Life through the Lens - Easter & Kites at the beach!

Well we had a lovely Easter weekend - the weather was fab and because of that we decided to go to the 21st Festival de cerf-volant et du vent "Kite Festival" which is held for three days over Easter at  Chatelaillon-Plage. On arriving at the beach we did wonder how they were going to be flying kites or any kind of demonstration that needed wind come to that, as the sea was like a millpond! It was beautiful the shades of blue just hit the eyes and everything looked stunning!

From sand carving to an air display from l'arme d'air it was a fab day! 

Sand Art so clever!

Just about late morning - so very quiet everywhere!

upcycling? the new way for plastic bottles!

All those old bottle tops and cd's have a purpose!

By far my faves of the day...floating Poppies!

Lunch was with our friends in a restaurant that we enjoyed on our first visit 6 years ago. And it was very nice to be welcomed like old friends a huge thumbs up for le Patron who greeted us with a huge smile and 2 bottles of rosé (complimentary) as a bienvenue! He and the table of 13 bikers then sang the Rugby anthem of Toulouse, I wanted to respond with "Swing Low" but it didn't happen - so English ;)

I didn't get photos of my main but I couldn't resist a photo of dessert - Strawberry & Raspberry Tiramisu

Light and delicious!

So back to the festival one of the other reasons we came - to see the kites of course not to eat and drink all day long (ahem - note I said not ALL day long!)

Back to the beach and we noticed the very large kites had been given their chance to star - it is quite hard to get a measure of these kites from a photo but I tried!

Looking back to the Poppies!

We then found a very nice spot to sit and wait for the next display - that of the Champion of last year's stunt flying competition.

It really was magnificent, I haven't been to an air display since leaving the UK and it was very breathtaking in parts and heart stopping also! 

Our friends left after a coffee back at La Paradiso and we met up with our other friends who had been enjoying their first Kite flying experiences, sadly it was getting quite cold and cloudy by this point but no-one seemed overly worried - so they cracked on making the most of the wind and I did my favourite thing of taking photos of them total win-win situation! 

one for our garden!

My pick of "Bartonettes go to the Beach photos"  can also be found at https://www.facebook.com/PamelaJaynePhotographyMakingMemories here are a couple of my faves in the meantime...

Then the day came to an end - it was cold, it was very windy and we were losing light! So another coffee at - yes you guessed it La Paradiso was taken and we then parted ways - The Barton Family to enjoy another day on the beach for the third and final day of the festival, so off to their hotel and we went off home....

last photo of the Poppies!

Sunset over Niort on the way home!

Looking back!

So all in a lovely day was had, many photo opportunities were taken and we all had red noses from the wind and sun!

For further information of up and coming events at Châtel http://www.holidays-chatelaillon-plage.co.uk/Leisure/Festivities

The Easter Holidays still have a few days left - but the weather has made such a turn for the worse, grey skies full of rain and storms, extreme winds and all in not very pleasant.