{"id":6382,"date":"2025-07-19T08:26:35","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T08:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=6382"},"modified":"2025-12-24T21:50:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T21:50:52","slug":"__trashed-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=6382","title":{"rendered":"10. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY."},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve heard there’s a lot of French folk literally making money while the sun shines!\u00a0 We are off to check out this scam.\u00a0 It sounds too good to be true!\u00a0 It probably is!\u00a0 But first, we are back in La Turballe.\u00a0 Heading south along the coast, the road deteriorates into what is really just a beach access lane.\u00a0 We are driving to Pen Bron.\u00a0 There just happens to be a naturist beach on the way.\u00a0 I really didn’t know that!\u00a0 Honestly!\u00a0 We didn’t even visit the beach at this point, although there might well have been a volley ball match going on down there.<\/p>\n

At the end of the road there was a closed barrier as the route transmogrified into the grounds of a hotel.\u00a0 A huge hotel.\u00a0 We approached the barrier preparing to do a 180\u00b0 turn.\u00a0 Glenda hopped out, read all the instructions but hadn’t a clue what to do.\u00a0 No “call for help” button.\u00a0 She started pressing random buttons.\u00a0 Our house alarm code seemed to do the trick and the barrier started to open.\u00a0 OK,\u00a0 big brother is watching us.\u00a0 There was a huge notice with some useful numbers.\u00a0 Who to call for assistance with luggage.\u00a0 Where to find the defibrillator.\u00a0 The date of the next service in the chapel (June 2021).\u00a0 Directions to the ferry.\u00a0 Information indicating the ferry was not operating.\u00a0 But no instructions on who to call to let us out again.\u00a0 Living dangerously, we overlooked that last point, drove in and parked under the shade of an enormous pine tree.\u00a0 We walked the last couple of hundred metres past some of the hotel buildings.\u00a0 The place was absolutely enormous, but the carpark was totally empty.<\/p>\n

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We were hoping for a coffee or a beer or two.\u00a0 But there was nowhere open.\u00a0 In fact the whole place was shut up and beginning to look sadly un-loved.\u00a0 There was a degree of institutional decrepitude in the air.<\/p>\n

Well, getting out could be more of a problem than we first thought!\u00a0 There will be no one with whom to debate our position!\u00a0 Our map (courtesy of Mr Google) indicated there was a chapel in the hotel grounds.\u00a0 Unusual, but maybe that will be useful when praying to be allowed out!!!\u00a0 Oh well, we are in here now, let’s explore.\u00a0 Walking as far south as we could (away from the naturist volley ball match, obviously).\u00a0 We passed the defunct (at least temporarily) ferry landing quay.\u00a0 And there just ahead of us was the town of Le Croisic.\u00a0 About 200 m away.\u00a0 Loads of coffee shops and bars almost within touching distance.\u00a0 Had the ferry been running!<\/p>\n

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With no ferry, it’s a 25 km trip by road through the Marais Salants de Gu\u00e9rande …\u00a0 and we’ve still got to get past that pesky barrier!<\/p>\n

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Subsequent research about the chapel revealed that the “hotel” had, in fact, been a sanitorium!\u00a0 Here’s a photo showing what the chapel and sanitorium looked like prior to it’s closure.<\/p>\n

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It was constructed there in 1887 “to treat tuberculous children with sun-therapy and sea-water bathing”.\u00a0 It was later used as a rehab centre and finally closed its doors in 2017.<\/p>\n

In the event, our nemesis opened for us as we got close.\u00a0 No worries!\u00a0 We decided to skip coffees in Le Croisic, but we wanted to visit Gu\u00e9rande.\u00a0 The road through the marshes was very narrow and twiddley.\u00a0 Meandering past the millions of salt pans.\u00a0 This brings us to the money-making scheme!<\/p>\n

Seawater and sunshine – and hey presto salt!<\/p>\n

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Salt has historically served as a form of currency in various cultures due to its essential nature for food preservation and seasoning, and its relative scarcity in some regions.\u00a0 The word “salary” itself is derived from the Latin word “salarium,” which referred to the allowance of salt provided to Roman soldiers, highlighting the significance of salt as a valuable commodity.\u00a0 While not a universal currency, salt has been used in barter systems, as a medium of exchange, and even as a unit of accounting in some societies.\u00a0 Salt bars could be broken into smaller pieces for smaller transactions, making it suitable for various exchange purposes.<\/p>\n

And here’s a local rich man!\u00a0 The trouble with this currency is that it can’t be hidden under the bed, it’s hard to hide from the tax man and it devalues in heavy rain!<\/p>\n

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At this point we should note that, in Spain, we had bought some pretty tasteless, but very spreadable\u00a0 mantaquilla.\u00a0 (Spanish butter to you and me.)\u00a0 As soon as we hit France, we bought some “Buerre avec sel de Gu\u00e9rande”.\u00a0 Very tasty – with salt crystals.\u00a0 Probably as bad for you as you can get on the butter counter.\u00a0 Fat AND salt!\u00a0 But as I said – very tasty.\u00a0 We’ve still got the Spanish mantaquilla in the fridge more than two weeks after we arrived home but, the salty stuff is long since finished!<\/p>\n

We eventually got to Gu\u00e9rande which was in party mode apparently because of a cat.<\/p>\n

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A very pretty town, with lots of historical buildings and the compulsory church.\u00a0 And some of our first French cr\u00e8pes.<\/p>\n

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Now, back to the cat.\u00a0 The “Chat D\u00e9ambule” – the “Wandering Cat”.<\/p>\n

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He’s famous, apparently.\u00a0 Personally, I’ve never heard of him (or her).\u00a0 This summer, the world of Philippe Geluck is taking root around the ramparts of Gu\u00e9rande.\u00a0 From June to September, the town is hosting an exhibition of the famous bronze statues of the Cat, an iconic character from Belgian comics.\u00a0 These are set up outdoors around the ramparts for a stroll that’s said to be as funny as it is philosophical.\u00a0 Here is one of the bronzes, “The God of the Stadium “.<\/p>\n

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Well, that’s naturist volley ball, salt, money and wandering cats covered.\u00a0 Before we headed home, we had a short coastal walk at L\u00e9rat near Piriac.\u00a0 I’ve picked up a bottle of sea water as an investment!<\/p>\n

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[As an aside, as I write this bit on 16 July, I’ve discovered it’s National Snake day today!\u00a0 So many useless facts!]<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Time to move further north – to Matignon not a million kilometres from Dinan.\u00a0 That’s another story of fabulous beaches, golf courses, castles and lighthouses.<\/p>\n

But we can’t have an episode without reference to sirens of one sort or another.\u00a0 (And I’m discounting tales of naked volley ball players here!).\u00a0 I’ve just heard that mobile phones across the UK will emit a loud, unavoidable<\/strong> siren at 3 pm on Sunday, September 7.\u00a0 This is part of a nationwide test of the UK Government\u2019s emergency alert system.\u00a0 The alarm, which will sound for around 10 seconds even if phones are on silent.\u00a0 This is part of a drill to prepare for real-life emergencies. A warning message will flash on screens, clearly stating it\u2019s just a test, and users can simply swipe it away or press \u2018OK\u2019.\u00a0 Maybe!\u00a0 I foresee chaos!\u00a0 Obviously “President” Starmer has agreed more than he’s been admitting to with President Macron and the EU!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve heard there’s a lot of French folk literally making money while the sun shines!\u00a0 We are off to check out this scam.\u00a0 It sounds too good to be true!\u00a0 It probably is!\u00a0 But first, we are back in La… <\/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-6382","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\/6382","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=6382"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6430,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6382\/revisions\/6430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}