When we set off on our travels we always have an overall destination in mind, in this case we are headed to Portugal. This time we do have at least two places we intend to visit on the way.......
The mapping application Via Michelin thinks it will take us about 28 hours to get to Lisbon, including taking a detour to visit a few waypoints on our journey!

Map

28/8 On a Cliff Edge

As we leave the White Cliffs behind it looks as though parliament may be suspended and the turmoil increases. Thankfully the sea is smooth even though the political world is not. Hopefully we can get back through customs OK in eight weeks. “It’s the UK Jim, but not as we know it”

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Even the 210 to Edgeware Road Station has had enough of B**x*t and was spotted on the ferry making a dash for freedom.

We found an idyllic spot for the night not far off the motorway about midway between Abbeville and Rouen. A brook runs beside our parking place below the well tended trees.

The hamlet of Sainte Beuve en Riviere is tiny but it still has room for a full size camping car.

29/8 West...

This is the Pont de Brotonne, which we used to cross the Seine, south of Yvetot. According to Wikipedia, ”The bridge is a cable-stayed bridge (specifically of the fan design), whose principal span reaches 320 metres (350 yd) and is made of prestressed concrete. It is considered an engineering feat and was the first bridge of this type in the world.”.

The bridge is named after the Foret de Brotonne, which we drove though after crossing.

We stopped for lunch in Cormeilles, a beautiful small town where many of the buildings are typically Norman in appearance.

Whilst most of the day was spent driving on winding B roads, we did come across the typical French view as we headed west.

We are now settled for the night on an aire in the small town of Sourdeval, 5 miles south of Vire. Although it is basically just a car park, it has some well tended flower beds between the spaces and we are backing into a rather wonderful and beautifully maintained town park.

30/8 A Day Of Contrasts

This morning we sat having a coffee at a picnic table in the park by our Aire when we saw the park had some residents we had not noticed before. Five kids were penned in a field and proved quite an attraction for the local kids.

We often stumble upon travelling circuses as we wander around France. Today we met up with a couple of camels in Avranches.

And so on to Le Mont Saint Michel. This is our second time here and once again we chose not to fight with the crowds. We parked a few miles away and enjoyed a walk along the dyke to take in the view.

We are parked up about four miles outside St Malo on the “Emerald Coast” to the east of the city close to the Pointe de Grouin. We are lined up with about a dozen other camping cars in a lay-by overlooking the sea. A short walk took us along the cliff tops below us.

A number of campincaristes stood on the roadside to watch the spectacular sunset before disappearing into our travelling hotels for the night.

31/8 Round The Walls And Down

This morning we drove into St Malo and found the same parking space as the last time we were here 14 months ago.
We were entranced by the old walled town. We walked round the top of the walls, which afforded us great views of the tidal swimming pool with its refurbished diving boards.

There is a lovely view round every corner as you circumnavigate the walls.

After a supermarket sweep at one of the huge out of town hypermarkets we drove south to Bédée, where we are staying for the night, 10 miles west of Rennes. We are at a small park on the edge of town. It has a new pathway along a series of small lakes and a tiny water wheel on a stream.

The lakes are actually part of a water cleansing system. We are parked by the top lake which is a reed bed to filter out impurities in the water.

1/9 A Day Of Three Quartiers

Our day began with an early start so we could drive the short distance into Rennes for one of our favourite things to do in France: a Vide Grenier. If only we knew someone who needed a new kitchen sink!

As always there were things to buy you didn’t even know you wanted!

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Our second stop for the day was the horse racing at Ploërmel, an hour’s drive west. This time we saw steeple chasing as well as the usual trotting.

It was the second day of a weekend meeting and the large crowd was very involved, cheering every race.

And for our third stop of the day, tonight we are in Malestroit, just half an hour south of the races. There is a huge aire here with at least 50 Campingcars. There is a canal with a beautiful lock and towpaths to cycle or walk along plus a very attractive medieval town centre.

