Two Return to France

[DBK]

The sunshine has now ended for a few days. Just had a heavy shower and rain forecast for the next three days.
Things should be better come Sunday.

 

[DBK]

A very wet morning today, continuous rain for several hours though by mid-afternoon it had more or less stopped and we even have sun now in the evening.
The plan today was to drive to the municipal aire at St Nazaire (CC29942), which we did, but sadly Brexit, or something, proceeded us and the machine to dispense water refused two cards we tried in it. This is not an uncommon problem in my experience and the solution is to have a French bank card - but how to get on?
The aire itself looks to be in a good location, close to beaches, but as we were almost out of water we couldn't stay. St Nazaire has much to offer, the American Monument on the coast, erected as a gesture to the US for their help to France in WW1 and the U-boat pens from WW2 are worth a visit - but not for us on this trip. The American Monument has an interesting history. The original was dedicated in 1926 to commemorate the arrival at St Nazaire of American troops but the Germans blew it up in 1941 and the statue visible today is a replica.
So we are now at a very quiet aire at Chapelle sur Erdre (CC48869) on the northern outskirts of Nantes, shown by the blue blob on the right of the map below. We started today near Lorient on the left of the map.

The aire, which is free, is literally the far end of the car park for the cemetery, which is immediately next to it, on the other side of the hedge on the left in the picture below.

It is a short walk, mostly along a cycle path to the town centre where they have an impressive church.

A shower threatened so we didn't stop at one of the bars with outside tables for refreshments, but in better weather this would be a nice place. The train station is very close to the aire and trains into Nantes are reported to be €6 each way or you could cycle in if you wanted. I've cycled across Nantes a few years, ago when doing the route up the west coast of France and I remember the centre of the city is quite bike friendly.
Tomorrow we will continue our trip up the Loire, hopefully finding somewhere to park in Angers to see the castle there before stopping for the weekend at a campsite beside the river.

 

[DBK]

Reading your posts I was trying to remember the last time I visited Quiberon .....and it was 1997 ...can't believe it was 20 years ago.

Need to go back.

 

[DBK]

I think we've been there. There was a middle-aged/elderly chap there with what appeared to be his whole family - and lots of other folk and families - lovely friendly, safe beach. But the thing that made us remember this bloke was the fact that his skin surface was covered with metal piercings and attachments - rings and studs and lots of things that resembled those balls with spikes in em they used to swing round and hurl at people in the heat of battle - the round bit that did the damage, bisected and miniaturised - like he was covered in asterisks in relief and yes - all along both sides of that too, I was blooming well transfixed by the bloke!

Never seen anything as much as that before or since!

He must be a fun passenger to check before boarding a flight.

 

[davanne]

Need to go back.

I know it's been too long maybe next year

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[DBK]

Another day of rain, but refreshingly different from yesterday. Yesterday was steady rain for several hours, today was just showers but some of them were exceptionally heavy though each lasting only a few minutes. In between these deluges there were the odd glimpse of sun but like yesterday, this evening has been dry and largely sunny albeit with a strong breeze at times.

We are now further up the Loire, at an ACSI site at Les Rosiers sur Loire. The map below shows the blue blob where we are (I would prefer more blue sky ) and on the left of the map Nantes where we left this morning. We drove up the river using both banks, crossing over the river several times on quite narrow girder bridges.

Although the stated idea was to follow the river it would be more accurate to say we are following the Loire valley, as glimpses of the river were rare and mostly made from one of the bridges. This is because the valley is very flat and a lot of trees grow near its banks. But we did at least feel the presence of the river. The Loire is a major wine growing area and at our lunch stop we overlooked one of the many vineyards.

Following a compass bearing was useful at times and we can do that having recently bought a compass for the van. It is a Silva model 58 and cost a lot more than I planned to spend when I originally had the idea.

I haven't mounted it permanently but it can be clipped under the document clip when required. The advantage of this compass over the cheaper ones is it can be adjusted so it actually points correctly. In the shot below you might be able to see a brass screw marked E-W. There is a corresponding N-S screw at right angles to it. Following the instructions it came with I was able to adjust it so it is accurate to within about ten degrees, which is accurate enough for driving.

What did throw me was it is easily influenced by other vehicles. Coming to a halt at some lights the compass swung through almost ninety degrees as I pulled behind a vehicle in front. Fortunately, in normal road use it works fine.

We headed through Angers to see the castle, but this was at three o'clock on a Friday afternoon and the traffic was almost solid. However, this did give me the opportunity to catch a photograph of it.

