Noirmoutier Island & "The Ballet of the Bottoms Up" - Vendee

Wednesday 23rd July 2012
This afternoon we headed to Noirmontier Island, we had a few things we could have done, Oceanile Water Park, Sealife aquarium or simply a stroll around. As we arrived at lunchtime we grabbed a bite to eat first, then, as it was so hot and the kids were flagging, we decided to take the road train to have a look around.  (We gave the kids the option to come back on Friday).   There are 2 train rides, and hour one and a 35 minute one.  We chose the latter and it was very pleasant indeed.

road train :)

Pretty port!

It was a very pituresque little place with lots of quaint little cafes and boutiques - sounds awful to be complaining about the heat now, but we decided to have the obligatory ice cream and head back to the shade of our Siblu home for the week.

We got to the island via the Pont (bridge) so decided to go back via the Gois (causeway). It was amazing to see this track of road with seabed either side - like the sea had literally parted - biblical like! We also noticed lots of people digging around the sea bed - so we decided to stop and have a nosey! Lots of people had crates of shell fish, and the ever so friendly locals showed us how to look for holes in the sand, beneath which we would find the Parlourd (to be googled later)! It was great fun and the kids got stuck in as you can see from the video!

It turned out that they were in fact clams - so the pitiful few that we brought back we BBQ'ed then covered with a sauce made of butter, garlic and wine, to die for! 

Waiting for them to open

Just amazing :)

I've heard that the locals call the clam digging the "ballet of the bottoms up" haha love it! We're going back later in the week - just need to find rakes and buckets! Annie x