cost that if you snooze you lose when it comes to tables at lunch time.
We returned to Saint-Trojan and into a small bar for a coffee and then continued on down to the port. We had promised to bring some oysters shells back for someone - so they could use them for art projects. We knew there were piles of them around the port area. Parked up near to Le Grunge, we walked across to the port area and for once I took my proper camera with me. On route to collect the shells I stopped numerous times to grab some shots, most of which repeats of those I’d taken on the phone some days ago. The sun was again out and the weather was glorious.
After collecting the shells and taking the photos, we dumped everything back into Rox and walked down the road to Grunge. The lady owner was on hand as was the waitress who the other evening had tried to avoid us as she spoke no English. However after finally chatting with her the other night, her confidence had obviously grown for today, as all she wanted to do was talk with us and try out her English.
The food again was stunning, Tre had baked Camembert and I had six oysters (getting my count up) . . . scrummy. We both then had tuna steak with a sesame crust, which was served effectively raw . . . we had been advised at the time of ordering. It really was a fab last meal on Île d’Oléron. We said our goodbyes, assuring the owner we would be back - Im sure she was comforted by this !!
From Saint-Trojan we drove to Saint-Pierre to buy some aftershave/perfume we had sampled the day before and decided to return for - we should have bought it then. In the same shop we had bought the earrings, we now purchased the scent, together with a ring for Tre.
From Saint-Pierre we drove down to the east corner of the island to Le Château-d’Oléron which we had also been recommended to visit. Again we drove through many many oysters beds, mile after mile of them.
We arrived in the Citadel of Château-D’Oléron and parked up within the area of the fortifications.
A 17th century defensive citadel Built under Louis XIII from 1630, the citadel was probably completed around 1640 before the death of Cardinal de Richelieu, whose armouries were on its walls. When the arsenal royal de Rochefort became the main military port of the country, under the impulse of Louis XIV's minister Colbert, the need to protect the site from English threats became obvious. The fortifications of Château d'Oléron multiplied and became stronger around the original citadel. Largely built on marshes, these fortifications required pharaonic work. The ensemble evolved until the middle of the 18th century. Today, the citadel is a very accomplished example of the genius of Vauban.
Under the Revolution, it received for a century those condemned to hard labor. In 1870, German prisoners of war during the Franco-Prussian conflict were imprisoned there. It then housed a garrison until 1911. After the First World War, it housed the disciplinary sections of the national military service. Occupied by German troops during the Second World War, it was liberated in 1945 but was badly damaged by Allied bombings. The period from 1959 to 1970 was devoted to its restoration. Left abandoned after the first oil shock, it was gradually restored from the end of the 1980s. Today it is an essential site on the island and is one of the most visited sites in Charente-Maritime.
We walked from here down towards the port area. Again there were numerous brightly coloured ‘huts’ which were most probably once fisherman huts, but now are also occupied by small art type shops. The colours were lovely and shown at their best in the sunshine. We crossed a small bridge covered in empty oysters shells that rattled in the breeze - similar to the bridges in mainland France adorned by padlocks. We purchased some soaps in a local shop before finding the port entrance and further views to the Bay of Biscay.
After some compulsory photos we headed back towards Rox, a little conscious of the time and our journey home . . . then we reminded ourselves that we didn’t need to be anywhere, by any time . . . it’s a lovely feeling, but takes some getting used to.
Back in Rox we set course for home, deciding to avoid Rochfort and heading towards Saintes instead. I set the camera up for an hours time-lapse of the journey and set off.
We waved goodbye to the island crossing the bridge to the mainland, the views today were brilliant and clear and we noticed even more oyster beds as we hit the mainland side - we hadn’t even seen these on the way over.
We drove the A837 through to Saintes and then headed north east towards Saint-Jean-d’Angély. We avoided Saint-Jean-d’Angély due to roadworks and used all manner of backroads through to Chef Boutonne and our usual roads back to home, arriving just as a rain storm hit at about 7pm.
We dodged the rain and unloaded our bags indoors.
Due to our large lunch, dinner consisted of some Doritos with houmus and a tub of Haribo’s whilst watching TV.
We have had the best four days away, we love where we are living but sometimes a small break away can make all the difference.
Île d’Oléron - will now we think always be our little home by the seaLæs mere