Tapp's Travels

We took “advantage” of the Brittany Ferries 75p offer and booked a hotel at Parthenay – the Villa Ayrault.  To be fair to BF (and that goes against the grain!) they did give us – or at least “promised to give us” – €80 each.  Which got us the “Fifties Room” in the Villa, an amazing art-deco place built for the owner of the local brick factory.  Clearly there was a lot of money in bricks in the middle of the last century.

We parked the caravan on their front drive (they could have accommodated at least 50 units on level hard-standing).

Our sitting room…  It really was a time warp sort of place.  We were the only guests and ate dinner with our hosts Dany and Jean-Michel.  They explained – or rather they tried to explain how they helped run a local currency – the Gâtinelle.

This currency is in circulation within the Gâtine Poitevine region and is tied to the Euro.  One Gâtinelle is worth one Euro.  I’m not exactly sure how the system works but when Gâtinelles are bought, the Euros generated are invested in local projects to the benefit of the community.  The currency is used locally with a value of the Euro.  This sort of doubles the available money locally.  But as this was explained in broken Franglais we may have got the right end of the wrong stick!

A little research has shown that there are about 60 of such local cash generating schemes operating across France!  It seems to me that there should be a flaw in the logic – but I can’t put my finger on it

In recent years, local currencies have emerged all across France.  Legally (since 2013) coexisting alongside the Euro, they include the Tinda in Pau, the Radis in Ungersheim, the Heol in Brest and the Luciole in Ardèche.  Since 2015, the French government has actively encouraged these schemes and just last year Paris launched it’s own currency – the Macron!  I now see that there are some 10 – 15 THOUSAND similar schemes world-wide including at least two in the UK – in Bristol and Brixton!  I didn’t know that!  Amazing what you find out while caravanning – or in your case reading about us caravanning – in Europe!  By the way the Parisian currency is really called the Pêche.  It’s just I would have named it the Macron because it has an expiry date and is worth less (worthless) after expiry!

Moving on – as we did the following day…  To the “Forties” part of this episode.  I’d always wanted to visit Oradour-sur-Glane.  So Glenda located two ACSI sites close by and we headed off across country – well, on the country roads, obviously.

The parking area by the historic site was well big enough for a car and caravan combination.  And just like it wouldn’t be in Devon – absolutely free.  The ruined village has been kept more or less as the Nazis left it on the 10/11 June 1944.  Such a sad story and such an amazing memorial to the 862 village residents who perished that day.  The first photo below shows half of the “martyrs”.  The other pictures show various views of the village.

Not a happy experience but thought provoking and educational.  It was good to see that bus loads of local school children were being shown round the exhibition and the village.

After two hours we set off in a subdued mood and didn’t stop at either of Glenda’s chosen sites.  We ended up in a Dutchman’s field half way between Angoulème and Bordeaux.

And Glenda’s back was really bad.  She was taking so many tablets she couldn’t remember what she had swallowed when.  Amazing she made it at all.  Not having to drive hundreds of miles was the reason we booked a crossing direct to Spain!

That’s enough for now!

We will talk about missing friends next time!