La Digue by Bicycle

The boat puts you on the jetty and the first thing you notice is what is missing. No taxi rank, no engines idling, no one shouting a fare at you. There is a row of bicycles instead, and a man who will rent you one for as long as you want it.

If you are staying on Mahé or Praslin, the whole day can be arranged for you: the ferry across, a bicycle waiting at the jetty, and a suggested route you can follow or ignore. Nobody guides you, which is the point. Pick a weekday, though. On Sundays and public holidays most of the island is shut, and the ride becomes a tour of closed doors.

The island is small enough to ride across and flat enough on its western side that nobody needs to be fit. You go south from the jetty past the church and the shops, past houses with washing out and dogs asleep in the road, and the ride itself becomes the thing rather than the way to get to the thing. Everyone rings their bell at everyone. It is impossible to be in a hurry.

The track to Anse Source d’Argent runs through L’Union Estate, past vanilla vines up their posts, an old copra mill, giant tortoises in a pen who have long since stopped being impressed by anyone. Then the granite starts. Boulders the size of houses, worn smooth and stacked at angles that look deliberate, with shallow water running between them so clear it barely registers as water at all. It is photographed endlessly and it deserves the attention, which is a sentence worth being suspicious of until you are standing in it.

Ride the other way for the opposite island. The east coast is open ocean. Grand Anse and the beaches beyond it are wide, empty and often unswimmable, with currents that do not care how well you swim. The hill across the middle will make you get off and push. It is worth it for the walk beyond the road’s end, where the sand goes on and nobody is on it.

The best hour comes after the day boats leave for Praslin. The island exhales, the light goes gold on the granite, and the people still on it are the ones who booked a bed. Two nights, if the week allows. Read what else the Seychelles islands do differently from one another.

Good to know

• Bikes are hired at the jetty or through your hotel. Rates are set locally and we confirm them when we quote.
• L’Union Estate charges an entry fee for the track to Anse Source d’Argent, set by the estate rather than by us.
• The west-coast beaches are shallow and calm; the east coast is not. Take local advice about swimming, on the day, every day.
• The beaches face west, so the light is best late. Sandflies come out around then too, so keep repellent in the bike basket.
• There is a climb across the middle of the island. Most people push. Nobody minds.
• Cash is useful for hire, entry and the small places to eat. Card acceptance is patchy away from the hotels.