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Where do so many cars go at 2 and 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning? Although we slept reasonably well we were aware of traffic right through the night.
We leave the aire and travel three miles to Queniquem. Guerande may have been the protectorate and commercial centre for salt, but it's out here in the marhes the salt is harvested.
A narrow dyke road meanders through hundreds of hectares of salt pans, with small earth walls separating areas of water about quarter the size of a tennis court. Along these walls 'sauniers' are at work shovelling salt into wheelbarrows. We stop in a layby and Ali gets out to take photos. The saunier invites her down to the pan and gives an explanation of the process of salt production.
Sea water is let into the pans and sealed off. At noon and late afternoon on sunny days, enough evaporation takes place for the salt crystals to form on the surface. These are skimmed off and left in piles to dry. This creates the fleur de sal, pure white salt for the table. When the pans dry completely, the algue sal is scraped from the bottom. This salt has very large crystals and is grey and tainted with algae therefore it is used for cooking but not at table.
As we continue we see pans in various stages; fresh, clear water; various levels of green water; red sludgy pans and completely dry ones with cracked crystaline bottoms.
Amongst them, sedge grass and wild flowers add colour to this alien landscape.
Less than an hour's drive takes us to Saint Andre des Eaux on the Grand Briere, France's second largest wetland. This was our first ever Passion in May 2014 when we were alone at the top of a wet field. Today the earth is packed dry and another van is already at the bottom end. We meet the owner and park in the shade then sit outside for lunch. Nearby, horses stand in the shaft of caleche [wagons with 5 rows of seats for sightseeing]
After lunch we go to the kiosks and Ali opts for a boat trip. These flat-bottomed punts were originally used for gathering reeds but now use electric outboards to ferry tourists. The waterways spread among the marshes where geese, terns and heron strut and fly about. Daisies and celendines are in full flower attracting butterflies.
While Ali enjoys her cruise, Nick wanders through the surrounding woodland. There are the usual birds, butterflies and summer flowers but the real surprise is a large brown stoat or mink, with long bushy tail, that darts acros the path less than twenty feet away.
Back at the carpark we meet and go for a drink, then visit the little museum about life in the briere. Among the stuffed animals is a stoat so that was probably what Nick saw. There are lots of birds, rodents and a beaver, and a small area set out like a reedsman/peatcutter's dwelling.
We trundle the lanes together, Ali cycling, and chat to some anglers then return to the van before the gates close at 19:00, by which time there are five vans in.
The horses have finished their work and are unharnessed and turned loose in the field. First the little ponies come visiting and later four large draught horses. One has his head right inside the cab!.
Eventually they amble off to the next field and we spot a shape moving across the grass; not a rabbit; too slow fo a rat; it's a young hedgehog. We follow him down to the trees then, with the sun disappearing, go into the van for a nightcap.
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