A night spent on anchor on SE side of Île de Ré seemed the ideal opportunity to test out the newly acquired collapsible creel. And it works!
Regrettably none of the catch was big enough to eat ... next time we hope for a lobster.
The Île d'Aix is tiny and shaped like a fish, it lies at the mouth of the Charente river estuary. And of course Vauban was here. Back in the 17th century the fort was a key position for the French defence of their premier naval establishment at Rochefort further up the Charente, of which more in the next post.
It's a sleepy little place with no cars, a couple of cafés and small shops. It has a hotel, a police station and a cinema.
but perhaps most notable is the faded but still quite grand commandant's house, built by command of Napoleon in 1803, which was the last place where he of the same name spent his last few days on French soil after defeat at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. His next destination was to the island of St. Helena. The house is now a museum but not showing much sign of activity when we were there.
Whilst exploring on foot we found a lovely little beach,
evidence of former big boats having been here,
and noted that we could come back here by ferry to get away from it all ...
That night, Tuesday 27 May, we picked up a mooring buoy in the harbour, kindly provided by the island authorities. Now we were poised for our trip up the Charente river to Rochefort on the following day. Follyfin can be seen as a speck in the centre of the picture, way out to sea.
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