Noirmoutier

The journey to Noirmoutier took us over the Loire Bridge at St. Nazaire.  This is quite an impressive structure, the Loire Estuary is wider than the Mersey at Liverpool.  The suspension bridge arcs round in a curve which makes quite an impressive site.
After Bourgneuf the countryside becomes very flat indeed as we passed over the marais, or marsh.  There were many ditches and watercourses, but also farming and settlements.
There is a causeway to the Island of Noirmoutier, but it is only available in one direction, and at low tide, and our journey times meant that we had do do both journeys by the bridge.
At the town of Noirmoutier we saw the castle the shops and the market.  I was dissappointed to be there on a Tuesday the only day the castle museum was not open, but I guess it was more important to be there on a day the market was open.  There were several wooden sculptures in the dry shallow moat.
We were looking round some gift shops and a bead shop when there was a sharp shower, so we made for a nearby cafe and enjoyed a cup of coffee and chatted to some other folk on the tour.  After that it brightened up and we walked past the harbour to the market.
Ann had taken a picture of some hollyhocks growing against a wall, and this inspired our choice of picture to buy from a local artist who had a stall at the market. The market traders were very friendly, and it took me a while to realise that they were not wishing as a good journey, but that that is the way people say good day (jour).   We nearly bought a Breton jumper (each) and I nearly bought Ann a scarf.
The fruit and vegetable stalls were very bright and impressive, and we bought some cherries, which were very good.  There was also quite a wide choice of shops.   The artist said that the beach he had painted was a bus journey away.  I got the impression that it was a good place to come and stay for a while.
It had brightened up considerably since the early shower, so we bought some lunch at a pattiserie and sat on a bench looking out at the harbour to eat it in the sunshine.
There were some nice views of the sands going over the bridge on the journey back to the mainland, and then came the journey back stopping at the little harbour town of Pornic