A perfect afternoon at Le Marais-Poitevin

After a leisurely start to our morning, Jez drove us all for our first outing. We stopped in the village of Coulon, where a local fête was underway.

We perused the stalls and admired the tractors before wandering along the river to find a place for lunch.

Walking along the canal J&K in front. Check out this YouTube view

At La Passerelle the other 3 chose moules-frites and I thought I should try the local faire. Frog legs (Cuisses de Grenoille) , which tasted nice but were quite fiddly to eat. Keeping up the pattern, I chose a Crème Brûlée and the others all had I’le Flottante. Try this recipe from Mardi Michels blog post. Mardi has previously featured as a French Views guest.

Taking it easy after our lunch, we took a 1.5-hour cruise along the waterways.

Lots of boating options

Our guide spoke perfect English and the four of us were his only passengers. He kept us entertained with stories as he punted us along the waterways of le Marais-Poitein. This area is referred to as the Green Venice, a unique wetland area that covers more than 200.00 hectares of marshes, canals, rivers, meadows and forests. The park was created in 1979 to protect it’s unique natural and cultural heritage.

Off we go on our leisurely afternoon cruise.

Unfortunately, we didn’t see a lot of bird life except ducks, swans and a stork’s nest but I loved the cows. It took me back to one of my favourite Little Golden Books, when I was young, Scuffy the Tugboat, as he drifted along the little stream past the cows.

Arriving back to the main canal, La Sèvre Niortaise, we saw a parade of boats with people dressed in tradition costume, which is part of the Fête du Mijet.

Afterwards we made some local purchases before heading “home” for aperols, dinner, stories of skiing in the Alpes and trying a drink called Génépi that J&K had purchased on a recent skiing trip in the French Alpes.

Next time we take a trip to the coast of Charente-Maritime. À bientôt!