France

Drove to Sable d’Olonne via Challan in the morning. No space in the Aire we had selected so we parked on the side of the road and went to the beach. Still no space when we got back so parked up in the Vendee Globe carpark for the night, illegal but it’s big and it’s empty. A couple of other moho’

Quick shop at Lidl and over the St Nazaire bridge to Bouin. We’re actually at the little port where all the oyster boats work from. The sea disappears at low tide and about 2 hours before high water the boats all come back and the spectator sport starts.

Stayed at the Aire at St Marc sur Mer. Had a walk along the coastal path to Pornichet and back. Beach in the afternoon and that’s about it.

Drove St Marc Aire about 30 minutes bike ride from St Nazaire. Visited Escal’Atlantic, Sous-Marin Espadon and Ecomusee in St Nazaire. Translated as a history of French ocean liners in the submarine pens, tour of the French post war submarine, Espadon and finally a museum of the port.

On the way to Herbignac went food shopping at Intermarche and topped up with GPL (gas). The Aire at Herbignac was very sloping so we parked up at the end of a track all on our own. Walked round the lake and into town which was mostly closed Mondays.

Two days in Elven as the Aire turned out to be an Aire with a camping section in summer, all free. So we took the opportunity to relax, do some washing and read. Sunday we visited the Chateau de Langeot for a few hours.