26/09/08 - Some very impressive former islands.

A short drive through the quickly clearing fog for our first stop
today - St Malo. Once a fortified island at the mouth of the river
Rance, this walled town is now joined to the mainland by way of a
promenade and resulting beach. We walked along the beach to an
outlying fort, past huge breakwaters and got a feel for the extremely
large tidal differences in this area - this difference, between low
and high tide, can be 15 metres in height! We arrived when the tide
was quite low but postcard pictures of waves crashing over the
breakwaters showed us just why these are needed at high tide.

We then walked through the walls and explored this very impressive
granite town. Almost completely destroyed during the Second World
War, this is another example of careful restoration which has ensured
the town's narrow streets retain their charm.

Once we'd enjoyed a coffee in the sun, it was onward to France's
second most recognisable silhouette (the first being the Eiffel
Tower) - Mont St Michel (pronounced Michelle, not Michael as we had
been doing).

Another former island that is now joined to the mainland due to a long
sandspit, this 80 metre high island was visible to us from about 20
kilometres out. The closer we got, the more impressive it became,
with its Benedictine abbey towering above the tightly packed houses
that wind round the bottom, and the kilometres of tidal sand streching
far out to sea. In only a few hours, this sand would be completely
covered in water in a tidal change that perhaps could best be
described as 'where the waters rise faster than galloping horses'. We
got this description from the guidebook where it unfortunately doesn't
quote where it got it from.

We found ourselves a view point from a turret on the 'island' to
witness the tide come in - you definitely could witness the water
moving up the bay, although we decided we didn't need to sit up there
for the whole 6 hours of tidal change to get the idea.

It was then back on the move across the Normandy countryside to our
first view of the D-day landing beaches - where on the 6th of June
1944 hundreds of thousands of allied solders landed in the largest
amphibious invasion in history as they began the push across Europe to
defeat Hitlers Nazi Germany.

25/09/08 - A province more English than French??

Crikey this country is big!! Here I thought it would take about a day
to drive around the whole coast of Brittany, but the general consensus
of the crew was that we take the shorter route across country - and
that still took a whole day!!! With a few stops of course.

A quick look around Quiberon, before we headed back up the peninsula -
which in some places is only 50 metres across. Then we were off to
the other side of the Brittany coast - driving via through villages
and countryside which actually felt more English than French with
their stone buildings. This could be attributed to the Celtic origins
of Brittany, as large migrations from the Celtic lands of Britain
occurred throughout history to this region. It was only in the 16th
century that Brittany became part of France, and even today there are
groups lobbying for a separate Brittany state to the rest of France.

Our lunch stop was beside the Nantes-Brest canal which winds its way
through the rolling green countryside. A quick look at the Abbey de
Bon-Repos looking over the canal, where unfortunately all the
information was in French - then it was onward to our first sight of
the English channel at Cape Fréhel.

It was here we took an hour walk along the rugged coast, past a German
gun emplacement left over from the Second World War, to a lighthouse
sitting out on the cape. The view down along the cliffs showed a
castle sticking out right on the edge - stunning stuff!!

24/09/08 - Asterix and the Great Carnac Menhir's.

A grey morning greeted us as we set off for a patisserie to get our
bread for breakfast - just like the rest of the French population. A
few croissants, pain au chocolat and baguettes later we were
sufficiently full enough to drive through the rain for a couple of
hours around Nantes, and north towards Brittany.

A symbol of a castle on our map meant we took a stop at the village of
Missillac, where we found the stunning setting of Chateau de la
Bretesche - sitting on the side of a lake with neatly manicured lawns
and trees guarding it. Ignoring the 'guests only' signs, we drove on
in and took a stroll around the area - only getting told off when we
entered to the Chateau's courtyard. Oh well, we to close enough for a
look.

A bit of lunch and onwards into Brittany and The Megaliths of Carnac.
This was an area of several kilometres long where about 4000 menhir's
(meaning long stones in the local Celtic language of Briton) have been
set into the ground in long parallel rows. It is thought these were
placed here during the Neolithic period (5000 - 2000 BC) and are
linked with burial rituals.

Of course, with these impressive stones being here for such a long
time, a number of legends have evolved - including the one about Saint
Cornelius who was pursued by pagan soldiers, which he then turned
around and transformed them all into stone.

