Not far from the madding crowd

Over the past couple of months the media has carried a clutch of stories featuring enraged locals mounting protests against over-tourism. Amsterdam, Barcelona, Majorca and Venice have all seen residents taking to the streets to say enough is enough. To be fair the protests have been good humoured and not aimed directly at visitors themselves, apart from in Barcelona where a few tourists were squirted by water-pistol toting locals.

Their major concern is the socio-economic impact of tourism rather than simply visitor numbers. Apart from in places like Venice, which has become a theme park rather than a living city, popular destinations tend to be dotted with tourist hotspots rather than completely inundated by visitors. Where we live is a case in point. There are places in the Peak District which are heaving in the summer - Edale, Castleton, Bakewell and Dovedale for example. However even on a sunny weekend in July most of the National Park remains unfrequented, and even in more popular places you can often find peace and quiet a mere ten minute stroll from a packed car park.

So after becoming mildly outraged yesterday by the overcrowded cycle trails and the boorish behaviour of fellow tourists we figured there were probably still some less frenetic places on the island where we could find a bit of peace and quiet. It's easy enough to figure out where these are. Open Google maps, click on the hotel, campsite, hotel taps and voila! You can see where the tourist hotspots are clustered immediately.

On the Ile de Ré the popular spots tend to be strung along the island's southern coast, the most beautiful beaches are here and the landscape is pleasantly wooded. The north of the island is bleaker, a mix of salt marshes and acres of oyster beds.

The oyster industry is centred around the village of Loix and that's where we headed. As we predicted the cycle trails were almost empty and though the day was overcast and drizzly the big sky reflected in the pellucid oyster beds was beautiful, soulful and quietly understated.

Loix itself, though not particularly big was quite confusing, a grid of identical looking streets of single storied whitewashed cottages. Oddly it reminded me of Porto Covo, a fishing village on Portugal's Alentejo coast, another small place that we ended up cycling around trying to find a way out.

It was good to escape the 'madding crowd' for an hour or two. However touristy places bring benefits as well as frustrations. Living in Buxton we are well versed in both. Our house is a few hundred metres from Pavillion Gardens, the town's famous Victorian park and winter gardens. At weekends in summer the town is crowded with day trippers from Manchester and when events happen, tourists from further afield arrive particularly for the celebrated opera, literary and fringe festival in July. The streets around us become packed with parked cars lining both sides of the road. Simply going to the supermarket becomes a tad hazardous.

However, there are positives too, the town is more vibrant than nearby less frequented towns. The street to rear of Buxton's regency crescent has developed in recent years into a bit of a gastronomic hub, so there are upsides as well as frustrations for locals who live in tourist towns.

The same is true here on the Ile de Ré. Courtard en Ré has an excellent produce market, it's probably the tourist footfall that keeps it going.

There are many excellent restaurants on the island too, most offering in huitres and fruit de mer. Shellfish is not our thing. We headed to 'Method' recommended by our daughter Sarah who came across it last year on an app showcasing places that specialise in serving natural wines. She reckoned that even if you are not a natural wine aficionado places that serve them are worth seeking out as often as not they  serve up excellent food using locally sourced ingredients.

If 'Method' is typical then Sarah is certainly onto something. The place resembles a traditional French bistro but reinvented to appeal to millennials' taste. The approach to cooking is French, but Method has ditched the rules around starter, main, desert accompanied with wine and serve instead a choice of small plates which you can order as and when you like and drink whatever takes your fancy. Au revoir 'menu formule', allo 'menu liberté' - much more our thing.

As the board shows there are dishes that are recognisably French combined with ingredients associated with other cultures, particularly Japanese -  fusion Francais, it's not that common.

We opted for ...

homemade White asparagus, willow Ravigote, apple and noisettes.

Flamed mackerel , spinach coulis, beetroot-hibiscus condiment and  Chawan mushi (Japanese salty flan), buckwheat...

Tempura of courgettes from the island and labreh with sesame...

We finished with Chou pastry cream with miso which didn't last long enough to get photographed.

Yum!

So our thoughts about Ile de Ré in general, a bit of tourist trap, but lovely in its own way if you can escape the crowds. Maybe Normoutier would be quieter and more our thing. We toyed with heading there next but decided to head directly to Brittany. It's a special place for us.