May 20, Noirmoutier

Noirmoutiers and passage of Gois are must-see sites when you're in the Nantes area. The passage of Gois is a submerged road on which signs explain that you can drive an hour and a half before and after low tide, much less by neap tide. There are photos of reckless unbelievers, whose cars go floating. In fact, it's closer to four hours, but hey, it says three hours to be on the safe side.






We arrive at 11:30, low tide is 13:54. On our side, people have begun to pass since 11:00. They advance slowly, as the road becomes accessible. From here, we see that the first cars are moving a little faster. Around 12:15, a service truck reaches us coming from the other side, followed by a convoy of vehicles who already made the crossing.

We decide to eat first. In the restaurant, two waitresses are handling our table. One of them, very courteous, is however cold, curt and unsmiling. The other is more cheerful and nice. After the meal, we pay and the cashier is the nice once. Françoise made it a point to thank her, saying it was very nice but it would have been even nicer if the other waitress would have been a bit nicer. Embarrassed, the cashier looked over her shoulder and finally said, uh, she's the boss. We won't say where it all happened, to protect the innocent.

We get going. The tide is still going down. .






Lots of people on the beach, they collect cockles, clams. When we get to the other side of the passage road, we see a couple having a picnic, on a small table set up near their car. They're eating clams they just picked it up. Raw. I'm surprised but Françoise is even more surprised because I am. "We eat raw clams," she said. Ah? Me, I eat fried clams, a small sin of gluttony, or I prepare clam sauce with pasta. Canned clams, of course. Were they raw??

You hoo, better be careful. The sign says "Submersible parking".







And for the unwise driver or passerby who went floating away, posts with steps to climb and to hold to, to wait for the next low tide. Brrrr.







We visited a castle and I failed to properly save the picture. Too bad. Now we get to the beach. A tourist beach. Well, we are tourists.






Evil Françoise, again, suggest stopping at the ice cream shop. Roger goes for a light choice. A banana split (sic on the men u).






In the evening, supper with Françoise and friends. Tomorrow, we're leaving.