Chez Pépé

Time to get the bikes off the back of Frodo. Since we are here largely for some oysters or preferably a plateau de fruits de mer, it was time to go searching for that, too. There is an area of seafood cabins in the oyster harbour of Arès so Francine started trying to understand the cycle route map we’d been given. It proved tricky.

Our journey began easily enough ‘cos a piste cyclable was right outside the entrance to our campsite. Then we began to struggle. There was supposedly a canal with a bike track beside it. We found the canal – more of a mud-banked river – but no cycle route was obvious.

We overshot, then doubled back, when a man on a VTT [Velo Tout Terrain –  a much better phrase than Mountain Bike] suddenly appeared from between some trees beside the “canal”. What we found was more of a sandy footpath than a cycle track but gamely followed it anyway, frequently dismounting intentionally before we were forced to dismount unintentionally by deep, soft sand.

We got to a wildlife lake which proved dull, save for a spectacular Kingfisher flying about, then followed a better cycle track all the way to the front at Arès. We had to work our way along the front before finally arriving at the cabins selling seafood.

We’d pretty much selected a cabin to try when a bus-load of wrinkly gastronauts pitched up and swarmed inside. We changed our choice to the much less swamped Chez Pépé.

We were offered a pleasant table within earshot of some very unpleasant “music”, which seemed to consist of strange electronic sounds but with a complete absence of musical notes. Bizarre. What was this, techno, garage? I couldn’t guess. It seemed to be a choice designed to give diners indigestion. Happily ones ears block some of it out after a while.

We let our ears block and ordered a plateau with oysters, prawns, whelks, langoustine, winkles and brown shrimps. I also ordered a bottle of Entre Deux Mers which the waitress warned us was, “très, très, sec”. Maybe they get lots of Brits drinking sweeter wines? “Très sec est parfait”, I replied.

And so it was; the seafood was terrific and the wine was delicious. They even eventually changed to some music including some musical notes so the ears could unblock.

Well sated, we plodded our way back to Frodo along rather more obvious cycle tracks, calling in to the local Carrefour Contact to top up our supplies en route.