France - a dodgy start

What a start to the French trip. We arrive at Portsmouth to be told that the French fishermen are blockading Cherbourg (where we are going), do you want to go to St. Malo? We didn't have a choice so instead of a 5 hour crossing it was 9 hours and put us 100 miles and 2 days ahead of schedule.
Here we are leaving Portsmouth, on a Condor Ferry, in the gloom.

The first main campsite we stayed at was Les Brunelles, Longville-sur-Mer. It had all mod cons many of them new and a super swimming pool complex.

This is the reception area.


The pool complex.


The beaches in this area go on for miles so they are never crowded.


This is the harbour of Jard-sur-Mer a small seaside town close to the campsite.

France - megaliths and more

Just inland from the campsite were various megaliths (standing stones). Most of them are upright stones, but this is a fancy one with a balancing rock. We than went to Avrillé and had little wander around the town with the aid of a map from the tourist office.

In the centre of town is the covered market which has a superb vaulted roof.

This is the King of Standing Stones (7.02 metres high) in the park behind the Marie (Town Hall). Yes, that is me holding it up!

Not far from the campsite were beaches that stretched for miles. We had just walked from the site along the beach and decided that we deserved a little refreshment.

We spent some time people watching and wondered if they were pushing this guy off on a transatlantic voyage.

La Rochelle

The port of La Rochelle has been standing here since the XIIIth century.
It was very likely fortified from the beginning. The towers date back to the XIVth and XVth centuries. They outlived the destruction of the ramparts after the Siege of 1628. The St Nicolas Tower, the tallest, and opposite the Chain Tower (on the left) both a lighthouse and a defence tower which used to be linked to the latter by a defensive wall.

La Rochelle possesses a commercial harbour in deep water named La Pallice. The large submarine bunker built during World War II still stands there, although it is not being used. La Pallice is equipped with oil unloading equipment and mainly handles tropical wood. It is also the location of the fishing fleet, which was moved from the old harbour at the center of the city during the 1980s.
La Rochelle also maintains strong links with the sea by harbouring the largest marina for pleasure boats in Europe at Les Minimes and a rather rich boat-building industry. This where we started our ferry trip from.

One of the arcade shops.

The arch covered streets are the real charm of La Rochelle. Shopkeepers used to display their merchandise under these porches giving shelter from the sun and rain. However, they had to pay a licence to the town for that purpose.

We parked the car a 15 minute ferry boat ride away from the centre. The return journey was quite eventful. The wind and swell had risen so the small boat bobbed around like a cork in the washing machine so it was as good as a ride at Disneyland.

Close to the campsite were these fishing piers. A square net is lowered into the water and after a while it is raised, hopefully, full of fish.

La Palmyre

The church at Les Mathes close to the campsite.

Geocaching close to the Phare de la Coubre. David found the cunningly hidden cache.

Apéritifs on the campsite.

A cycle ride to somewhere quiet.

This is Palmyre harbour. There is a café overlooking the harbour which we can highly recommend.

Palmyre has plenty of cycle tracks and pedestrian ways. It is well geared up for the tourist.

We had some very iffy weather whilst at Palmyre. On one occasion we had a tremendous thunderstorm. Luckily we were on sand so there was no problem with flooding. A wet evening in the caravan.

Spot the mock crocs that have shrunk! They are mine off course. I left them in the awning one afternoon when it was very hot and the uppers shrank. What do you expect for £2.99. Of course I'll be taking them back on our return to Ringwood.

The ones 2nd from the right are mine!

Ste Hermine and Angers

Here I am with Sheila and Geoff. Sheila and I used to be in the same class at De Burgh Secondary School, Tadworth, Surrey. They have settled in France, close to the medieval village of Vouvant. We had a lovely lunch at their house and a very long chat.

On our arrival back at the campsite that day the Campbells and Bristows had arrived. A cool afternoon and a wet evening.

Carol and David had to depart, but left us with something to do. One was eat the geriatric jelly babies called Jellyatrics (get it!) and to race the 'Racing Grannies'. Well you can see that Sybil enjoyed it. Isn't there a law against ageism?

We had a group outing to Fontenay-le-Comte. Unfortunately it rained and the round the town walk was curtailed. It must be a nice place on a sunny day.

Sue and I have moved on to Angers now where there are plenty of cycling paths. We cycled beside the River Maine to do a geocache. The Maine itself is wide but a little further along it joins the Loire.

Sue at the bottom of the steps to Saint Sauveur, Angers.

La Maison d'Adam can be found in the centre of Angers. It is 16th Century.

At rest on our way into Angers.

Here is the massive Castle of Angers (early 13th century), with its moat and soaring towers. We didn't go in this time.

There was a geocache close to the entrance of castle. It took a while to find. It was a 35mm film container tied to the ivy using gardening wire.

Le Pieux and then home

Nearly at the end of our holiday. We went to a campsite 20 kms from Cherbourg. It was market day our first full day there.

There was only one geocache in the vicinty of the campsite and it looked rather interesting. As you can see, it is a cache with a difference. It is a Sherman tank left behind about 60 years ago. I don't think it will go again.


The nearby church of Biville. Although the village is small the church is huge and very well cared for.

The beach by our campsite.

We had 3 nights at this campsite Le Grande Large and had a trial run into Cherbourg (without the caravan) and stocked up on the usual items before returning on the ferry. The good news was that the ferry was on time and it arrived in Portsmouth where it should have done. We got home 1 hour early. I even managed to see the end of the Eurocup final.

Tailpiece - I returned my shrunken mock crocs this am and got a replacement pair, not bad for £2.99.

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