{"id":6354,"date":"2025-07-14T09:48:46","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T09:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=6354"},"modified":"2025-12-24T21:50:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T21:50:53","slug":"9-chalandray-to-brittany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=6354","title":{"rendered":"9. CHALANDRAY TO BRITTANY."},"content":{"rendered":"

After the debacle with the circuitous route taken on our last transit, the navigating officer was far more alert.\u00a0 We are heading for Brittany at last.\u00a0 Camping Les Rives de Vilaine at F\u00e9rel near La Roche-Bernard.<\/p>\n

The N249 by-passing Bressuire and Cholet on the way to Nantes is an excellent road, but with limited stopping places.\u00a0 The road coming south was very quiet.\u00a0 Eerily so!\u00a0 Deserted even.\u00a0 Approaching Nantes we are in some serious traffic heading north.\u00a0 A plume of black smoke in the distance was a worrying sign!\u00a0 Some 10 kms before reaching the ring road, we passed a burning car on the opposite carriageway being doused by the pompiers.\u00a0 Looked horrible.\u00a0 Traffic southbound was at a standstill – all the way back to the periphique.<\/p>\n

Clearly,\u00a0 there are two ways round a ring road.\u00a0 The eastern and northerly periphique has never been properly sorted.\u00a0 But it’s much the shortest way round to the road we want.\u00a0 It’s always a jam and this year we find half of the road missing.\u00a0 \u00a0There’s a serious bouchon.<\/p>\n

We want the E60 towards Vannes.\u00a0 The chief navigation officer stepped in at this point.\u00a0 “We aren’t getting anywhere useful in all this traffic.\u00a0 Take the next exit, the E3 towards Rennes.\u00a0 We can always cut across country on the D16 to rejoin our road later.”\u00a0 (Does this sound familiar – but with a little more logical planning?)\u00a0 “Also, our map has a pencilled note saying there’s a great restaurant with lots of parking at H\u00e9ric”.\u00a0 As a result of delays caused by the roadworks, it’ll be a bit late for lunch by the time we get there, but we have nothing to lose!\u00a0 It’s only 15 km (followed by 30 km on the little departmental road to get back on our route!)<\/p>\n

We reached the Restaurante L’Authentic as hoards of diners were spilling out and heading back to their white vans!\u00a0 But Glenda managed to persuade them to take a late booking.\u00a0 “That’ll save us having to cook tonight” – but will also give us another problem.\u00a0 An unforseen consequence.<\/p>\n

The food was excellent, and at \u20ac13 a head for three courses – (plus an extra pudding) was worth stopping for.\u00a0 The parking was enormous – and totally empty – and it had covered parking wirh enough clearance to get a caravan under, but it was further from the restaurant than I remembered.\u00a0 Just over half a kilometre.\u00a0 Our only difficulty was leaving H\u00e9ric.\u00a0 Roadworks in the middle of town just where the road gets really narrow, exceptionally busy and does two right angle bends in very quick succession.\u00a0 With traffic-unfriendly bollards all over the place!\u00a0 But after that, it was plain sailing all the way to F\u00e9rel.\u00a0 We had been advised that sat navs don’t work terribly well in the vicinity of the campsite.\u00a0 “Get to F\u00e9rel and follow the signs”.\u00a0 That worked well when coming from the direction we did – but might be less clever coming the other way – as we discovered later.<\/p>\n

Arriving, we were told that, uniquely on a Wednesday, a local trader comes on site and prepares a takeaway for the campers.<\/p>\n

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We were told: “Very good!”\u00a0 “A sort of a combination of open pie, a quiche and a pizza.”\u00a0 La Quicha!”\u00a0 We watched him construct one of his creations.\u00a0 Starting with a thin pastry base covered in cream with layers of potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and other vegetables with a selection of chicken, duck, pork, brie, blue cheese, and mozzarella.\u00a0 \u00a0Any or all of the above!\u00a0 Then cooked in a wood-fired, towable oven for 20 minutes!\u00a0 But sadly, we’ve already eaten.\u00a0 Unintended consequence!<\/p>\n

