With the ‘general management system’ fault repaired, the bed extension project declared a success and my back in better condition, we leave Evas, St Laurent and resume our journey heading for La Rochelle traversing through the Loire Atlantique and the Vendee.  We decide to stop briefly in the popular coastal resort of La Baule which boasts a long sandy beach but is otherwise unremarkable and seems reminiscent of the English south coast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We cross over a massive suspension bridge over the Loire estuary near St Nazaire and drive through small towns like Sainte-Ermine and Marans which are pretty but clearly quite run-down, with a large number for sale signs outside closed down shops on the high street.  As we move down into the Vendee, the landscape changes again –  with a slightly strange mixture between cheerful Mediterranean-type terra-cotta and flatter roofed houses and the more austere northern flint-roofed ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrive at La Rochelle in the early evening but decide to by-pass it for now and head straight for the island of Ile de Re where we’ve booked for the night.  We go over a bridge straight off La Rochelle’s ring-road and arrive at the Camping Municipal next to Saint-Martin de Re’s castle ramparts.  It’s a beautiful spot and clearly a very popular one even out of season.  We’re greeted by the campsite’s cat sitting at Reception looking suitably regal given its heritage. His name is Singha, after a popular beer in India – no doubt for a very good reason though I forget to ask what it is. Talk about Imperious Puss in Boots or ‘Chat Botte Imperieux’ en Francais!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning, we slightly reluctantly leave Ile de Re to visit La Rochelle and make our way down past the Charente Maritime into Acquitaine and the Dordogne on our way to Bordeaux.

 

We have been staying with Judith’s sister Lynne and brother-in-law Graham in the south western part of Brittany, known as the Morbihan just north of the Loire Atlantique, for the past week.  It’s a part of France we know fairly well, having spent many holidays here over the years when the children were small.  We even bought a run-down cottage in 1996 for 15,000 Euros and renovated it only to sell it in 2001, a decision we later regretted.  The nearest town is Malestroit a ‘petite cite de caractere’, as picturesque towns are referred to in France, but we’re in a sleepy village called St Laurent on the banks of the river Oust.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lynne and Graham have spent the past 25 years lovingly renovating their beautiful farmhouse but are now sadly trying to sell it to move back to the UK.  It’s been a real labour of love and is the envy of the village who are referring to it as ‘La Pelouse’ (‘The Lawns’) – even the mayor who I met had her eye on it.  Considering this and the size of the property and grounds, the price tag is laughable! Seriously though, if anyone is interested please get in touch.

So what have we been doing the past week apart from enjoying Lynne and Graham’s hospitality? Well, first and foremost was the project to get a better night’s sleep – no offence to Brenda but those beds are rather hard and narrow! There had to be a way to join the beds to make one larger sleeping area with room to spread out (relatively speaking).  Judith and Graham took on the challenge with gusto and after two or three visits to Bric-a-Marche a solution of sorts was hammered out.

Second priority was to sort out a more worrying electrical problem Brenda had developed. Though new, she had flashed a warning light on the dashboard just 3 days after we collected her.  The VW garage we’d taken her in Croydon had ostensibly fixed the problem – by telling us there was no fault and we should ignore it as the light had now gone off.  But the light (indicating an engine management system issue) came on again in shortly after we left Calais. Long story short, the VW garage in Vannes proved to be vastly more efficient than Croydon, as well as more customer-friendly. They immediately diagnosed it as a faulty exhaust sensor which they duly replaced. Much appreciated, VW Bretagne!

As for me, after helping a little in the garden and three days of vigorous country walking through the surrounding tranquil countryside – to satisfy the re-discovery of my love of nature – I proceeded to make an utter nuisance of myself by developing a nasty back-ache which turned me pretty useless for the rest of the week I’m ashamed to say.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in action now and after giving Brenda a good wash with Graham’s Karcher power washer (followed of course by a whole day of rain), we’re ready to set off for our next destination – La Rochelle and the forecast is for a mini-heatwave, hard as it is to believe!

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Tuesday 26 May – We are heading for the Morbihan region in Brittany, where we will be spending a few days with Judith’s sister and brother-in-law.  As we had already seen Tours and Angers on a cycling tour of the Loire Valley two years ago (hard to believe now somehow that we managed that!) we opt for a more direct western route which takes us to Chartres and skirts round Le Mans in the Department of Eure & Loir, through some very pleasant undulating countryside.

