MONDAY, 25 June 2018 Le Pellerin to Nantes
….and back again, a trip in which we saw a bit of just
about everything, but started off with a giant headache as we needed to be at
the green house
(Click on photos to enlarge)
but were stuck on the
other side. Luckily, a solution was at
hand in the form of this ferry
We had hardly started when we came upon what looked like the tower in which Rapunzel had been imprisoned
but the reality was a lot less romantic…..a leaded tower
built in the 1860s and used for the production of lead shot for hunting
cartridges.
The town of this tower, Couëron, is also a well-known centre for penny-farthing bicycle manufacture and ownership, so we were not surprised to see bike racks for them
all along the river.
Further along we came across what was not the ‘Leaning Tower
of Pisa’
but certainly the leaning ‘House in the Loire’, an art installation
that they paid good money to have built.
If they’d paid a bit more they could probably have had it built
properly.
We went under this impressive bridge over the Loire
which we have seen a number of times from much further away
where it looks far more fragile and delicate.
As we approached Nantes there were the remains of one of the
ships that escaped whole from the Battle of Trafalgar.
are just too expensive to build and maintain, and nobody
really knows how to operate them with so many buttons to push and flashing
lights and secret codes and passwords to remember and how can people be
expected to concentrate on those sorts of things when they need to be checking
their iphones regularly and updating their status on facebook and posting
selfies on Twitter, and with the wooden sailing ships you could easily find a plank to make
recalcitrant recruits or pirates that you captured or migrant smugglers walk to teach them a lesson whereas on these modern vessels there’s not a
plank to be had from bow to stern.
There was more artwork high up on a hill,
a bit stark for our tastes,
and still more on the other side of the Loire,
a giant
pendulum on the side of a disused cement factory, ticking away our time as we headed back
with the wind behind us to complete our 45 km trip.
TUESDAY, 26 June 2018 Paimbeouf to Saint-Brevin-les-Pins
dISASTER with a
capital D today with the demise of Pierre.
R.I.P. So tragic. We’re heartbroken. Right up there with the Ozzieroos being
kicked out of the World Actors’ Cup. This is what happened. On our way back to Paimbeouf we spied a
strange looking object emerging from the water
(click on photos to enlarge)
On closer inspection we could see it was a
prehistoric monster,
what looked to me very much like a pumbeefosauraus, and
Pierre, being a bit of a dinosaur himself, insisted on going down to see it. He was standing in front of it while I walked
back to take a picture and as he turned
to look at me I saw the monster sliding towards him. I shouted at him to watch out, but he is, or
was, such a snob and now we are in France refuses to respond to English and for
his folly was snaffled.
So shocked was he that he literally fell to pieces
and the last I saw of him he was disappearing down the brute’s
outsides
…and not even so much as a “Good-bye. Thanks for everything.” We’ll certainly miss him as even though he
had a limited range of facial expressions, we liked to listen to him chattering
away in his gnomic language. Quite ironic, too, as old pumbeef flourished in Europe in the Triassic era and for several million years after that and made his home in caves and his demise was mainly brought about, according to paleontologists, with the sudden explosion of gnomes into the world, also living in caves, digging for gold and back-filling as they went until pumbeef found himself with nowhere to hide
Prior to this we were heading to Saint-Brevins-les-Pins, all
the time with this amazing bridgein sight,
Along the way we saw these little structures dotted along
the shoreline,
or the remains of them.
They all had nets lifted clear from the mud flats below
which presumably could be lowered when the tide was in. The approaches to most of them looked very
rickety indeed.
All along the riverbank in the fields to our left we could
see evidence of what the farmers had been doing while the sun was shining.
Sain-Brevin is the official start or end of the Loire a Velo
cycle path and also a way point on a number of others, as the Publicity Officer
for ‘Cycling France Tourisme’ was happy to point out….
or maybe she was pointing out the route of our next big
cycling trip overseas, though after the winds of the last few days, we will be
heading in the opposite direction.
The area around St Brevins is very much seaside and beach,
similar to Rockingham/Safety Bay with lots of small beach cottages along the
shoreside. This one took our fancy.
There were lots of school groups out walking in the mud
flats all looking like they were enjoying themselves in the sunshine
and when fighting
our way back, a number of other school groups on bicycles went whizzing past us
in the opposite direction. So strong was
the wind going back that at one stage we had to get off and walk and as we were
battling along a particularly savage gust blew this bale of hay into the canal
right
alongside us.
