Va-va-Vendée: Healthy Magazine
We often see our precious week off work as a chance to kick back and be indulgent, so it can be refreshing to do just the opposite and opt for a healthier hol. From wetsuited walking in the sea to mud wraps in paper pants and hiking with bouncy poles, I spent a few days in France’s sunny Vendée and wrote about the experience for Healthy Magazine.
As I approach the forest clearing in St-Jean-de-Monts where I’m meeting French Kev, it occurs to me that the sport I’m about to embark on – Bungy Pump – is only one consonant away from something that sounds mildly-to-very terrifying and involves me dangling upside-down on elastic. So, it’s with a sense of relief that I’m soon amongst a group of relaxed-looking French folk, who greet each other with customary mwah-mwahs and give me the distinct impression they’re not extreme sportsters, they’re just here for their weekly cardio fix.
Only 80 minutes by hire-car from Nantes airport, I’m in the département of Vendée on France’s Atlantic coast, long popular with holidaying Brits for its glorious coastline, its über-chic Ile de Ré island and its key selling point: it’s far enough north to be accessible from the ferry ports of Caen and St Malo, yet far enough south to get the sunshine. And if you haven’t been to Vendée before, well… prepare to fall in love not just with its climate but with its dune, marsh and forest vistas, and the local food culture too.
French sticks, but not as you know it
As if today’s sun bursting through the canopy isn’t enough, Bungy Pumpers et moi are now warming up for what looks to me like a doddle ─ how hard can walking with poles be? Well, more fool me… Bungy Pump’s point of difference is that the lower section of pole is a compression spring meaning that as you walk and spike the ground with your pole, you’re using 90% of your muscles (“smile and you use more” Kev adds with a wink) and burning almost double the calories you would if you were on a regular walk. Intermittently stopping for core-strength exercises, sometimes wielding the pole like a majorette, I’ve not only worked up a self-satisfying sweat, I’m rating this highly for wellbeing too: nothing does wraparound calm like a forest, it seems.
A walk on the wet side
It’s not the only activity toning up local thighs and providing the feel-good factor at the same time. Scan the beach in St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie and you may well see a swarm of orange-and-black sea-suits about to take to the waves for a Longe-Côte session, an activity taking coastal France by storm. Led by mermaidy Chloé, a super-friendly French fille with the type of enviable complexion that tells you she leads an outdoor life, the troop wade chest-deep in the water to exercise gluteal, thigh, and abdominal muscles, plus arms, shoulders and back.
Now, if you’re thinking this sounds like aqua-aerobics just in a bigger, more wobbly pool, think again. The cold shock sensation that is the ocean makes this one of the most life-affirming and otherworldly ways you can spend 40 minutes, providing a full (yet gentle) body workout whilst also absorbing all the health benefits of seawater (immunity, skin, cardio-respiratory…). Rounded-off with meditation on the sand – and most importantly a convivial tea in campervan de Chloé afterwards – if there was a Richter scale for Longe-Côte, this lot would be scoring a 10 for zen.
Indulgence can be healthy too – who knew?
Ever since Réné Quinton discovered – at the turn of the 20th century – that seawater had similar properties to blood plasma and could repair damaged cells, seawater therapy or Thalassothérapie has been A Thing in France. It’s un petit secret the French are closely guarding today at the Valdys Resort in St-Jean-de-Monts, as they sip their tisanes (teas) and read their Paris-Match between treatments. Local seawater, seaweed and mud are all used for a range of therapies (treating and preventing health issues like inflammation, circulation, weight gain, diabetes...) including an invigorating mud-wrap on a water-bed (think paper thong), and a massage beneath a shower of sea-water. If you fancy keeping your robe on for longer than just a day, you can also book a dietary package with practical tips you can continue at home.
High on Vendée va-va-voom and admiring my new-found healthy glow, my mind wanders to a glass of fermented grapes I reckon I can duly justify later. Now we know why the French clink glasses with a “Santé!”.
Where to eat & where to sleep
Working in the sardine industry is an art-de-vivre around here, not just a means of making a living. Head to Le Banc des Sardines, an outdoor serverie in St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie conceived and run by former fisherman Serge, where a whole plate of sardines fresh from the boat sets back punters next-to-nothing. Just don’t ask Serge for his rillettes pâté recipe – he won’t tell.
A more than memorable eating al-fresco option comes at hipster La Cabane in Brem-sur-Mer. Enjoy potassium-rich oysters out on its decks, followed by a paddleboard in the stunning marshlands. And look out for the iconic pêcheries – fishermen’s huts on stilts.
Restaurant-with-rooms, the Michelin-starred Les Brisants in Brétignolles-sur-Mer is the firmest of fixtures on the Vendée foodie map. Self-taught Jean-Marc Pérochon chats to diners post-service, explaining that his love affair with food goes way back to his childhood – foraging for snails with Grandpa and a torch. Test your gastronomic stamina with the eight-courser and try the melty brioche made with seaweed – Jean-Marc harvests it himself by hand.
A unique stay can be found at beachy retreat Domaine Le Sherwood at Notre Dame de Monts, a cluster of chic villas each themed with a different country’s décor.
For further information, visit…
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