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Monday 25 May  – We arrive in Chartres shortly after lunchtime and realize immediately that something special is going on as a procession of faithful pilgrims is snaking its way through the town towards the ancient Gothic cathedral.

Chartres Cathedral is one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture and attracts pilgrims who come to venerate the Sancta Camisa, said to be the tunic worn by the Virgin Mary at Christ’s birth.

Coincidentally, the pilgrims had just completed the 3-day annual Pentecost pilgrimage from Notre Dame in Paris – a walk of around 80 kms.  It seems we too had unwittingly also performed the pilgrimage except in Brenda. Without expecting to, we find the event quite moving, knowing that we were witnessing an event which has been taking place since the 12th century. In amongst the line of people in the procession, we spot an Iraqi and a Syrian flag.

In amongst the arriving pilgrims, we spot an Iraqi and a Syrian flag.

Other interesting facts we discover about Chartres is that it is the birthplace of Marceau, General of the French Revolution as well Jean Moulin, organizer and martyr of the French Resistance.

After a tartelette of apple and apricot washed down by a cafe alonge (what they call an Americano in France) we decide to stop at a small, charming and quiet campsite in a village called Mamers – the Camping du Saosnois – not far from Alencon, just north of Le Mans.

The campsite adjoins a small lake and an idea plants itself in my head before we turn in for the night – that is, to brave its waters and do a bit of wild swimming.

After an après-swim petit cafe in Mamers, we resume our journey heading for Malestroit in Brittany, which we reach by late afternoon.

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Sunday 24 May

We take the quick train link from Versailles to Paris conveniently alighting at St Michel Notre Dame where the friends we are visiting live.  That is no exaggeration as their rooftop apartment surreally overlooks the East side of the great romanesque cathedral with its gargoyles and flying buttresses and mesmeric bells beguilingly close.

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Saturday 23 May – Next day, we get off to not an excellent start by putting Versailleux instead of Versailles into the Tom Tom. It’s only when we notice the estimated time of 10 hours that we realise our mistake. It seems we were heading towards the Alps. We correct our mistake and “turn arround when possible” as instructed by Gavin, our Welsh-sounding Tom Tom. We decide Normandy is probably the least varied part of France and we take the toll-paying motorway to Paris to gain time. We arrive in Versailles in the early evening and check into a large, Central Parks-type campside – Le Camping International. It turns out it’s a Bank Holiday weekend in France too and the site is pretty full, but it’s France, so everyone is well-behaved and considerate.

We decide to take a stroll around the affluent suburb before supper.

The home of the ‘Roi Soleil’ is of course majestic but surprisingly sleepy. It takes us a good hour before we find a little bar to have our ‘kir’.  Seems we headed in the wrong direction to begin with. But it meant we clocked up a good walking mileage on our ‘fitbits’ (these are the wristbands we got before we left to track our activity levels and calorie intake as well as heart beat – essential for staying fit during the journey of course!)  The beds felt better, helped no doubt by our prolonged ‘passeggiata’ as well as some excellent French cognac .

Next morning, after an eclectic breakfast of fool and fresh baguette we’re off to Paris to visit friends.  Apologies for the photo showing the tin of fool and the nearly finished baguette – we should have remembered to take it before finishing our breakfast.

Friday 22 May – After several false starts, our trip finally began at the start of a Bank Holiday weekend. We managed to evade the coach loads of school kids and find a mercifully quiet corner on the P&O Ferries from Dover to Calais where we were offered a glass of champagne.  Reasonably calm crossing.  So far so bien.

We don’t venture far on the first day and settle for a family-run campsite in La Lacque in the Commune of d’Aire sur la Lys – ‘La Belle Foret’.  Friendly reception including the children who all say hello before you do and engage you in conversation.  Ines says she wasn’t allowed breakfast because she hadn’t finished her ‘cassoulet’ the night before and has to wait till lunch and then has to finish her cassoulet.  But she’s cheerful enough.  Reminds us of the relatively more disciplinarian approach to parenthood in France.  Main observation re Brenda so far: beds a bit narrow and hard but it’s only Day 1 and we’ll get used to it (won’t we??).