You can see how wet the road is, the next shower wasn't long in coming. Parking is limited around the castle and given the weather we didn't stop and carried on to the campsite, where we plan to stay for the weekend.

We'll walk into the town tomorrow, weather permitting and I will take a photograph of this illusive river.

 

[fred chase]

We left Charlie in charge of the van and wandered back into the town a little after six this evening. The sun was now in the right direction to take pictures of the other side of the calvary, which would have just been a silhouette this morning as the sun was shining from behind it.

View attachment 161950

The figures below the cross depict on this side the death of Jesus.

View attachment 161952

And resurrection.

View attachment 161953

Now dog-free we entered the church, which is quite small - and brightly painted inside.

View attachment 161955
View attachment 161956

It was hard not to think of garden gnomes when confronted by this. It must be the colours used.

View attachment 161957

So after a hard ten minutes of church photography we managed to cross the street to the Bar Tabac du Loup where the attractions include "fléchettes" or as we know them in the reducing number of pubs offering it - darts. The Bretons are more British than some parts of our own country!

View attachment 161959

The wine wasn't expensive - 2.20 euros a glass. It would be twice that in a UK pub.

do you guys know about " Red Cash"? it is off the fifth roundabout from the ferry. great owner you gives discounts etc. Maybe on the way back? it is next to the Mesguen (delivery company) depot. bon courage!

 

[Riverbankannie]

When you get near Saumur there is a lovely stretch of road alongside the river. We had a lovely drive up and back this bit, from our hotel in Saumur, last year in our open MG.
There is a nice campsite there which lies on a spit in the centre of the river.

 

[DBK]

do you guys know about " Red Cash"? it is off the fifth roundabout from the ferry. great owner you gives discounts etc. Maybe on the way back? it is next to the Mesguen (delivery company) depot. bon courage!

Yes, I bought some wine there a few years, ago. TBH I wasn't bowled over by the wines. My suspicion is they just have too big a range. These days I tend to use supermarkets, Lidl and Aldi in my experience sell very good wines at good prices. Their range may be limited but every wine has been tasted by an expert and I've never been disappointed with their stuff. Other supermarkets in France also sell good wines these days.
Of course, buying from the producer is more authentic, and we've done that too.

 

[DBK]

When you get near Saumur there is a lovely stretch of road alongside the river. We had a lovely drive up and back this bit, from our hotel in Saumur, last year in our open MG.
There is a nice campsite there which lies on a spit in the centre of the river.

The Saumur area will be our next stop.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[sedge]

Pete's mode d'emploi for buying wine in supermarkets, when we're not certain what we'd like wherever we are is to lurk around the wine aisles pretending to study whatever's in front of us - but actually looking to see which ones go off the shelf the most taken by all sorts of ordinary looking people.

Then buy some of that!

 

[scousebird]

Pete's mode d'emploi for buying wine in supermarkets, when we're not certain what we'd like wherever we are is to lurk around the wine aisles pretending to study whatever's in front of us - but actually looking to see which ones go off the shelf the most taken by all sorts of ordinary looking people.

Then buy some of that!

Don't you just look for pretty labels?

 

[Baileysbus]

The Saumur area will be our next stop.

We're in Chinon for the weekend.......or will be in the next hour or so. Marche day today and a brocante fair tomorrow

 

[sedge]

No I don't! I don't want to display the ruddy thing - couldn't care less what outside of the container looks like. Good grief - years ago we were filling 5L plastic water containers with the stuff for 10ptas a litre at the bodega up the back of Almeria (by the fish market and bullring) and it was far nicer than what they sold at the Spar in Alquian for 35 ptas! LOL

 

[Riverbankannie]

Pete's mode d'emploi for buying wine in supermarkets, when we're not certain what we'd like wherever we are is to lurk around the wine aisles pretending to study whatever's in front of us - but actually looking to see which ones go off the shelf the most taken by all sorts of ordinary looking people.

Then buy some of that!

That's my method too!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[DBK]

Not a lot to report, we had a lazy day but we did summon the energy this morning to walk into Les Rosiers sur Loire where I took a few photographs which I'll upload later - or probably tomorrow.
In the town square there was an impressive water feature, which I took a somewhat poor video of. It is a large granite sphere which fills with water then when full it falls over. I missed the start of its inversion but having spent the best part of two hours working out how to convert, trim and upload the video I am determined to share it.
Eat your heart out Charlie Dimmock!

 

[DBK]

Big decision tonight. We are able to get BBC where we are now so do we watch the Eurovision Song Contest on not? And if we do, are we going to wait up until the end?
The only certainty is the answer to the second question is an emphatic No!