There are many half timbered buildings with all kinds of decorative features. Apparently there was some sort of town festival last night with dancing, singing and fireworks, which may explain the large number of neighbours on this aire.

2/9 Pictures At An Exhibition

Today we arrived in La Gacilly, the first of our major aim points as we work our way south through France. There is a huge photography exhibition held here each year.

It is huge in both the size of some of the images and the number on display. This is the third year running we have managed to get here whilst the event is running. Each year there is a different theme. This year the focus is on photography and photographers from behind what was the Iron Curtain, which fell exactly 30 years ago.

We spent most of the day looking around but there is plenty more to see tomorrow.

3/9 Picture This....

There are about 18 displays from different photographers in the event at La Gacilly. In total there are over 1,000 photographs on show.
This was a section of images from the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, most of which had not been seen before.

The weather has been great for the last couple of days which certainly helps as only two of the displays are indoors.
The website where you can see what we have been looking at is here: http://www.festivalphoto-lagacilly.com/annees/2019
Our favourites were Rodchenko, Produkin-Gorsky, Tkachenko and Maximishin. Can you tell the theme this year is to do with Looking East Toward the Soviet Bloc?

4/9 A Watery Kind Of Day

Our coffee stop this morning was at Redon. We have stopped there a couple of times in the past to enjoy the view of the yacht basin from the Capitainerie.

Our journey south continued to the Pointe de Chemoulin, just five miles west of St Nazaire. We found an aire close to the beach where we could park up for the afternoon.

There was a great path along the cliff edge which we used to stroll to the local seaside town

The walk along the cliffs and down along the beach was naturally taken at our own risk but it didn’t feel in the least perilous.

For the night we moved along the coast and into the town of St Nazaire. We are parked next to the harbour wall right at the entrance to the port. The tugs are coming and going helping the large ships in and out of the port.

This is obviously the type of parking spot that attracts a certain kind of campingcariste.

5/9 Up The Loire

Our morning stroll into Saint Nazaire took us past a couple of the tugs we had seen working hard last night and into the old submarine pens. These are being repurposed and currently house some sort of art display, an exhibition based on the ocean liners which used to be built and sail from here and the Office de Tourisme....

There was a themed tour you could follow around the harbour based on Tin Tin and his travels. We have no idea why, but he did sail from the ocean terminal which apparently used to be where we were parked last night.

Ship building and fitting out is very big business in Saint Nazaire. This huge cruise liner is due to be finished next April and another by the end of next month.

We drove along the banks of the Loire to Champtoceaux, where we found an aire with wonderful views up and down the river.

6/9 Don’t Look Back In Anger

We spent the morning on a walk around Champtoceaux. It was a waymarked path which took us down through the woods to the river Loire. It seems the town was thriving in Medieval times as they controlled both the bridge over the river as well as charging tolls to the boats that passed under it.

Our destination for the afternoon was Angers. Having been before we thought we would like a look back at Angers. This weird statue is outside the town art gallery.

Every large city seems to have its fair share of ‘living statues’ but we’ve never seen a blue painted couple before.

The Château d’Angers is always surrounded by glorious floral displays.

We drove 10 miles south to Rablay-Sur-Layon to find this small riverside aire. We shall do some exploring of the riverside walk in the morning.

7/9 The Day Of The Long Night

Following a relaxed start to the day we ended up in Cholet where we perused both Lidl and Decathlon. We found a lovely lake close by where we stopped for lunch.

The afternoon warmed up nicely so a walk around the lake beckoned. The camping car is shining in the distance.
We reached the aire in Fougere for the night. It is part of a carpark near the village hall. The young people of the area seem to congregate there after midnight so we ended up driving off at 2.30am in our nightwear. We headed a few miles north towards La Roche-sur-Yon were we found a quiet carpark next to the cemetery in La Chaize Le Vicompte

8/9 Cross Roads

We were close to La Roche-sur-Yon last night so we could be in town bright and early for the Vide Grenier. It seems the two dogs in the pushchair had the same idea.