Instead of a “Quicha”, we went for a gentle stroll down to the river and it’s huge marina about a kilometre distant.\u00a0 Turning right outside the campsite, the road immediately degenerated into a partly gravelled grassy lane just wide enough at the outset for Fermier Giles (pronounced “Jile”) to reach his riverside fields.\u00a0 Then it became a footpath with a tiny wooden bridge …<\/p>\n

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… giving access to a mamouth marina.<\/p>\n

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There were at least 20 pontoons – each home to up to 80 yachts.\u00a0 With absolutely no security.\u00a0 We tested that on pontoon Q.<\/p>\n

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Scruffy campers could walk on to any pontoon unimpeded by barbed-wire reinforced, locked gates.\u00a0 Just like Brixham!\u00a0 Not!<\/p>\n

Later, after investigating the barrage …<\/p>\n

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.We crossed it to Arzal in order to check our way out of here whe the time comes.\u00a0 On the way back we saw that a number of yachties were trying to get back into the marina.<\/p>\n

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You need to lower your masts … or maybe get the man to open his bridge!<\/p>\n

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OK, that works!\u00a0 Our in-car navigation guru directed us back to base past the marina parking, back over the wooden footbridge and up Giles’s track!\u00a0 The warning about using sat navs in the area was well-founded.<\/p>\n

Today it’s another birthday!<\/p>\n

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Later, it turned into a plage day.\u00a0 There is a coastal path round large parts of the estuary.\u00a0 We know this because we were invited to take it (by car!) more than once by the satellites.\u00a0 We decided that we should miss the upper reaches of the estuary and headed to P\u00e9nestin.\u00a0 Again, we were “invited” to drive along the coastal footpath.\u00a0 Unlikely!\u00a0 By the time we had reached the ocean, the beaches were rather more pleasant.\u00a0 But it was high tide, so no beach walking and the coastal path here was basically a soft sand track.<\/p>\n

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A few kilometres further south the Plage de la Mine d’Or sounded more promising.\u00a0 A proper little gold mine!\u00a0 Actually promising to cover unattentive beach goers with half a sand cliff.\u00a0 “Not risking that Barry!”<\/p>\n

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So, for us, P\u00e9nestin beaches are a disappointment!\u00a0 Will try harder another day further South.<\/p>\n

Now it’s time for a “Quicha”.\u00a0 We have tracked Jean-Michel (we are now on first name terms) down to a carpark area near La Chapelle-des-Marais.<\/p>\n

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It’s next door to his family farm, Kerougas Ferme, from where he sells Brie cheese.\u00a0 We selected our ingredients – basically everything – and set up our stools and coffee table while the cooking process was completed.<\/p>\n

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And voila!<\/p>\n

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Delicious!<\/p>\n

But now it’s definitely time for some exercise.\u00a0 We wanted to check out the inland footpath round the marais in the Parc Naturel R\u00e9gional de Bri\u00e8re.\u00a0 The places we tried were neither good walking nor inviting paths.\u00a0 There was a suspicion the area was a mosquito heaven.\u00a0 There was certainly a lot of pretty stagnant water involved.<\/p>\n

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So, it’s off to the beaches again.\u00a0 On the way we stopped for a chat with Marynette in her “Salon de Coiffure Itinerant”.\u00a0 Parked on the side of the road beside a roundabout.\u00a0 Hair cut anyone?<\/p>\n

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We found the coastal path and the beaches in the vicinity of Piriac-sur-Mer and LaTurballe prettier than those further north.<\/p>\n

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We haven’t finished with this area yet.\u00a0 We’ll have to come back tomorrow!\u00a0 We want to find out how the locals are printing money using just water and sunshine!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the debacle with the circuitous route taken on our last transit, the navigating officer was far more alert.\u00a0 We are heading for Brittany at last.\u00a0 Camping Les Rives de Vilaine at F\u00e9rel near La Roche-Bernard. The N249 by-passing Bressuire… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain-france"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6354"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6387,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6354\/revisions\/6387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}