Off from Ile de Re, morning stop over to La Rochelle to see what all the fuss is about. Checked out another port castle which gave a pretty speccy view of the harbour and the surrounding area.

One of the great things about the French, being one of the legacies of le guilotines, socialiste and of course Yoplait yoghurt, is that there are loads of places for free camping along the coastline that in any other country would be owned by someone with a shotgun or high walls.

Here in France though where the toils of men and women are still rewarded by free camping with toilet facilities, are premo sites literally on the beach front. So we have been taking full advantage of them. No showers though, which means nudie runs down the beach each morning with nothing but a cake of soap and hope that there are no early morning fisherman.

On the surf coast finally, but nothing but promises at this point, as well as some pretty shocking sights at a nearby nudie beach.