Photo Album

Click the holiday photos link below to view an album with some photos from the trip starting in Santander and finishing at Roscoff

- some photos -  

They are in chronological order but there are no captions, as yet, so you will have to work out where they are!

France and Spain 2016 - EpiBlog

This is a summary of the trip and went almost as expected and although we stayed a week longer, we were home in time for the Queens birthday street party in the village. The weather was not as good as we had hoped but we did manage to avoid the floods in France and most of the storms.

Regions visited -  Santander, Pays Basque, Bearne, midi Pyrenees, Bordeaux, Gironde, Ile de Oleron, Ile de Re, La Rochelle, Ile de Noirmoutier, Vendee, Brittany, Finistere, Roscoff, Devon.

Number of nights away from 26th April to 9th June was 44 , including one night in Devon and one on the ferry.

Distance since MOT  is 1969 miles, so drove about 1500 miles in Europe in this trip, quite low.

The number of places where we stopped on camp sites was 14, namely, Noja, Orio, Bearne, Lourdes, Le moulin, St Emillion,  Oleron, Re(2), Noirmoutier, St Brevin, Carnac, Concarceau, St Pol de Leon.

We stopped at 5 convenient Aires on route, at a Gironde marina, St Gilles municipal, Muzillac superU parking, La Rochelle park and ride, Noirmoutier municipal.

Apart from forgetting the overnight bag for the ferry, the ACSI book that covered France and Spain, a slight leak from a window during the torrential rain at Noirmoutier and a few mosquitos bites, there were no mishaps. Even managed to loose a few pounds in weight and bring back a few litres of wine!

Home again

After breakfast we had a quick look at the remains of Lydford castle (actually a prison) which was right beside the Britstop car park. Then we called in to see cousin Barbara and John on our way home and as we left her about 12:00 there was time left to fill. But the weather was overcast and quite murky all the way into Somerset and we decided to carry on without looking for another overnight stop. The weather did brighten up later on, after we had called at Gloucester services so we left the motorway and drove back up the A46 through the Cotswolds. We stopped at the garden centre near Lutterworth and picked up some tomato plants and potting compost. The compost is to pot on the vine plants that we have been nurturing all the way from St Emillion. They are not looking too healthy but hopefully can be saved with a bit of TLC and John Inness No3.

Roscoff ferry

The sea mist had thickened overnight and we left the Ar Keural site at 10 o'clock to drive the short distance to Roscoff. We stopped at a L'Eclerc supermarket for a few last minute food things to take home. The Armorique was waiting at the dock and we left on time at 14:20 in a fog. The sea was flat calm, the fog gradually lifted and we had a good smooth crossing. The Armorique is smaller than the Pont Aven which took us to Santander for the start of the holiday.

As we sailed into Plymouth there was a cruiser race taking place just outside the harbour in the evening sunshine.We disembarked at 7:30pm intending to spend the night at a Britstop off the Tavistock Road but found that it was all shuttered up. We carried on towards Oakhampton to another Britstop at Lydford which had space for us. It was a really nice oldy-worldy welcoming Inn used a lot by cyclists. We treated ourselves to dinner and ordered a full English breakfast for the following morning.

Last Day in France

Walked into town up a very steep hill just to have some lunch at a restaurant  recommended by the site receptionist. It was good value with three typical French courses for only €14. A French couple sat next to us with the biggest dog you have ever seen. We looked in St. Pols cathedral and the church with the 80m spire and the market, which was just closing.

After a merky start, we had some rain overnight, it was a sunny afternoon. Then as we walked back down the hill to the site we descended into banks of sea mist. Very eerie! The little offshore island, with a connecting road was there one minute and gone a few minutes later. We did manage a walk to it later, when the fog had moved inland.
We have to leave after breakfast  tomorrow to do some shopping as we are due at the port around midday. Fortunately Roscoff is only about 5 miles and we will pass 2 big supermarkets apparently.

The last leg

This is the last leg of our 2016 holiday in France and we are heading to a site near the port of Roscoff.

It's been a nice sunny day for the most part so we drove via Quimper,  where the rivers Odet and Steir meet before they flow into the Atlantic. It had an historic centre reminiscent of Stratford-upon-Avon with the addition of a huge gothic cathedral. We had a look round both and a quick lunch before pressing on North. 

The tourist office lady suggested we stop by the village of Locronan - which we did. A really pretty village with photo opportunity in all directions well worth the time. We bought some biscuits and pressed on, crossing Finistere to the north coast. After weeks of coastal scenery it was like driving across Devon, trees and hedges, moors and reservoirs, until we reached our destination at St Pol de Leon. We have a nice sloping pitch with sea views to a small island for the last two nights. It's cloudy again now and we even had some rain when we drove through the edge of a storm as we hit the coast.