Eventually we made it back to Paimbouef and sought solace at
the local bar to refresh ourselves and drown our sorrows.
WEDNESDAY, 27 June
2018 Saint Nazaire to La Baule
Our ride today was not an official Loire à Velo cycle path
ride so there were no proper maps to follow.
We thought it would be signposted, though, in the usual efficient
manner, but that wasn’t the case, either.
Luckily, Google Maps came to the rescue until we chanced upon some
signage on our return 40 km journey from La Baule back to St Nazaire.
La Baule is the starting town of day 4 of the T de F, but we
were here two weeks too early. We did
see the posters advertising it, though, up all along the seafront.
The town before La Baule is called Pornichet and between the
two and then further round the coast is solid hotel and apartment buildings all along the beachfront
We did spot a few little gems among the concrete monsters
Coming back we passed this interesting looking structure,
the Tumulus of Dissignac.
At a mere 6,000 plus years old, it pre-dates the Pyramids by
a couple of thousand years. Quite
obviously, building techniques improved considerably in the intervening millennia.
We passed the first thatched house we believe we have seen here
and while having a refreshing beer at the end of the ride were able to get a closer look at the nets we saw suspended along the Loire
yesterday.
We watched
as one was lowered and then raised with some fish in the bottom which were
scooped out with a net.
Today was quite a muggy and oppressive day, the sort of day
where you might be pleased to have a swimming pool at your accommodation.
Up until now we have been very satisfied
with the Air BnB accommodation we have had
but Rouans hasn’t turned out so well….though not
disastrous. This is the old building we
are in
and we have the section with two windows on the left, one of them
being open. We didn’t realise until a
bit later that it wasn’t actually the same rooms that were advertised. The host must have thought, a couple of
Aussies, they probably live in mud huts where they come from, they’ll never
notice. It’s like playing ‘Spot the
difference’ if you see the two photos below.
Now, if you can’t tell that the patterns on the benchtops are
completely different then I suggest a visit to an optician.
And what about these beds?
And this was just the start.
Faye, who has impossibly high standards of cleaning, spent 4 hours
scrubbing and sweeping and dusting before she would even use a cup to have a
coffee. Among the other omissions were
no TV (advertised), and when we asked about it we were brought a very small one
with no aerial connection so it didn’t work, a washing machine (a selling point
for us as we were here for 6 days) that didn’t work – very apologetic, will get it
fixed, huh!, no kettle, no coffee pot, (compulsory in French households), no towels, all of which
were supplied when requested. Oh
yes. And two lamps and two overhead
lights in the kitchen/living area and two globes…..which was ok because the
light switches for the overhead lights didn’t work anyway, and the globe from
one of them which I screwed into one of the lamps, only worked spasmodically.
And, no curtains on the bathroom window. Faye was incensed by this, and rightly so and was concerned that if she took a shower after 11.00 pm, two hours after her normal bed-time when it had finally became dark and she would need the light on, anybody out there (view from bathroom window)
would be able to see in. I thought perhaps the cows in the far distance with their night-vision goggles or maybe the guy I’ve noticed
climbing up onto the roof of the orange-tiled house occasionally around
midnight, but I didn’t see any point in saying anything.
And here is Claire, our host,
pacing up and down in the
front garden, no doubt worrying about what ratings we are going to give her and
what our comments will be on the Air BnB website as they meticulously send a form after each stay. I’d be worried,
too, if I were her.
the ant
They appear to be some sort of ship made out of pinewood crates, and we can only assume, given the current debate raging in France about the cost of naval defence, that they are the latest addition to the fleet and the crew will be armed with water pistols and pea-shooters.
Thursday, June 28
2018 Nantes to Richelieu
Where there’s life there’s hope….and after arriving back in
Richelieu about 5.00 pm, unpacking and dashing next door to the supermarket, we
hurried off to the park, hoping to see mother swan and baby. Happily, mother
was there, sitting on the nest, and then she stood and little baby was
underneath her. They walked around a bit
(click on pictures to enlarge)
then slid into the water and came over to greet us. We watched them for ages as they swam around,
baby sticking so close to mother most of the time we were
expecting him/her to climb on her back.
