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Noirmoutier-en-l’Īle 16 June 2016


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After a slow breakfast, we drove out to the Atlantic for a brisk beach walk between the groins at l'Épine. The authorities entertain the vain hope that these will keep the ocean from taking the sand. The science disfavors them, but will that influence the French? Why learn from 200 years of negative experience? Nah.

Nice beach for walking anyway.


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So we drove back across the Marais Salants, where most of France's Fleur de Sel is harvested, and visited with a sweet salt-harvester to get some to being home.

 

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Next, through the little town center and out to the bay side, to Le Bois de Chaise and la Plage des Dames. A lovely French woman was just leaving, and gave us her unexpired parking ticket, so, why not take a walk out to the end of the pier...

Along the pier, folks were fishing with drop nets. Lower your weighted meter-square net into the water, follow up with a couple of handfulls of bait, wait a minute, then pull up the net with a few silvery little fish in it. Voilà: lunch!

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1360 : 714

What a good idea: Lunch!

The first floor of the big white building is – no surprise here – a restaurant with sunny tables, umbrellas, and shady tables too, just right for a quiet dejeuner. Not too many folks yet, but there are pictures of the beach at high season, and it's wall-to-wall people. This is really the first day with anything like beach weather, even on this protected side of the island.

That's our waiter steaming by. Both he and the maitresse d' tickled me by insisting to speak English to me, while I insisted on speaking French to them. 

Before we could order, out came a little amuse bouche on the house crockery, emblazoned "le plage de Jules" – Rochelle got that sweet moist faraway look, remembering her Dad, Jules. 


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<p>A Salade Paysan for me, more smoked...

A Salade Paysan for me, more smoked duck and big tender lardons than anything else, and delicious. Fish soup with its traditional mayonaise, grated cheese, and croutons; we still haven't figured out what the mayo is for. I didn't know for sure what a Pavé de Merlu Mousseline d'Herbes Fraîches Poélée de Légumes might be, but it was the chef's choice: a lovely cream sauce, a neat foundation of herbs, and a tasty white fish with its crispy skin. Rochelle had a Salade façon de César with shrimp. Fruit compote and panna cotta for dessert; we ordered one, and they brought us two.

1364 : 685

Back into the Bois for a postprandial walk in the woods. The trail is rugged, not groomed at all, so the experience of walking in the woods is very primitive. Rocks and roots make the walking tricky, but they also protect the little pocket beaches. The rocks in the gentle surf contribute a lovely swishing sound. Views through the trees past the enomous rocks, to the sea, are gorgeous. How wise of the Noirmoutines to preserves this blessed little bit of original habitat.


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Suddenly through the trees, a very civilized little golden sand beach, complete with beach cabanas and lithe French women in bikinis (men, too. According to the map, the next beach along is the naturist beach, but we didn't get that far.) 

And note there on the horizon, the tower and behind it what looks like it might be a castle... All along the edges of the Bois there are beautiful little (maybe 1,200 square foot) stone mini-chateaux, some with towers, all with beautiful gardens. This side of the island is for the real elites. 

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Here's the house I want to stay in next time. Big first floor with a major bayside deck, another floor above, probably the master bedroom, then two tower rooms, one above the other. Looks like a service floor on the ground level, kitchen, pantry, and probably a guest bedroom or two. I want the top tower room. Two beaches, a little pocket one (not pictured) on one side, and the one above on the other. Who else wants to come?

 

Well, it's okay to dream, isn't it? I imagine this house is closely held for generations by some well-connected historically wealthy French family. Remember how I said that some French are more equal than others? This place belongs to one of the equal-est.


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<p>Noirmoutier being something of...

Noirmoutier being something of a closely held secret (we wouldn't want the British finding out; they'd over-run the place!) here's a little help imagining where it is. That little blob in the upper left corner of the map on the right side is Wessex in England.

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