But Dave and I worked out the best theory - as we are in the heart of
Asterix and Obelix country, and Obelix always carried round a menhir -
it must have been him who put them all here. Surely he would be the
only one strong enough??

A quick walk around the rows of menhir's, then a visit to the museum -
where we even found Asterix books for sale!! Then we were off down
the very narrow Quiberon Peninsula to our camping spot near the
seaside town of Quiberon. We finished the day with a walk along the
rocky coast followed by a very red sunset from the comfort of the
van!!

23/09/08 - Bridge spotting.

The plan today, was to get some miles behind us, as we head north. In
saying this, we still had to take the scenic coastal road and not the
motorway.

Around Gironde - a big inlet that reaches down to Bordeaux, past a few
of surf beaches and up to Rochefort - luck would have it that we
stumbled across France's last operating transporter bridge!! This
wouldn't normally be much to excite us, but Dave is a bridge engineer
so the question of whether we should stop to check it out was rather
simple.

How to describe ... this is a structure with two towers about 90
metres high on each side of the river, with a joining 'bridge'
crossing the river sitting high up on top of the towers. Then cables
hang down from the 'bridge', supporting a platform, that used to carry
cars, but now only tourists, across the 270 metre wide Charente River.
At first glimpse, this metal structure looks like an object that
wouldn't be out of place in a port, unloading cargo off ships, instead
of spanning a river.
The rest works just like a ferry - you drive/walk onto the 10 square
metre platform, and then the cables guided by rails, carry the
platform across the river. Simple!! In 1900 when the bridge was
built there was still a lot of shipping traffic going up and down the
river, so it was necessary to have enough height clearance.
We paid our €2 each for the privilege of a return trip across the
river, where on the other side we found a pretty cool bridge museum!!
It was rather interesting reading about the different ideas for
crossing rivers and seas over the centuries.

Back on the road we arrived at the very pretty harbour city of La
Rochelle. This very white city (due to its limestone buildings) was a
major port from the 14th to 17th century, and was the setting off
point for many French immigrants to Canada. Its tiny old port is
guarded by two 14th century towers, that at night used to have a chain
stretched between them to stop any ships entering the harbour.

We took a quick walk around the towers, and along the city walls
before finding an outdoor cafe and enjoying a drink in the afternoon
sun, taking in the atmosphere.

22/09/08 - Biking among the vineyards.

A chilly morning was had amongst the grapes, but soon we were on the
move and off to the supermarket, before heading back to St. Emilion to
hire our transport for the day - bikes.

Kerryn was armed with the list of wineries that looked like they may
be accommodating to a bunch of amateurs like us, so we headed into the
countryside. First mission was to make it up a hill to get the view,
then feel the wind as we flew down the otherside with vineyards and
chateau's all around us (just a point - a chateau doesn't mean a grand
castle type house, just the estate that is on the vineyard - although
some were pretty nice, and all were very old!!).

A nice picnic lunch of baguette, cheese, ham and all other things
French, beside a pretty little lake, then it was time to taste some
wine. After being told by the first vineyard that tastings and tours
were by appointment only, the second was kind enough to enough to let
us in. We decided our host was very French, you wouldn't call him the
most welcoming man, but we got to taste a couple of vintages from the
vineyard that has operated through 9 generations in the same family.

A bit more biking, then another tasting by a very welcoming French
lady and a young Québecan translator. It was very interesting to
learn about the different blends of grapes they use - 70% Merlot, 20%
Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc. We took a stroll amongst
the vineyards tasting all of the grapes trying to distinguish the
different types, followed by a walk past the big vats which housed the
previous two years harvests. The 2006 brew is due to be bottled this
week - in time to make room for the 2008 harvest.

Of course with all this great service and education, we had to buy a
couple of bottles to add to our collection - the general consensus
from our two visits from Marea, Kerryn and Dave was that the older
(1998, & 99) bottles were alot better than the more recent vintages
for the fact that they have been able to age a little. It was only me
who thought the opposite - I guess that makes me a poor connoisseur of
fine wines?

21/09/08 - Welcoming in the new harvest.

Marea seems to have a thing about sunrises at the moment - she was up,
and heading up the sand-dune at about 7:15 this morning, even though
from our experience in Spain it would still take another half an
hour!! Still, as cold as it was sitting up there - when the brilliant
red sun made its appearance, it was worth it! Though we couldn't
convince Dave to get out of bed!

