Wednesday, 12th October:

Waking up near that lake was quite pleasant, but the boating area, like the restaurant and bar, was all shut up.

The sky was competely grey, but at least it wasn’t raining. There was a lot of wildlife all around, including a heron on the platform out in the lake. There were quite a few anglers around, too.

Back on the road, we drove across country towards La Rochelle and then on to the Island of Oléron, where THEY had stayed in 2003, in Box II. (August 2003 was record-breaking hot, with people dying from the heat and further travel southwards in that van was uninviting!) 

Not far over the bridge we came, as planned, to Camping La Brande and booked in there for at least three nights. ( www.camping-labrande.com ) And finally, the next morning (Thursday), later and further south than the forecast had given to believe: THE SUN SHONE! Most pitches here are well shaded, which is what people want for most of the season, but at this time THEY would have liked sun on the pitch for at least some of the day; the attempt to arrange this (choice of pitch was free) failed completely, as the sky was still overcast when we arrived, and they got the geography wrong! But there are sunny bits nearby – it’s just that they keep moving!