Push bikes and oysters

The following day as we visited the marina office to pay for another night, our nice lady again reminded us that we were welcome to borrow bikes if we wished, I did, but to be honest Lynne wasn't over keen. She hadn't sat on a bicycle in 40+ years and didn't like roads or traffic at all. However I persuaded her that the abundance of cycle paths would mean we could avoid roads pretty much entirely so we asked to borrow two for the day. We had a quick trial run to the boulangerie in the village before eating our breakfast of coffee and croissants back on the boat. I had planned to visit the other side of the river we had discovered the other day as I was keen to see the oyster production close up.

The cycle paths leave the village and after a bit of the ubiquitous pine forest begins to meander through very attractive salt marshes.

The countryside was really beautiful and it was a part of France we don't get to see that often, being as it were " coast bound "

The paths are very well signposted and easy to follow, however they are quite popular and Lynne wasn't yet feeling totally confident on her new conveyance and a couple of times rather shaky and wobbly bits were evident particularly when meeting other cyclists head on in a narrow section or on one of the many bends and meanders.

After 5 or 6 miles of lovely cycling we came to the estuaire du Payre and the home of the Huitre farmers.

We had lunch under some shady trees as in typical fashion the restaurant side of the establishment was closed for lunch. 

We wandered down to the river and walked along the dunes and found a nice spot to sunbathe for an hour or two and went back for a second luncheon of Huitres.

Lynne wasn't sure if oysters were her thing so contented herself with a beer, I had elected to try a mixture of sizes thus I had a couple of no 4s a couple of no 3s and a number 1 and finally a ' pied au Cheval' which is a truly impressive size of oyster.

They were all delicious, the big question and still unanswered in my mind is lemon juice or vinegar?

I believe melted butter is nice but I've never tried it, sounds scrummy though......

As I eat my oysters I could see in the river the oyster beds from whence they came, I believe that oysters taste of the area they come from and a cognecenti can tell just by the taste the particular river or estuary they originate. I can't do that, they taste of sea, subtle hints of all kinds of flavours but all sea to me...... We finished our drinks and my second lunch and headed back towards the marina.

I think I may have been a little over ambitious for Lynnes first bike ride in a lifetime she was very saddle sore towards the end and I had to stop at a cafe for a restorative coffee before we finally got back to Dark Tarn!

But I had had a fantastic day!