Another walk along the coast

We took the short cut through the site down to the local white sandy beach. The tide was right out but there was no sign of any shells to collect. We walked the other way back into town where the road was closed to trafffic for a number of childrens sports activities. There was a boxing ring, tennis and rowing machine in the road, whilst out at sea an Optimist race was just starting with prizes later.


After yet another grey start the sun finally made an appearance for the afternoon, which was rather nice. We stopped in the restaurant quarter and had some sweet and savoury crepes for lunch before walking back. It was supposed to be a restful Sunday not 16000 steps! I uploaded some photos to the Blog with the free WiFi which I am now finishing on the bar terrace over looking the sea. It looks like the clouds are rolling in again for tomorrow.

Walk in the walled city

It's overcast again but much brighter for a walk along the coast to Concarnau and in particular it's old walled city. It's not very big and rather touristy as you might expect. There are a lot of English voices to be heard. We immediately knew we have been here before in our motorhome but did not recognise the name and can't figure out when we came! Must be pre-blog days! It was actually in 2008 the first year we had the Moniche and we passed through on our way to meet Mike and Margaret.

We had a nice lunch at a reasonable price (but it's cheese and biscuits for tea/supper now!) and I walked around part of the fortified wall, while  Rosemary walked around shops and bought some fancy chocolate amongst other things. We got back before 5:00pm, it looks like the sun may even appear before the evening is out. It did'nt!

Stones and Concarnau

We have moved on as planned after a short visit to the nearby market at La Trinite sur Mer. La Trinite is basically a huge marina with prices fixed accordingly, even in the market. We first came here with the children in about 1978 with Eurocamp. Le Grange Metarie campsite is still there, we passed it today when we went to have another look at the famous standing stones at Carnac.


There are thousands of stones in lines from prehistoric times. ( ie France's stone henge).

 
I drove on to Concarneau in the Finistere region and we are staying on a very nice site on the edge of the  bustling small town and close to a sandy beach. The beach and site are called Les Sables Blanc. Only problem is its a bit high up, so some steep hills when we go walkabout to the old walled city tomorrow.
More disappointing weather today, it's been dull and dry, but nothing like the rain that's been flooding Paris this week.

Disappointing day, disappointing site

We left our free stop at the Super U after buying a bit more diesel and some giant pre-pack crepes, to go to Carnac. It was a nice quick run along the N165 passed Vannes and a few miles to the coast. We had a stroll along one of the many beaches and went off to find the only €19 ACSI site (others €17 or less) just before reception closed for lunch and hurriedly booked in.
Big mistake! The site promised big grassy pitches with peace and tranquility. 

It did, but nothing else! No fresh bread, no snack bar, no where to go - unless you have a car or bikes. Nice deserted beach 500m in one direction, small supermarket 800m the other.

Even the promised sun did not make an appearance until 6:00pm and then it was behind the trees near our pitch. We will be moving on tomorrow I think.

St Nazaire and Muzillac

Left the 5* facilities at La Fief intending to go to St Nazaire for a night on its new Aire to do sight seeing. We stopped first near St Brevin to view the Serpent of the Ocean, a long sculpture by a Chinese artist in 2012. Its partly on the beach and part in sea depending on the tide. It's a sort of French Loch Ness monster - a lot of fuss about nothing.

Then over the big suspension bridge which spans the mouth of the Loire just outside St Nazaire. The intended Aire did not look a very inviting place to spend the night so we just parked for a couple of hours to take in the famous German U boat pens. It really is a massive concrete structure and it's obvious why it was so difficult to destroy with WW2 bombs. There's actually nothing much to see except just wander around some of the 20 submarine  moorings in the concrete 'hanger' and read the descriptive panels. You can also go up on the flat roof to gauge just how massive a structure it was and see a few places with bomb damage.

We left mid afternoon and drove along the coast through the large resort of La Baule, with its big hotel and apartment blocks. By 5 o'clock we decided to stop in the car park of the Super U store at Muzillac which also has a motorhome service point. It's a small town that has been bypassed by the N165 between La Baule and Vannes. There are several large supermarkets in a new light  commercial centre with biscuit factories etc. There are 9 French vans and us! A few years ago there were hardly any supermarkets in France and now there are too many IMHO.

After a fine sunny day yesterday we are back to grey overcast, but not windy, or cold. I think you can say the French weather has been variable. Just realised that we have not used a toll motorway for the last 4 weeks and it should stay that way.