I had ‘allocated’ an overnight stop en route to Bordeaux but until relatively recently hadn’t decided where. Whilst researching on my favourite forums I came across a mention of Coulon, nestled in Le Marais Poitevin and more specifically in La Venise Verte, the “Green Venice.”

Le Marais Poitevin Regional Natural Park was created in 1979 and covers an area of ​​more than 100 000 hectares. It is made up of marshes (the largest in France after the Camargue), canals, rivers, meadows and forests.  It is widely recognized for its exceptional ecological wealth and is home to a wide variety of animal and plant species and for the tourist, punting along the numerous canals is the main attraction.

Booked into a lovely little hotel right on the edge of the Sèvre Niortaise river, we had a friendly restaurant 20 m walk away where we had an enjoyable dinner. 

Hotel Au Marais provided a lovely breakfast as well as keeping our cold ‘pantry’ items in their fridge overnight and were happy to keep them a little longer so that we could enjoy a guided punt along the canals.

Our guide provided an interesting and informative commentary as we glided silently along the canals, learning about the damage the Coypu inflicts on the canal edges (a large rodent native to South America introduced by the fur trade) and which species of tree are good and bad for the area. Local farmers are allowed to ‘own’ the islands and graze the Maraîchine cows (native to the area and particularly suited to the wetland conditions) on the proviso that they maintain the edges of the canal and manage vegetation and we saw plenty of these.

Carlos also demonstrated the “fire on the water’ phenomenon…. large amounts of decomposing vegetable matter trapped under mud in the canal produce methane gas which the boatman stir up with their oar and as the bubbles rise to the surface he lights them with a lighter.

Despite the sky being a bit gloomy (and even feeling a few drops of rain) we all agreed that visiting this somewhat ‘off the tourist route’ spot was worthwhile and definitely warranted more than a one night stopover.

Back on the road we managed to navigate Bordeaux’s roadworks and road closures and eventually found our quirky (ground floor, NO stairs) apartment in a relatively quiet area near the train station and Tannika’s hotel was a short walk away.

The underground car park was nearby and we even had a decent sized car park where we were able to leave the car undisturbed for three days whilst we reacquainted ourselves with the city. Tannika and I had the opportunity to do a bit of retail therapy which included strolling the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe apparently before we farewelled her the next day, accompanied by thirteen kilos of our excess luggage in a newly purchased suitcase 😉 Thanks Tannika!

Probably the highlight of our Bordeaux stay was visiting Les Bassins des Lumières.

“Housed in an old submarine base (a sombre vestige from the Second World war), with four 110 metre-long pools of water, a projection surface area of 12,000 m² and 90 video projectors, Les Bassins des Lumières is recognised as the largest digital art centre in the world.”

The exhibition showing when we visited was “Vermeer to Van Gogh” and we spent a good couple of hours enjoying a spectacular light and music show projected on water and walls, floors and ceiling, a very innovative re purposing of a venue with a dark past.

After three nights in Bordeaux it was time to re pack and hit the road again, nearly five weeks after we landed in Paris it was time to say au revoir to France.