 

[DBK]

I confess to having the TV on for about ten minutes at the beginning of the Eurovision, then we switched it off. I'm sure I could enjoy it but you need to be with a crowd and the drinking would have needed to start around lunchtime. But well done Portugal and the UK entry did better than expected so perhaps we should have tried harder to watch it.
We walked down to the village and river a few times during the weekend. There are paths along the bank which we explored though there does not seem to be anything like a towpath - presumably because this is a river - and therefore floods from time to time. The river was used for trade but this died out in the mid-nineteenth century, as a convenient notice explained.

And the full notice.

This is the girder bridge at Les Rosiers sur Loire - built some time ago I suspect as it, like many others around here is very narrow for modern vehicles. The notice shown above suggest it is a mid-nineteenth century bridge but I am not wholly convinced - more research needed!

From Rosiers we drove all of about 40km to a free aire at Chouzé sur Loire, CC12691. To get here we drove past lots of interesting places to visit. However, we are doing our best to slow the pace of life on this trip so Saumur, with its impressive châteaux and Montsoreau, listed in the Beautiful Villages book, not to mention the Fontevraud Abbey, the largest intact medieval abbey in Europe will have to remain glimpses in the distance at best.

On the map we have moved from Rosiers on the left of the map below to the blue blob on the right. Chouzé sur Loire is too small for Google maps but we'll explore it later when thing are cooler.

 

[DBK]

We're in Chinon for the weekend.......or will be in the next hour or so. Marche day today and a brocante fair tomorrow

Where did you stay? I can't find any aires close to the town though there is the Camping I'île d'Auger.

 

[DBK]

We explored Chouzé sur Loire late this afternoon. It didn't take very long as this is more a village than a small town. The pretty bit is the quay by the Loire. The picture below is looking downstream.

On a building near the centre of the village, at the same height as the houses in the picture above were marked major floods.

1866 was a bad year. It's hard not to think there must have been some if not major loss of life as there simply isn't any high ground in the area. Those without a boat or living in a stone house with a roof to chamber on to may well have been swept away.

Looking upstream.

The boats are presumably a traditional design for the river, though if you look carefully, these ones have a slot for an outboard.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Taran_Las]

Fontevraud Abbey is a must
(Allow at least 1 full day. Aire in village is free)​

 

[Skeggy]

Interesting reading your travel dit and I am happy to report you should be safe after the election as they only seem happy to see us pair of Brits who are down on the Med' coast close to Sete at the moment and you have the added advantage of Charlie to charm the locals.

 

[DBK]

Just looked again at the picture of the flood marks, pictured above. If I'm reading it correctly 1856 was the highest flood and there might have been two floods in 1866. But the interesting thing is what seem to be the months these occurred in. I'm sure I can see dates showing June, July and August. Hardly traditional months for flooding.

Thunderstorms?

I hope not - very muggy here tonight. 19°C outside and 71% RH at eleven o'clock at night local time. We forgot to pack life jackets.

 

[jumartoo]

We're not so far from you atm and rain is forecast in the next few days. Be prepared!

 

[DBK]

We're not so far from you atm and rain is forecast in the next few days. Be prepared!

And getting cold too, at the end of the week.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Baileysbus]

Where did you stay? I can't find any aires close to the town though there is the Camping I'île d'Auger.

Hi @DBK. Yes it was the campsite on the south side of the river with views back over the town and chateau. Lovely location €15 a night but worth it as I particularly love Chinon. There's a wee bar just outside the campsite on the river bank. If you're there at night the chateau is all lit up. Very spectacular

 

[davidbaldam]

We visited Chinon last year to see the Chateau and the camp site was under water fron the recent floods, looks like a nice site to use in the future.

 

[DBK]

Hi @DBK. Yes it was the campsite on the south side of the river with views back over the town and chateau. Lovely location €15 a night but worth it as I particularly love Chinon. There's a wee bar just outside the campsite on the river bank. If you're there at night the chateau is all lit up. Very spectacular

Thank you, we are going to stay there tonight.

We visited Chinon last year to see the Chateau and the camp site was under water fron the recent floods, looks like a nice site to use in the future.

Thunderstorms are forecasted here!

 

[Baileysbus]

Lovel

Thank you, we are going to stay there tonight.



Thunderstorms are forecasted here!

Lovely cafes in the square in the middle of town. Great for people watching and enjoying a good coffee ....... and range of glacé desserts

 

[DBK]

Lovel

Lovely cafes in the square in the middle of town. Great for people watching and enjoying a good coffee ....... and range of glacé desserts

Thank you, we had a scout around this morning and will return later when it is a bit cooler.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}