Loire-Atlantique

After over a month in Brittany we finally left and headed into the Loire-Atlantique province, south towards La Rochelle. We have really enjoyed Brittany with its empty roads, beautiful beaches and laid back vibe.

As we drove south towards La Rochelle, the home of the 2 times and current European Rugby Championship Holders, Stade Rochelais, we took our time to  visit some of the popular beaches on the way.

Our first stop was Prefailles but on the way, we drove straight past our first Loire Chateau and just had to stop to take pictures. This is the Chateau de la Bretesche, although unfortunately it wasn’t open so we could only stop and admire it from the outside.

The two pictures were taken only a couple of minutes apart and it goes to show how quickly the weather changes in this part of the world.

We parked at Prefailles, which is only about 50m from the sea but unfortunately with no sea view. There was a small rocky drop, maybe 4m, down to the beach. In this area there is a large tidal range and at low tide a large rocky area was exposed with only a narrow sandy beach. Although it was very pretty and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset, it wasn’t quite what we were looking for so we decided to move on the next day.

The second beach was at St Hilaire de Riez, which is a popular seaside resort town. We found somewhere to spend the night, again just 50m from the beach, this time through the dunes to a very long, seemingly endless, sandy beach where we were once again rewarded with an amazing sunset.

This is a lovely beach and had the weather been a little warmer and less windy we would definitely have stayed for longer.

We continued to head south along the Atlantic coast to Longeville Sur Mer. It has been quite noticeable that the further south we drive the more developed the beaches and towns become.

Longeville Sur Mer was probably our favourite beach of this last week and we spent a lovely afternoon lazing in the sun and watching the kite and wind surfers go whizzing past (a wind break on this coastline would definitely be a bonus!). The popularity of this beach was clear though as more and more people arrived as the afternoon wore on.

Another plus point of this location was a lovely little café just at the entrance to the beach where enjoyed listening to a local band in the evening.

Our next destination was La Rochelle. This is an impressive port city with a population of around 75,000 and the motto, “Belle et Rebelle” – Beautiful and Rebellious.

After trying, and failing to get into the municipal campsite right in the middle of town (this is the first campsite or Aire that has been full when we arrived), we headed a few km’s outside of town to a very nice Aire in Port Neuf.  From here it was a 15 minute cycle, past the Stade Marcel-Deflandre – home of La Rochelle’s rugby team, into the centre of town but if there is a town fit for cycling it is La Rochelle, there are cycle paths everywhere, many of which are separate from the roads.

The centre of La Rochelle is a bustling city with a really buzzy atmosphere. Restaurants line the streets and harbour-side and the sun almost dazzles you as it reflects of the limestone pavements (sunglasses recommended!). It had a great vibe and we couldn’t help but get caught up in it.

There are three towers remaining from the original port fortifications. The  Tour de Lanterne, which looks likes a church spire, was used as the harbour’s lighthouse with an enormous candle. It has, in the past, also served as a prison and the interior walls are covered in graffiti (mostly of sailing boats), that was carved into the stone by the prisoners incarcerated there.

The other two towers are the Tour St-Nicolas and the Tour de la Chaine which flank the harbour entrance and between which a huge chain was pulled tight to defend the entrance at night and when threatened.

We visited the towers and walked around the busy shopping streets of the old quarter before settling down for drinks and dinner by the harbour side. We had a really lovely day out in La Rochelle, although after drinks we were a bit wobbly on the cycle back to the camper !

After leaving La Rochelle we headed slightly north into the Marais Poitevin. This is the real reason we had dipped down this far south. The Marais is sometimes known as the Green Venice and it is a regional park which is composed of a wide ranging network of canals and rivers. Some of the canals are only a couple of metres wide while the largest are much bigger.

This is a perfect area to explore by water, so we hired a Canadian canoe and went on an arm-achingly four-hour tour of the canals.

The waterways were teaming with wildlife, the highlights being a very chubby Coypu and herons but there were all sorts of birds and even the occasional inquisitive cow! Even better, we hardy saw another boat on the whole trip until we got back to the main channels close to the start. I can only assume most people that day chose the shorter routes so for the most part, we had the canals to ourselves.

This is such a lovely and peaceful place that we decided to settle in and spend a few days in the area as it is also a great place to explore by bike. The best bit of this was cycling along the river paths, visiting the little villages along the way, seeing the fields of sunflowers and soaking up the scenery.