You might as well start the week off on a low point and aim high by the end.
That is certainly how this week has gone. Not bad things happening but
places we have visited and not necessarily the place it self but the theme
of the place.
On Sunday we headed for Limoges as planned but decided to divert at the last
moment and ended up at Oradour-sur-Glane, about 12 miles NW of Limoges.
Don't worry if you have never heard of the place, we hadn't either until we
were told about it. What is there? Well in a way nothing. Not since the
afternoon of 10th June 1944 anyway. This was the day that the passing German
army (SS I believe) rounded up the whole population of the town and any
unfortunate passers by, and executed them all. A total of 642 men women and
children were slaughtered that afternoon for no apparent reason, well none
that has ever been revealed. All that remains of the town is the burnt out
shells of the buildings and the modern monuments remembering the dead. If
you have a spare moment check it out on the Internet and read the story, it
is quite horrific.
There is a new town built up next to the old and thankfully a very good
camper area even though the camper facilities, water etc., were out of
order.
Monday was more upbeat even despite the gloominess of the weather. We took
in the town of Cognac, you have probably heard of this one! A very nice
town, but sadly quiet and shut up. It was Monday, the 3rd day of the French
weekend. Why can't that catch on in the UK? We could have had a tour of the
Hennessey distillery but chose not too, not necessarily due to the price,
but just that we have visited distilleries and wineries before and neither
of us are cognac / brandy drinkers.
Ambling along the next day we came to the west coast and La Rochelle. Our
camper book listed free parking and we found it very easily. Unfortunately
so had the rest of the world and there was no space anywhere. So we headed
just back out of town to a retail park for some window-shopping. Eventually
by early evening we returned back into town and the car park had emptied
considerably. We found a nice spot on the edge of the parking looking onto
the large park that runs out from the town centre. The weather was hot and
sunny and we enjoyed a long and pleasant stroll around the town before
returning back to Noddy for some dinner and the surprise waiting for us. A
large number of road maintenance vehicles of all shapes and sizes. We
thought for a horrible moment that they were going to start digging up the
car park! Thankfully they weren't but instead later dug up and replaced the
main road outside the car park working through the night to just bearable
noise levels!
Another hot and sunny day welcomed us on Wednesday and we had another very
pleasant stroll around town before hitting the road after lunch. As time for
this trip was running short we thought it best to make slow progress back
around the north west of France and drove north in the direction of Nantes.
It was quite a different drive. Just after getting clear of La Rochelle we
got stuck behind a very large transport carrying a huge load, a 'Convoi
Exceptionnel', with police escort. Great we thought, especially as it kept
taking the roads we wanted. It was way to big to overtake, even on dual
carriageways it took up both lanes. After a while we kind of enjoyed it! It
made good progress and the police kept the road ahead clear. It became 'our'
convoy especially as we were the first vehicle following it. Trying to work
out what it was we eventually noticed the writing on the side of the
tarpaulin covering the load, 'Airbus A330/340'. It was a large part of
fuselage. Watching it negotiating the small towns on route it is quite hard
to imagine how they will squeeze the new A380 through! We had to let it go
on its way as we turned off and located our rest spot for the night, Corcoue
sur Logne. It was a new camper stop, 4 places with nice hedges separating
them. The village was nothing too special but the camper stop was very nice
indeed.
The great weather continued on Thursday, and we had a very nice drive
through the rolling Brittany countryside stopping at the very picturesque
town of Josselin on the Nantes-Brest canal as built by one Napoleon a few
years ago. What a lovely town indeed. It has made it on to our 'places to
live' list. Well to tell the truth Brittany as a whole is on the list.
'Little Britain' it certainly is in many ways. Firstly there are at times
more English cars on the road than French. Secondly there are one or two
English second homes here. Thirdly it is wonderful rolling countryside. As
to how many gays there are in the village I don't know! I asked the
computer, but it said 'Non'.
We must have wandered and wandered around Josselin several times, checking
out the prices in the estate agent windows, very reasonable they were too.
Originally parking next to the canal we stayed the night just into the town
at a car park where the camper service was. The canal was nice but the road
was noisy.
Dragging ourselves away Thursday morning we enjoyed more of the countryside
and found our way to the north coast of Brittany, Dinard, St Malo, and
eventually Cancale.
Cancale is a very touristy town, but it is known for its locally farmed
oysters, and we couldn't resist. You can either buy them from the 'oyster
market' on the quay, 5 or 6 stalls selling a variety of sizes of oyster.
Alternatively, you can do as we did and have a meal in one of the many
restaurants and enjoy them as part of a meal. We shared 12 oysters, fish
soup, and mussels. Delicious! We stayed the night in the Super U supermarket
car park, an organised camper stop, with twenty or so other campers.
Thankfully we arrived early in the day, by mid afternoon the town was
bursting at the seams due to a marathon taking place early evening. We went
and saw them off. It must have been quite a big event as the volume of
runners was very large. It took more than 5 minutes for them all to pass us
at the start.
Today we wanted to head back to St Malo, but we didn't get going very early
and by the time we got there on a hot and sunny Sunday morning, no parking.
We found a few spots but nowhere we wanted to park up. Instead we crawled
out along the coast and eventually found a very nice spot overlooking the
sea.
So, this afternoon has been a traditional one of feet up listening to Test
Cricket, Tennis, and Motor Racing on the radio. We can receive R4 LW and R5
MW here.
Only a few days to go now before we get home! The hard part is working out
where to go and what to do this week so that we end up in the right place
for early Friday morning! Oh, such problems.
Ciao
M&S
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