Popenguine Plage

Popenguine beach sits between two landmarks: the ochre cliff to the north, which closes the bay and shelters the nature reserve, and the village to the south with its low houses and the sanctuary above. Between them lies a calm bay, very little building at the water's edge, and sand that stays wide even at high tide — which on this coast is no longer common.

In the morning the village pirogues go out before dawn and come back around eleven; you buy the fish on the sand, haggle little, and leave with a grouper or two sea bream for lunch. On a weekday out of season there may be nobody else on the beach but the children minding goats and two walkers heading for the cliff.

The climb up to the reserve starts from a path at the end of the beach, on the cliff side. Two hours of walking, birds, a view over the whole bay, and a camp run by the village women's groups, who have managed the reserve since 1986 and sell their jams and juices at the entrance.

Whit Monday changes everything: the Marian pilgrimage brings tens of thousands of people, the beach serves as a campsite, and the village is unrecognisable for forty-eight hours. The rest of the year this is the quietest stretch of the Petite Côte, and that is exactly why people come.

A few things to know before swimming or setting off walking. The sea is easy at high tide and turns rocky at low tide on the cliff side; there are no lifeguards, no equipment hire and no beach bar — which is exactly what the regulars like. Walk the reserve trail early in the morning or at the end of the day, never at two in the afternoon: there is no shade on the cliff. And carry your own water, because there is nothing to buy between the beach and the women's camp.