After a quick hop via La Rochelle airport, you can be on the Ile de Ré within half an hour. It’s a fantastic destination for a weekend, especially if you love cycling, though if you can stay longer… you won’t be disappointed. On foot, the town of Saint-Martin-en-Ré is a delight, especially if you into the backstreets where hollyhocks grow high against whitewashed, green-shuttered cottages.
A weekend in… the Ile de Ré
Until I visited the Ile de Ré, I was pretty sure I knew what a bicycle looked like: two wheels, saddle, handlebars, usually with a middle-aged man in Lycra perched on top. But as I pedal between whitewashed island villages, passing pretty harbours and dinky beaches, I’m not so sure. Coming towards me are electric bikes, semi-recumbent tandems (one rider reclining to pedal while the other sits up on a normal saddle behind) and back-to-front tricycles with seats for children at the front (a triporteur). So varied are the vehicles, I almost expect a penny-farthing to come bowling around the corner.
Read my piece from The Times (which appeared in the paper on Feb 11, 2017) here.