Today's plan was to head around Bordeaux and into the heart of wine
country. It was quite neat just driving the country roads, surrounded
by rows and rows of vines that had nice big juicy bunches of grapes
currently sitting on them as the picking season is just about to
start. Kerryn and Daniel compared the bunches of grapes to udders on
an aging cow - heathens!

Our destination was the charming medieval village of St. Emilion -
situated on a hill, giving a great view of the vineyards all around.
First stop was a walk through an underground cellar where thousands
upon thousands of bottles of wine lay in the cool atmosphere. The
oldest batch we could find were a few bottles from 1965. It was
definitely very trusting of them to just let us roam about down there.

We were told that at 4pm something was going to happen from the top of
the Castel daou Rey (King's tower). We found the perfect viewpoint -
from an outdoor restaurant with great views looking across to the
tower. Marea and Dave took charge of the drinks menu, and pretty soon
we had a couple of reds and whites ordered. We were feeling very
French with our fine view, setting and lovely afternoon sun. However
upon being served, it became apparent that 'Pineau des Charrentes -
Chateau de Beaulon blanc/rouge 5 ans' does not mean a 5 year old glass
of white/red wine, but instead a highly fortified desert wine!! All
the same - they were some beautifully sweet, strong drinks - and the
waiter did tell us that an afternoon desert wine is perfectly
acceptable to enjoy the sunshine. Then again, he could have told us
anything and we would have believed him!!

By the time we had finished our drinks, nothing yet had happened up on
tower, so we took a free tour into an underground area carved out of
the limestone rock between the 9th & 12th centuries. Down there was a
Monolithic Church, Catacombs, Trinity chapel and Hermits Cave.
Unfortunately the tour was all in French, so halfway through we snuck
ahead to the tour half an hour in front of us, and got outside just in
time to see the celebrations on top of the King's Tower.

Again, all in French - but from what we could gather, the 30 or 40 men
in red robes waving out to the town from the tower were the Master
Sommelliers (wine experts). The ceremony finished with whole town
yelling out 'alleluia' repeatedly, and then 10 bunches of helium
balloons that looked like bunches of grapes were let off into the sky.
I think what we witnessed was the greeting of the new harvest, with
the picking season starting this week.

Our camping spot, courtesy of our book of free spots, was in among the
vines of a local vineyard. Our thank you to our local's hospitality
was the purchase of a couple of their product to enjoy for a very
pleasant evening with bread and cheese in the last of the setting sun
- beautiful!!

20/09/08 - Double the trouble.

Another first today, it was dark enough this morning that we had to
turn the lights on - summer is coming to an end!! Of course the other
reason was that there wasn't any sleep-in today as a quick drive up
the road to Pau airport was required as Kerryn is re-joining us along
with our token Englishman - Dave. That will ensure a cosy van for a
week.

A little investigation of the map, and we decided our plan for the day
would be to head north-west and find a beach somewhere up the coast.
Travelling through Grenade-sur-l'-Adour we found a very typical French
local market in full swing - this should be a bit more fun than a
supermarket. A few veges, meat, bread and €30 of cheese (I think it
was a case of too many chiefs, not enough indians) later, we continued
up through the flat plains of the area until we reached Biscarosse
Plage and our first glimpse of the deep blue Atlantic Ocean, with some
pretty impressive waves rolling in.

A picnic on the beach with some good cheap tax-free Italian bubbly, a
swim in the relatively warm sea and bit a sunbathing was the order of
the afternoon. Just down the beach from us, the National French
Championships for freestyle jet-skiing was getting started. We only
saw a few of them practicing, but it was pretty impressive watching
the jumps, twists and backflips as the riders used the waves to launch
off into the air.

We only managed another 15 minutes of driving before we reached the
highest sand-dune in Europe - Dune de Pyla. At about 110 metres high,
and 3 kilometres long, this sand-dune is quite a sight and it's a real
slog to climb!! But once we made it to the top, the reward was a
brilliant view over the other side to the sea, and of course a
magnificent sunset. Finally, the last treat as we returned to camp -
a run down the dunes. We probably contributed to the problem that all
the local campsites have with the sand-dune. Apparently it is
swallowing up everything eastwards at a rate of 4-5 metres per year.