The April fools didn’t wake up until late again 🙄, so it was nearly lunchtime when we drove into a car park near La Rochelle. When I say near, I mean flipping miles away! I was trying to make sure Guy didn’t drive into the old town and most of the car parks had barriers or restrictions, so I thought it better to be on the outskirts.
We started walking along the coast in the strong, blustery wind. No sign of the town and getting nowhere fast. Had to turn the data on and do a route check …just another 40 minutes!
Eventually we came to a huge marina (Port des Minimes) – never seen so many boats in one place but still couldn’t see the old town.
Got there eventually, with half the day gone and we were supposed to be heading north!
It’s such an interesting place and there’s so much more to it than we’ve ever seen on previous visits. Dubbed ‘the White City’ due to the pale limestone used everywhere, it’s full of towers, Gothic gateways, little bridges and a beautiful old harbour lined with shops and bars.
We will have to come back again as we didn’t have the time to explore properly today. Found a shorter route back to the van, thankfully, and narrowly missed getting soaked.
Driving up through Niort, the heavens opened and the weather was atrocious for a while. All the rivers are swollen and ditches full at the side of the roads.
We made it up to Saumur, home of the sparkling wine. The best parking seemed to be on an island (Île Offard) in the middle of the Loire, which according to a local lady, is 3 metres higher than normal.!? It is high, but 3 metres seems a bit impossible – I think we’d be under water. Might have to get the rudder out tomorrow!
