France 2012, Day twelve, Charente-Maritime

Day twelve, Sep 12th 2012

I thought we should have a day out sightseeing, so we packed a picnic lunch and headed for Saintes.

Why Saintes? Well we knew nothing about the place except that, Brenda's maiden name was Saint, it was also the closest large town to the campsite and Dot had seen that there was a Roman Amphitheatre there.

I had picked out a car park close to the river but we could not work the barrier when we got there, so I parked on the street. Paid for two hours parking and walked the short distance to the river.

At the river there was a Roman Arch, The Arch of Germanicus and also a small museum of Roman ruins (not to mention toilets). The arch dates from 18 or 19 AD but was moved in 1843 and was restored in 1851. It looks like it has been put back together by armatures.

I got a street map from the tourist info, at least we would know where we were going now. We had a look around the Roman artefacts, took photos of the bridges and crossed over the river and into the town centre.

Dot noticed on the map where the Roman amphitheatre was and we set off to find it. I had the map and knew the general direction and the were plenty of signposts pointing to it, although many of them were pointing different ways.  The skyline along the way is dominated by a couple large churches, the Cathédrale Saint Pierre and the Basilique Saint-Eutrope.

There was quite a climb to get to the amphitheatre (good views from the top though) and then it was down the other side of the hill, only to climb another hill to get the entrance.

By the time we arrived at the amphitheatre there wasn't much time left to do the full tour, also we were getting hungry (we had left the picnic in the car).  So we just had a walk around the outside and took photos over the fence, before heading back into the centre.

Back down in the centre (via a much shorter route), we had a very brief look around the place and an even quicker look at the shops.

We didn't stop long to shop but did look in at the cathedral stonemasons and watched the craftsmen/women for a wile. I have done this before near to York cathedral and I suppose there will be a stonemasons like it near every other big cathedral.

We then crossed back over the river to find the car and our lunch.  I did take a few more bridge photos on the way back.

It was late by now and we could have had our picnic by the river but we were not sure when the parking ticket ran out. So we drove off to find another spot to eat, there was a place we had passed by on the way to Saintes. When we arrived in Saujon, it was very busy and there was nowhere to park. So we drove on and ended up parked close where we wanted to be anyway.

I don't know if I was tired, hungry, dehydrated or all three but I got a bit ratty when the others couldn't make up their minds where to sit to have our food. I wandered off and moved the car closer to where we had walked to, to calm down a bit.

After our late lunch we drove back to the site, via an Aldi and the most roundabout route you could possibly think of.

Day Eleven or Day Thirteen 

France 2012, Day eleven, Charente-Maritime

Day eleven, Sep 11th 2012

After a morning sat reading in the sun we thought we should visit out local beach at La Palmyre.

We parked on the sea front and had a short walk along the beach path, we wandered along the front for about an hour or so, until the sky's turned very dark.  We headed back to the car very quickly. 

As it looked like rain we just drove to the centre where the shops and bars are.  We walk around the shops but didn't buy much, we also didn't go into any of the bars.

We had a quiet night, we were up late the night previous. 

Day Ten or Day Twelve.

France 2012, Day ten, Charente-Maritime

Day ten, Sep 10th 2012

It was a bit overcast on the morning so I got everyone in the car and we went for a drive.

We stopped of at Lidl to get makings for a picnic lunch and then headed down the road, to Bourcefranc-le-Chapus, the piece of land opposite Le Château d'Oléron on the mainland.

Bourcefranc-le-Chapus is where the old terminal for the railway and the ferry to l'île d'Oléron is, or was until the opening of the new bridge in 1966. Just offshore from the terminus is Fort du Chapus (aka Fort Louvois). Motorhomes use the old railway station car park and the old entrance to the ferry, as overnight parking, I am not sure it it is an official Aire though.

Even though it was overcast, it was still very warm, so we all had a short walk around the port area, taking photos along the way.

From there we drove further round the coast to see if the was a good place to take photos of the Château on the island, but we didn't find anywhere. So we drove over to the island to have our picnic.  We found a place on the far side of Le Château d'Oléron and had our sandwiches on the sea front. before walking some more of the Château walls.

We didn't walk very far, just to the point where we started our walk a few days previous, and then to the church.

Back at the site it was still early and sunny, so we went over to the pool. After a quick dip, while having a couple of beers, we noticed that there was a band on in the bar in the evening, so planed to come back over after we had eaten.

 

I thought the band were very good, and I drank too much Leffe, not a bad night.

Day nine or Day eleven

France 2012, Day nine, Charente-Maritime

Day nine, Sep 9th 2012

Another pool day.

