Summer’s over in Ile de Ré but O’Gara and La Rochelle are only getting warmed up

Temperatures in August and September on France’s Atlantic coast sky-rocketed to the upper thirties and beyond, but the coiffured poses and the season’s spending splurge remained stubbornly consistent all the way to the last knockings of summer.

NAUGHTY STEP: La Rochelle's Ronan O'Gara prior to Saturday's clash with his old club Racing 92 at Marcel-Deflandre Stadium. 

IN Rivedoux Plage, on the eastern tip of Ile de Re island, Alain and his son Thibaut are dismantling the haphazard beach bar – and it wouldn’t take long – that has been a staging post for the visiting summer set and the recession proof.

Temperatures in August and September on France’s Atlantic coast - like the tariffs - sky-rocketed to the upper thirties and beyond, but the coiffured poses and the season’s spending splurge remained stubbornly consistent all the way to the last knockings of summer. They quaffed oysters and shelled prawns, drank Guadaloupe rum and washed their convertible motor cars with scarce water.