The île de Ré is half way down the French Atlantic coast beside La Rochelle and is pretty flat, pretty small, pretty warm and generally ...very pretty.
The Communauté of Communes (includes 10 towns) have decided that bike use is to be supported on this island that is only 20 miles long and under 5 miles wide. Part of the bridge toll is used as an 'eco-tax'.
To make things easy for visitors they've printed a reasonably good cycle map - only spoilt by an illustration of someone dressed as a bike commuter.
Once on the paths the reality is that no-one wears helmets apart from children and the whole atmosphere is of 'normal' cycle use as large groups of people go out to visit the various sites on the island. Apart from the beaches and towns with markets there is the UNESCO listed Vauban citadel in St Martin de Ré and the 200m lighthouse of Phare de Ré.
We took our Quetzal recumbent tandem on Jet2.com's weekly direct flight from Edinburgh to La Rochelle (in two boxes - taken by Murray Moves to airport). You could however arrive by bus or taxi on île de Ré and hire some pretty interesting bikes for your stay. In fact bike hire shops were easier to find than the local Carrefour supermarché! Families could hire Dutch style bikes to suit and there were even some Bakfiets and a couple of Nihola trikes. Traditional tandems were popular and we saw an Onderwater tandem (a Dutch favourite where the younger/smaller rider goes at the front). Of course as this is France it's never going to be a cheap holiday but the food is good and the atmosphere is very nice. One day there were over 200 road club riders out with helmets and lycra over from La Rochelle and around. The 3km bridge from the mainland (conveniently beside the airport) costs 16 euros per car - bikes of course are free. Several velo info kiosks are located beside the main cycle routes.
Bird watchers will enjoy the cycle through several protected salt marsh areas. It's all quite small scale but we could see that it was a big enough challenge for people with children not used to doing 20 mile round trips on a hot day.
None of the junctions on the islands have light controlled crossings but the high number of cyclists meant traffic took care and often gave way. The driving was generally very calm and on some routes you have to cycle with traffic on a painted lane. The network is very much patched together in towns but once outside it's very straightforward on quiet roads with vineyards on either side. Busier main routes are banned for bikes but have a good two way path alongside.
Until now we had generally used rail and ferry to take a bike to European mainland. There is of course an environmental contradiction about the île de Ré causing more people to fly there to enjoy a less car-orientated holiday!
Île de Ré visit by LaidBackBikes, on Flickr
Île de Ré visit by LaidBackBikes, on Flickr
Île de Ré visit by LaidBackBikes, on Flickr
Île de Ré visit by LaidBackBikes, on Flickr
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Leisure
Meanwhile... easy cycling on île de Ré
(11 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
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Looks lovely. I'm off to that part of the world (near Lacanau) in a couple of weeks - getting the in-laws to bring my bike in their van whilst I fly. Looking forward to using some proper bike infrastructure!
Posted 10 years ago # -
I can smell those photos...thanks!
Posted 10 years ago # -
I can smell those photos...thanks!
We did shower every day! - was a basic (lovely) self catering bothy / bergerie ;-)
As it was flat - Dutch Batavus electric bikes were popular too. A sure sign of non-cyclist / cycling maybe? (!)
Île de Ré visit by LaidBackBikes, on FlickrPosted 10 years ago # -
Hmm. There's been talk of France, involving bikes and camping and a mutt. Somewhere to investigate. Ta.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Looks excellent. On honeymoon we toured some islands off Croatia where there were no cars (just a few golf buggies) and it was great. Quite a lot smaller than Ile de Re I must say!
Interesting that the Quetzal was not the stand-out odd bike of the trip, a good sign that cycling is become a "real people" activity when not everyone is a carbon cut out...
Posted 10 years ago # -
No private cars on the Greek island of spetses famous as where Leonard Cohen lived and infamously where John fowles set The Magus. Asked if he had his life over again would he do anything differently Laurence Olivier (insert other celebrity) said Yes, I would not read The magus by John fowles.
Does have mopeds and a bus.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"Yes, I would not read The magus by John fowles."
Thanks for the tip. I'm still furious about the time I spent reading Focault's Pendulum.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Looks very nice! Glad you had a good time.
Posted 10 years ago # -
A friend in his eighties recently holidayed near the Île de Ré. He had a very enjoyable and safe day's cycling there. Lots of respect from motorists, peds and bikes had priority.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Appears to be on trend. The new Next catalogue has as it.'s opening photoshoot a section called Ile de Re
Posted 10 years ago #
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