Ok, we said that Ile de Groix was the best so far, but now Belle Ile is! It's just beautiful ... 'Beautiful Belle Ile.'

We took a visitors fore and aft mooring in the inner harbour called 'Port d'Echouage' which dries totally towards spring tides.

For the first few days, we didn't have to turn off the fridge as there was just enough water to cover the fridge inlet, however as we edged towards spring tides the water disappeared and the fridge ended up having to be turned off. Never mind, it was worth going without ice cubes purely because of the surroundings.

The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky so we enjoyed our first BBQ of 2012, sheltered from the sun underneath our bimini. 'Mr Chef' did a grand job even if the chipolatas looked a little crispy on the outside - they were still edible.

Whilst here, we enjoyed a daily 'low tide' wade in the warm knee-high sea, searching for crabs and fish that didn't make it out of the inner harbour. Bruce also found a moment to clean Drummer's waterline which was looking pretty grubby.

From our position in the inner harbour we have the small village of Sauzon on one side and a hillside covered with yellow gorse on the other, where the birds reside happily chirping away. Underneath Drummer, the sea is alive with crabs walking and large fish jumping for flies, whilst smaller fish can be seen darting around to escape the cormorant who's actively looking for lunch! It's possible here to spend hours watching and listening to nature do 'its' thing' - perfect.

In contrast, we decided to catch a bus to the capital of Belle Ile, Le Palais. The town was noisy by comparison. We sat and had coffee around the harbour front observing the ferry arriving from the mainland. In the inner port (only accessible through a lock and then a lifting bridge) yachts were rafted three abreast. Nearby a ship was being loaded with sand. The only time it went noticeably quiet was during the lunchtime period (between 12-3.30pm) when everything shut except for restaurants and bars.

We walked around the star-shaped citadelle which was for us the highlight of the day before catching the bus back to Sauzon.

We concluded that we were glad that we visited by bus in preference to boat.

Photos can be found in the photo gallery 'Belle Ile, Sauzon' and 'Belle Ile, Le Palais'.