Arriving at Dunkerque on Sunday
lunchtime we took our favourite route across country missing the major
towns of Abbeville and Rouen to cross the Seine on the Pont de Brotonne
(now toll-free) and find the riverside aire at La Mailleraye-sur-Seine
where their fête weekend was just finishing, so we had to drive through
the fairg to reach the aire. Luckily the fair had packed up and was
mostly gone by the morning. We headed to Liseuye to visit the shrine of
Saint Theresa and the huge basilica, a fairly modern building with the
interior covered in mosaics, then on more back roads to the aire at
Mamers where we were the only occupants for the night. It had strong
security gates requiring an access code which did not bode well, but the
town and adjacent park and lakes were quite pleasant for a short evening
stroll.
Our route took us through many small
towns and villages to arrive in chateau country at Durtal for an
overnight stop and then on to Angers where we hit the busy main through
roads but managed to park at the entrance to the massive chateau after a
couple of circuits of the city centre. The knot gardens in the moat were
as impressive as I remembered them. After a short stroll around the
streets to find the modern art gallery which didn't open in the mornings,
we drove through the suburbs to Bouchemaine where there is a large aire
and found a track leading to the river bank for lunch, most
carparks having height barriers. As the sun was trying to break through we
decided to explore the area more and drove along to Béhuard a small old
village on an island (listed in AA Secret France) where the church was
built on a rock with plaques and photos showing the flood levels in past
years. There was a pleasant 5km waymarked walk through the fields of the
island. For the night we headed to the aire at Brissac-Quinceé where we
were entertained by an evening training session of the junior Pompiers
in the carpark. (Do they help in real incidents?)
Junior Pompiers at Brissac-Quincé
The next day was Ascension day a public
holiday so most of the shops were shut and the streets quiet. After a
damp visit to the chateau at Saumur we headed south east to the Japanese
garden at Maulévrier near Cholet. This is a restored garden with many
interesting plants and trees around a lake and several oriental
buildings. On some evenings they have illuminations which must be
impressive.
Japanese garden Maulévrier
Continuing south we found a very
pleasantly situated free aire next to a park in the village of
Vernoux-en-Gâtine only
to be disturbed by two lots of bells at the adjacent church chiming
every half hour throughout the night!
A short drive the next morning took us
to Coulon, capital of the Marais Poitivine or Green Venice where it was
possible to hire punts and motor boats to investigate the maze of
narrow waterways connecting the villages through the fields. Being a
sunny Saturday it was rather crowded so we booked in (at the Mairie) for
two nights on the municipal campsite instead of using the busy aire in
the main carpark and had a quiet stroll around in the evening. We
toured the local area the next day calling in at Arçais where we bought
a leaflet of (rather confusingly) marked walks and explored around a few
of the narrower canals.
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Basilica of St Theresa Liseux
Angers chateau garden
Church at Béhuard
Japanese garden Maulévrier
Green Venice
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