Rochefort

Up and at it - we’ll sort of. Bags quickly packed, cameras sorted, showered changed and ready we headed out of the door at about 1030am bound for Îlé d’Oléron which is an island on the west coast south of La Rochelle.
We had to make a quick detour to the Arc charity shop in Sainte Soline (now free of protestors and police) as Tre had won an charity auction item which needed collecting 🙄
We then hit the road proper heading first to Melle and then south west down to Mauzé-sur-Le-Mignon. From there continued south west in the D911 to Surgeres. From here we continued south west through Muron through to Rochefort where we stopped to grab a drink and some food - a lovely little chicken curry quiche for me and a salmon and spinach one for Tre, plus a couple of tiny chocolate doughnuts.
We departed our snack stop only to get immediately into a traffic jam. When we got to the front of the jam we found our exit from a roundabout blocked by a Gendarme. We diverted through part of the town to another access point to our route only to be met by another gendarme blocking the alternative route. We then decided to drive out or Rochefort and back to our route approaching from the south. Adding a good half hour to the journey we finally crossed a minor river which had been the pinch points at the road blocks, through a small village and up a hill into a further traffic jam. This time for a motorcyclist laid prone on the floor in a field with medical staff all around him. Hope he was ok!!
Through this jam it was plain sailing through to Pont de Îlé d’Orleron and over onto the island.
Within about 10 minutes we found our hotel but as we were early we drove into the village that is Saint Trojan Les Bains.
Parked up we went for a wander, not a lot was open due to the hour of day so we found ourselves a small Tabac, these are normally open and have bars!!
A glass of beer and a rose for Teresa and it felt like we were in proper holiday. Now the Tabac you wouldn’t make a bee line for on any other day, really tired inside and obviously owned by (probably for the past 50 years) the one and only employee, a lady who deserved a medal for cracking on as she did. Tre and I being the only customers, she sat down at an adjacent table and promptly nodded off.
She woke when Tre and I stood to leave.
We returned to Rod and drove to the hotel. The lovely lady receptionist allowed us to book in early - it appeared we were one of hardly any other customers. We appear to have an entire hotel to ourselves - which means it was too expensive and we’ve been ripped off, or it’s a pit and we’ve been ripped off.
Our room was fab with a small balcony overlooking the beach.
We returned to the bar and grabbed a beer and a red for Tre, which came in a very long test tube, which was loaded into a machine and then dispensed at the exact temperature required for that wine a Saint Émilien Grand Cru. Never seen it before - the speed Tre polished it off it appears the machine works.
We then pottered over to the beach - the tide was out and we could see men quite a way out tending to their oyster beds.
A couple were also walking along the beach digging and after a short conversation we established they were collecting cockles for their dinner that evening.
We then set about a fairly lengthy walk along the beach to a jetty area where we decided to turn around - using the path by the road above us to walk back. There were a number of notice boards on the way back detailing facts about local buildings and their history.
Back at the hotel we chilled for a short while before getting ready to go out. Our friendly receptionist had recommended a restaurant around the corner called L’Écume. We chanced our arm and walked straight there in the hope we hadn’t needed to book. The sign on the wall ‘Michelin’ gave us a slight panic - standing there in jeans and t-shirts and not expecting to be quite so thrust into L’Oléron foodie heights.
However being brave and having entered we found the two female staff to be lovely and made us feel immediately relaxed.
We were determined to have oysters and found the perfect way to break our duck with a starter each that contained one oyster. In for a penny . . .
I had done a bit of homework on how to know if your oysters are fresh . . . A fresh oyster should ideally have the scent of an ocean breeze and feel ice cold to the touch. If the oyster feels warm or gives off an offensive, pungent odour, then it is possibly about to go bad. Be sure to check this step before topping it with any sauces or garnishes, as those could potentially mask the odour. Also look for freak seaweed or small crustaceans still attached to the shell as a sign of freshness. Only eat Oysters in months with an R in them. All this info in my head we dived in!
The remainder of the starter was brilliant and the oyster was stunning - so more tomorrow for sure. Never have I eaten anything like it - it isn’t like eating anything fish related.
The main was hay smoked beef with millefeuille potato - which again was gorgeous. We opted for the cheats dessert and ordered what is effectively a small black coffee with normally five or six small versions of various puddings. Five for one - how can you not do that.
We left the restaurant stuffed for our walk home. I’ve already told Tre I want to come here for my 60th. It’s not Michelin star - not sure what the plaque was all about, but the food was amazing and the staff were all you could ask for.
Back in our room it was moments before we were turning off the lights and calling it a day. My only concern was that at some point in the night I might explode - due to feeling that full up. Weirdly we hadn’t eaten a lot quantity wis, as the dishes were all relatively fine dining size but it felt like I had.
Hopefully see you tomorrow.Read more