OUR TRANSFER TO PACA84 VAUCLUSE, IN THE EARLY DAYS OF AUTUMN '22 is by way of an indulgence of a fondness we have for that sweep of the coast down the west side of France, all the way to where it gives it over to Spain. Not our usual track, a bit out of the way, but we fancy it and so that’s what we set out to do.
Let me be clear: this is not a travelogue, so I am not about to chunter on, but once more we find the Roscoff to La Rochelle first leg, supposedly on the quieter roads, less than satisfactory. Lots of factors intervene: I shall not detain you with them here.
We get off to a good enough start I think, by revisiting La Lande, a phare that sits atop a hill overlooking the Rade de Morlaix, and featured in my ramblings concerning this lovely stretch of water and islands, in my Pharesighted Blog.
Hours later we fetch up at La Roche Bernard quayside for our very late scratch lunch (we failed on sandwich aquisition, the crêperie is closed); we scrap plans to use the chain ferry option near Nantes and go over the Loire via the St Nazaire bridge, as usual but conscious of the lateness of the hour.
I’ll leave it at that. Suffice to say La Rochelle is almost gridlocked when we do enter the town and it's been pretty much nose-to-tail all the way from Le Roche-sur-Yon for some reason. I could spit real tacks over the Routes Barrées encountered.
The familiar hotel is a relief even though the lift is cordoned off, while the restaurant next door answers our nutritional requirements most adequately; but oh dear, the first day off the boat does not get any easier. Yes, of course one could pick up autoroutes etc, but we’ve come to renew our aquaintance with the country. Trouble is there are so many ‘Routes Barrées. And vague deviations therefrom, usually taking one kilometres out of one's way. Aquitaine is still down the road right now, we are still Charente Maritime tonight.
What is going on?
