| St. Jean de Monts (SJM) market. This took up a huge area of central SJM and just about anything could be bought there |
| The man with the patter. He was selling fancy vegetable slicers. I didn’t see him selling many, but he had plenty of veg ready for his tea. |
| North of SJM were two large forests. The forests had a couple of circuits of geocaches which we attempted. Here I am at one of the small ponds by which the geocaches were hidden. |
| Local wildlife in or near the ponds |
| We think this is an orchid which is in the forest. Do you know? |
| Notre-Dame de Monts – fantastic beach and promenade, but where are the people? Maybe June is the low season. |
| St Gilles Croix de Vie – this is a large town with extensive harbour south of SJM. This is another place with miles of beach and lovely promenade. |
| I hope this is not our return ferry. |
| On a walk out in the countryside we passed this forge with some of the work out on display. I like the frog. |
| From the photos it might look like we had lots of good weather. This was not the case. Of the 28 days away we only had about 6 really good days. Below is the set up for a weekend of beach rugby. Although the rain held off it was very windy and goal posts tended to bend (look at the right hand photo). The posts and surrounds were inflated. |
| Velo rail de Commequiers – on a dull afternoon out we came across ‘bicycles on rails’. It is an old railway track that is now used for these ‘pedal cars’. As there is only one line they have a timetable so the line can be used in both directions. We didn’t actually see anyone using it. Having looked on the internet there are about 50 of these ‘velo rails’ in the whole of France. |
| Another dull and windy day on SJM promenade. |
| A wild day on the beach at SJM |
| We left SJM after 19 days and moved to a campsite at Brissac Quince (BQ), just outside Angers. On the ramparts at BQ One of the many cafés. |
| The florist’s The Marie (Town Hall) |
Basket maker working at the market. | Donkeys near the campsite. I wondered why the donkeys wouldn’t come any closer and then I found out when I touched the electric fence. Not pleasant. |
The River Loire – it’s a huge river | Château d’Angers - it looks more like a fortress than a chateau |
| The château was built in the 9th and 13th centuries | The gatehouse |
| We had parked by the château and began a walking tour which was in the local guide. Cathedral St. Maurice d’Angers Decoration on the façade |
| Maison d’Adam - in medieval times this housed the main supplier of axes. | One of the many wooden carvings on the façade. |
| Since we were last here the main square has been pedestrianized. It looks much better. | Someone having a bit of fun with ‘stickers’. |
| Stuart by a face sculpture | An older part of Angers |
| The area around BQ was ideal for cycling. There were many tracks and you could go most places. Below: a flooded field - we had quite a lot of rain. | An atmospheric photo showing an old bridge in the campsite grounds. |
| Brissac Quince chateau has 7 floors making it the tallest chateau in France. |
| View from BQ ramparts |
| Florist’s shop in BQ |
| After BQ we moved to Ouisterham (the ferry port for Caen). We stayed at a campsite very close to the port. At around midnight the rain, thunder and lightning started and went on for 2+ hours. We had to be off by 7am to catch the 8.30 ferry. It was still raining as we were hitching up so not a good finish to the holiday. The plus point was that the ferry left more or less on time. |
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