Midsummer Action

Whatever the world might have thrown at us recently, summer is back to remind us of life’s simple pleasures, and what’s not to love about the best season of the year? Usually it means blue skies and long sunny days – a time when evenings stretch out before us with the smell of barbecue smoke in the air, happy voices, laughter, a time when doors and windows are open and no-one worries too much about getting the children to bed at a civilised hour. It’s a time for kids to build camps and put up tents in the garden. And for many of us, summer also means the seaside, beaches, ice-creams and sand. In these unsettling times with the Covid cloud still lingering, this is fortunately the season when we can still enjoy so much, even if we’re still being rather cautious.

If the crowded beaches aren’t your scene, or if you’re still feeling unsure about crowds, try heading inland. Find yourself a quiet stretch of river where you’re allowed to roam freely. Rafting, fishing, swimming and floating downstream... we love the simplicity and constant state of adventure that rivers and streams give us. Of all the local spots where we can get onto freshwater and float downstream, our favourite has to be Port d’Envaux (17). A charming village on the Charente just a few kilometres downstream of Saintes, it has a small, quaint main street with a slew of grand houses on one side that stretch down to the cool green water. Once a thriving and very prosperous river-traffic stop, it now throbs seasonably with its annual influx of summer residents (even then there aren’t that many) and along the bank is a small business which rents out kayaks, paddleboards, and powered dinghies. For a few euros, it‘s easy to step into your chosen method of water transport and then take off in either direction to find your own piece of solitude.

If you fancy trying out a stretch of river for yourself, we have some tips, the most important of which is to find a dry-bag – when you have children involved in wet pursuits you will need some protection for your phone, car keys, camera and dry clothing. It really is a necessity as a sea-battle somewhere on the reaches of the river is only too common an occurrence, as I learnt to my cost one summer when I ventured too close as the official ‘photographer’ during one skirmish. It’s all too easy to be drawn into the action as either an unwilling participant or as a means of protection, and a quick capsize is the inevitable result! A second piece of advice is to remember that you will all be wet when you get back into your car. We use our damp towels on top of our reusable shopping bags to protect our seats from water stains on the ride home. It’s a small tip, but a handy one to know...

Swimming in the river is always different from the sea. It‘s a much more primeval pursuit, and takes me back to my childhood in England when on hot days long stretches of pebbly banks along small rivers would be home to people with lilos and inner tubes, rubbing toes with dace and roach, as reeds nodded along the banks. Just as it was then, so it is also wise now to note where cows graze and muddy the water, but otherwise there is little to fear from nature. Just keep an eye out for water-skiers, a rare but occasional hazard. We also thoroughly recommend keeping on at all times the flotation jackets provided by the boat-hirer. One can then concentrate on the ‘joy of cold’ far more.

However, if the ocean is calling you then you really are spoilt for choice. For us a day on the beach nearly always involves boards: skim boards, boogie boards, renting a paddleboard... there’s something about boards and teenagers! We’re not a family to lie in the sun for hours on end; we love the water and we love activity. Even on the sand it has to be a game of ball, skittles, you name it, but there is always something sporty involved. All along the Charente-Maritime coastline there are numerous places that rent kayaks and paddle boards and the calmer waters of the Gironde Estuary provide another perfect setting.

At the end of the day, wherever we’ve been, we head home, happy family and happy friends. We fling open the doors of the house once more, the kitchen spills out onto the terrace, the floor is once again covered in a fine sprinkling of sand, while glasses clink. Someone lights the firepit. Someone else heads down to the potager to pick some salad and tomatoes and the merry-go-round starts again. The summer holidays here really are the best. For us it’s a ‘staycation’, but then there really is nowhere else we’d want to be.