Instead of just sitting round outside the van, Dot and I went over to the pool for a couple of hours before lunch. There were a lot less people in this time, I think a lot were here just for the weekend.

After lunch we went back over, the other two were just lazing about by the van. Dot had ice cream and then we set outside the bar drinking Leffe in the sun. The pool closed at six every night, I though this was a bit early, as it is often nice to cool off in the pool at the end of the day.

Ten mins before the pool closed, there would be an announcement and then this strange slow music would start. The bathers would then start to make their way the the exit, looking like something from a holiday zombie film.

Day Eight or Day Ten

France 2012, Day eight, Charente-Maritime

Day eight, Sep 8th 2012

Hot again, but instead of just sitting about in the sun, we went for a walk into town (not the beach that was about 2 mile), Les Mathes about one mile, taking into account getting out of the park.

A very hot walk, I crossed over the road and walked on the opposite side to the others, to be in the shade. Les Mathes is a nice little town but there isn't much to see or do, just as well that we only went for the walk. There are a couple of shops, a church and a couple of bars.   Time to check out the bars, time for a beer.

 

There was something going on in the marketplace, a band were setting up, tables were being set and a hog was roasting over a fire. We asked what was going on but couldn't get an answer. It looked like it could be a wedding or some sort of festival. Later on the walk back to the site, a wedding procession of cars passed us with horns beeping and then came back the other way, heading towards the marketplace.

We also had another beer on the walk back and spent the rest of the day sunbathing. There isn't much to write about when you are just sat in the sun drinking, I could mention the beers I had but that is for one of my other blogs (when I get around to it).

 

Day Seven or Day Nine

France 2012, Day seven, Charente-Maritime

Day seven, Sep 7th 2012

Pool day.

Now we are sorted for the next eight days and the sun is shining, it was time to relax by the pool and drink beer.

The main pool was a bit cool but the indoor pool and the jacuzzi were nice and warm.

As usual, England had a football match while we were away, but that was later in the evening and we had the sat working well.

Day Six or Day Eight 

France 2012, Day six, Charente-Maritime

Day six, Sep 6th 2012

We were due to move to the bigger van today but it would not be until later in the afternoon. So we got what we could ready for the move and then set off for another drive.

We had come over a large bridge to get to the peninsular we are on, so I headed to the coast, close to the bridge, to see if I could get a photo. We parked up and went for a short walk along the shore in the sun.

From the beach there I could see an even longer bridge over to the island of Oléron so after our walk we sett off in that direction. We had to pass a McDonald's on the way so we pulled over, just to use the free WiFi but we did also have lunch there.

After lunch, we continued to the bridge, we had to pass the Lidl we had used on the way, so we knew where to get anything we needed for tea on the way back.   As we drove over the bridge we could see what looked like the remnants of a previous bridge and as soon as we were on the the island, I pulled over and parked up to have a look.  On closer examination, it was obvious that the structures hadn't been a bridge at all but were actually the old ferry terminals (more photos are on a day we went to the other side of the bridge, later in the holiday).  From where we were parked, we could see over to the right, a town with fortifications, so drove there for a look. 

The first place in town we came to was the fish quay, we arrived just as a boat was rushing up the channel with its catch of the day.

After watching for a while, we continued on to the fortifications and parked alongside the huge walls.  There were several ways through the walls to get inside the fort of Le Château d'Oléron, we just took the first one and followed the path along the walls the sea.

After taking in the views from there. we doubled back and crossed the bridge through the royal gate into main part of the fort.

We spent some time exploring the fort and walking around the top of the walls, it was very warm in there (not complaining) but we had water with us.  I took lots of photos and rather than trying to describe everything, I will just continue with the pictures.  As the old saying goes, a picture paints a thousand works and I wasn't going to write that much anyway.

When we came out of the castle, Mick and Bren went off to take photos of the shacks around the port, while Dot and I drove round to pick them up there. Just as Mick and Bren went out of sight, I got a call to say our mobile was ready. We drove round to meet then but because of the one way system and poor road signs, we ended up back at the car park we set off from. By the time we got to them they were stating to wonder what had happened to us.

On the way back we did call into Lidl and stocked up for the rest of our time here in Charente Maritime, we bought loads.

With the keys for the new van, we dropped off all the shopping first and then set about transferring the rest of our belongings, very hot work, thankfully I had a cold beer. It took a couple of runs in the car to get everything moved, and then the sat dish needed setting up again.

Finaly we could relax in comfort with an ice cream and or a cold beer or two.

Day Five or Day Seven