On the way through Nantes this morning, we stopped at an exposition
called ‘Machines des Iles’, ‘Iles’ referring to the island in the middle of the
Loire in Nantes where it is located and ‘Machines’
referring to an array of animated animals, insects and birds worked by hydraulics,
set in a sort of forest. This giant
spider, for example, was one of them,
and this guy gave an explanation
to the 2 or 3 groups
of schoolchildren and other visitors gathered around listening. Very interesting it was, too, except we couldn’t
understand a word, but we assumed it must have been as only about a third of
the people nodded off while he was droning on.
After he had finished his lecture, the operators climbed aboard and it rose in the
air,
moved up and down the beam, waggled its legs around before
coming down again. It was the same deal
with this giant heron,
and several others.
The main attraction of the place, though, is the elephants....
well, elephant actually.
This spends all day walking around carrying people to different parts of the exposition, hence the sign warning people to watch out,
but today, unfortunately, it was undergoing
maintenance.
One further exhibit we noticed on the way back to the car was this.
And in another addition to the many weird trees we have found over here, today we came across a new type,
SATURDAY, 30 JUNE
2018 Richelieu
A couple of quiet days at home, recovering from our trip and
undergoing a grieving process. We’ve
been offered psychological and counselling assistance to help us deal with our
loss but will try to struggle through on our own.
We stepped out mid-morning to fetch a baguette and a couple
of pain aux raisin at the bakery and immediately noticed the great throng of
cars in the square. This was the main
cause of it
Either that or the bride had flown in on it.
The newlyweds were just emerging from the Town Hall and
making their way to the church as we went by
as the parish priest greeted them
as the procession of guests filed
into the church for the blessing.
This dude looked pretty cool in his pink shorts
while a sun-glassed reverend
kept watch outside in case any
back-sliders (maybe the husband?) tried to slip away before the completion of
formalities.
While the church ceremony was going on, we made our way over
to the ‘Great Hall’ set up as a
Inside this was taking place.
There were exhibitions by a number of painters and
sculptors, and as always when seeing such displays, we are amazed at the
variety and creativity of ideas on show.
Seeing as we have trouble drawing a recognisable stick figure person, it
is impossible to tell the quality of the works but they all looked very
impressive.
By the time we emerged from this and sat down for a coffee at the bar opposite the church, the ceremony was over and the grand exit was on.
The obligatory group snap was taken
and everyone drove away
with much honking of horns as we’ve now seen and heard on a
couple of other wedding occasions, and before long all there was to show for this public
display of love and commitment was the confetti that the cleaners were
hurriedly sweeping up
Meanwhile, next door at 'Les Halles', the official speeches had been made, honoured guests mentioned, and like such occasions everywhere, pretty soon it was into the free wine and nibbles on offer.
SUNDAY, 41 July 2018 Four Fayes Ride
We’ve had the ‘Four Dams Ride’ and the ‘Four Domes Ride’,
now to add to this we have the ‘Four Fayes Ride’. Today
was the inaugural event and while there was a very modest turnout (2), hey,
this is something that could become REALLY big over the next couple of
years. Distance is only 50 km but there’s
a variety of terrain ranging from smooth to pot-holed bitumen, gravel and clay
bush tracks, even cobblestones. Not too
much climbing, about 200m.
The best time
to run this event is right now so that the ride can be started in the park
at Richelieu and a stop made to check on the progress of the swans.
Little baby is gaining every day in confidence and whereas
two days ago he/she stuck close by mother, today it was darting off by itself in
all directions with mother keeping a wary eye on it and never letting it get
too far away from her.
Back to the ride and through and out of the park and the first town conquered was
then on to
before the longest ride to finally reach
before the last town
then back to Richelieu.
There’s some conjecture as to why so many towns here have ‘Faye’
in their name. Some people claim it
means ‘fairy’ but more detailed etymological research points to a far stronger
association with the meaning of ‘witch’.
Indeed, it has been suggested that these towns are the sites where witches
were routinely brought to be burnt at the stake for a range of offences related
to inappropriate use of their broomstick such as flying too fast, flying too
slow, flying too high, flying too low, flying without a licence and so on.
After the outstanding success of this event, it was time to
wind down for the evening with a taste of culture. And what better way than to attend a
performance of Mozart’s Requiem in our lovely church on the corner given by the
massed choirs of Richelieu and Chinon.
I’m not sure that the acoustics of the church were quite up
to 60 or 70 people belting their lungs out and after a number of hours on a bike
seat, the wooden pews in the church proved particularly unforgiving, but we’re
proud to support and encourage the arts of the local community, even to the
extent, on top of the ticket price, of paying $10 for a program we were
unable to understand.
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