Atlantic Coast Continued, La Loire and Normandy

 We hit the road travelling 90k through the pine forests via a ‘stockup’ at ‘Intermarche’ to ‘Ares’ and our campsite ‘La Canadienne’ (16 euros), 23k from Cap Ferret and right on the cycle path.  We found the perfect placement under the pines.  We met Ludovig and Gisele after admiring their ‘Carthago’ camper – a luxurious apartment on wheels! (100,000 euros)

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Woke up to a grey, wet day so we decided to walk the 6k into ‘Ares’ town with its ‘mud flats’ Port and pretty ‘centre ville’and then onto good old Macs to complete the blog over coffees!

 

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A great sunny day for cycling!  Off to Cap Ferret (‘oyster city’!) on the Cap Ferret Peninsula following a fantastic bike path through the pine forests.  Into this laid back little town passed the red and white lighthouse and through ‘Le Quartier Huitres’ (the oyster quarter)! 

'Degustations’ (tasting and sampling oysters) and eateries over looking the oyster beds standing out in the mud flats, fishy smells, golden sand and coloured fishing boats – there is plenty of charm and character here! 

We found a fabulous quaint restaurant overlooking the sea, ‘oysters the speciality’, however not one table free!

 

We hit the bike path taking a detour through the traditional villages ‘ostreicole’ (oyster farming villages).

  One of the prettiest villages we found was L’Herbe, consisting of tiny lanes and the brightly coloured houses of the oyster farmers overlooking the oyster beds along a small sandy beach. The village looks as much as it would have done at the turn of the 20^th Century.

     

 We also biked to ‘Le True Vert’, a wild surf beach with sand dunes and tussock grass stretching for miles along the Atlantic Coast.  It reminded us of the wonderful New Zealand beaches! There is a great campsite here in the middle of the pine forest.  64k later we arrived back at camp!   
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We decided to stay an extra day ‘blobbing’ and reading our ‘kindles’ in the sun.  We had a fabulous, fun evening with Ludovig and Gisele who live in Bretagne near Brest.

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We crossed over the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers and headed inland through ‘vineyard and farming country’,  grape harvesting has started along with the maize and sunflowes;  through Saintes and Rochefort to the Atlantic Coast and La Rochelle!  

Our GPS had incorrect co-ordinates for our designated ‘Aires’ camp and after a ‘tiki tour’ through the City there it was in a carpark alongside a lovely park with cycle and walking tracks, and only 1k from La Rochelle centre ville!

 
We walked into La Rochelle for an explore!  What a beautiful fortified coastal city!  ‘La Ville Blanche’ (the White City), so named because of it’s limestone facades was an important sea port from the 14^th to the 17^th Centuries.  The arcaded walkways, half timbered houses and gargoyles are reminiscent of its seafaring past.  The two 14^th Century stone towers dominate  the harbour entrance to La Rochelle.  Eateries, bistros and cafes surround the internal yacht filled marina –‘plat du jour 10 euros’ of ‘entrecote, frites et salade’ sounds good!  We strolled the quaint side streets and walked along the fortified walls!  Evidently lots of pirates were imprisioned in the Tour St Nicholas, the harbour’s lighthouse in the 15^th Century and turned into a prison in the 17^th Century.  Their initials are scratched into it’s walls!

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Up early and a great bike path along the waterfront and through the back streets to ‘Ile de Re’, which we thought was a ‘hop, skip and a jump’ away from La Rochelle!  We ended up cycling 12k before we even got to ‘Le Pont’ (the bridge), we then biked another 3k over the bridge and onto the Island, a wonderful friendly vibe and a great cycle path along the beach!

‘Ile de Re’ spans 30k and is just 5k at its widest section. 

Evidently ‘madness’ prevails here in July and August, the months to be avoided.

We cycled through the quaint little village of ‘La Flotte’ with its little port to the Island’s main town and fishing port, ‘St Martin-de-Re’.  A very pretty fortified town with bistros and eateries surrounding the yachts in the ‘inner marina’.  The green shuttered white wash buildings (predominant on the Island) remind us a little of Greece.  
We had a picnic overlooking the marina. 

The Island is a ‘cyclists paradise’made up of wonderful bike paths through the villages, along the beaches and through the forest.  We passed the oyster beds and headed to the Southern side with its laid back quaint beachy towns, mud flats in parts but plenty of character!  Back to the Northern side passed the salt beds (the salt producing villages are mainly around the Western tip) and back to La Rochelle.  We were just in the ‘nick of time’ as it’s beginning to rain and very windy as we climb over the bridge.

72k and back at camp just before the heavy rain!  We found a couple of Aires and some ASCI Camps on the Island, we will return!  Another incredible day!

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It’s a great day for travelling even though it’s threatening torrential rain!  We travelled 180k inland via Lucon and Les Herbiers noticing the dark slated roofs giving a Gothic appearance; passed small chateaux, spotting the odd turret in the distance!  Through Chalonne-sur-Loire to a beautifully located ‘Aires’ in Bouchemaine alongside the Loire River (automatic pay system and some facilities, 10 euros).  A walk and a run and now it’s raining hard!  Met Daph and Sue from Stoke-on-Trent parked in their Burstner!

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We took advantage of a break in the rain and biked a pretty bike route along the Loire River into Angers!  Much bigger than we had envisaged but beautiful and straddling the Loire.  The magnificent black stoned Chateau D’Angers ringed by battlements and 17 Watch Towers and the Cathedrale St Maurice in the centre of the old city stand out over the town!

We parked the bikes and went for an explore!  Angers is a bustling old town with many car free streets and busy cafes, trams and tram lines – a fun town and the eastern gateway to the Loire Valley!

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We hit the road after the torrential rain had eased!  There is a great bike path along the Loire to Samur and also to Nantes which we’ll need to come back to do, we need to make tracks now to catch the Calais to Dover ferry on 13 October.

 

We travelled 280k in the rain through Le Mans and Alencon to our chosen ‘Aires’ (5 euros) at Broglie!  A wonderful camp alongside La Gueil River, on a bike path and five minutes from the centre of town.

We’re back in Normandy, the largest region in France not to contain a single vineyard but made up for by it’s locally produced cider (calvados), soft cheeses and seafood. 

 It’s getting dark earlier and our ‘leisure battery’ seems to have lost it’s charge (dim lights and no water pump pressure) we’re waiting to see whether a new one is needed!    

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After a stroll around the pretty village of Broglie (half timbered, typical in Normandy), we travelled 120k via Rouen with it’s soaring Gothic Cathedral.  The N138 took us through Rouen and grid locked traffic, we got stuck in our first traffic jam before continuing on to our chosen camp at Neufchatel-en-Bray, ‘Camping Sainte Claire’ (12.40 euros).  Now only 175k from Calais.