Basque country or bust!: Day 10 - Saintes to Rennes.

Up nice and early. Checked out of the hotel and went into Saintes for a little look around. It's a really nice little town. The buildings are very reminiscent of a town called Macerata in Italy which also happens to be the town of study or work or residence of my italian crew.

Still I pottered around Saintes for an hour or so and took some pictures. Then I headed off on the very spacious D135 Road towards the town of Rochefort-Sur-Mer. There's no denying that one of the joys of driving through france are the wondefully straight Napoleonic roads which are flanked by rustic houses and the local crops. The traffic is usually pretty light but overtaking is very easy. An absolute joy.

On the way to Rochefort I found a small town called Tonnay-Charente on the banks of the River Charente. A very scenic little place undergoing huge renovation. It's also got a fantastic bridge. Pictures later.

When I reached Rochefort I parked up. Had a little look around and then left again. Nothing really stood out and yet it's still an important marine port. So I got back in the car and told Tom Tom to take me to La Rochelle and not to spare the horses.

But I had another little detour to the Fouras and La Pointe de la Fumée which was nice for the couple of Oysters I tried, a lovely example of a Citroen CX and views of the l'Ille d'Aix, Fort Boyard and Fort Enet. Both Forts were built during Napoleonic years, although Louis XIV did commision his main engineer, Vauban, to see if a construction of a Fort would be feasible back in 1667. Vauban, if nothing but an honest man said "Sire, it would be easier to catch the moon with the teeth than take on such an endeavour in such a location". That sort of defeatism wouldn't wash at Eurostar I can assure you. Fort Enet was built to beef up the defences to the French Fleet at Rochefort at the British Navy inflicted a pretty heavy defeat during the Battle of the Basque Roads. Both Forts were built to bridge the gap between the islands of Oberon and Aix. The cannons on these islands didn't have the range to hit British ships. Unlike the Guns of Navarone of course.

All in all a very interesting place. I have say that I was quite surprised by the Poiteau-Charentes region. Its very varied and very interesting. I have a feeling I'll be coming back soon.

So La Rochelle. The jewel of the West coast. Also reminds me of learning french back in school. La Rochelle was the feature town in our Tricolore textbooks. I found somewhere to park and a nice local lady gave me her car park ticket which was very kind of her. I had a hearty Mussels and chips lunch overlooking the old port, now a marina. The mad giggles and the uncontrolable shoulders kicked in when I saw a very gay looking double of a colleague of mine. I think the bloke thought I was a little tapped in the head. But any man who has the balls to wear perfectly pressed Ice White 3/4 length linen slacks in public deserves maximum respect. La Rochelle was pleasant I have to say. Once you hit the back streets you can tell that they've bent over backwards to cater for the souless English middle classes. A bit like how Padstow has been soulessly branded by Rick Stein. I did treat myself to a Speculoos flavoured Ice Cream. Speculoos is a dutch/flemish cinammon biscuit. Very nice too.

From La Rochelle it was a short hop to the small town of Coulon which is in the heart of the Marais Potevin or the "Green Venice". It's a marshland west of Niort which has a huge amount of canals to explore by boat. Coulon itself is a very pleasant and quiet setting. It has been recently renoavated again and I think it'll take a few years for the moss and character to come back again. Hopefully by then the posh english tourists with their posh inane laughter will piss off as well.

So I then headed towards Nantes where I had a brief search for the Football Ground (conclusion pain in the arse to get to) so I headed towards tonights hotel on the southern outskirts of Rennes, not a million miles away from a very big Peugoet-Citroen factory.

That's also been a joy during my travels to spot as many old retro French cars as possible. I do like french cars an awful lot. Sure the build quality can be a bit iffy, the designs aren't to everybody's taste and their reliability is a bit crap. The average frenchman must a have a love for imperfections in both their woman and their cars. Further evidence of this was seen by the sight of a Rover Montego Estate and a Austin Maestro. Two of the worst cars we've ever produced in the UK. For some reason Frenchmen bought them! I was hoping to see a Renault Fuego, a Renault 15 Coupe, a Renault 16 or a Renault 8 on my travels but alas no. But there has been 2CVs, Renault 4s, Citroen BXs and XMs along with todays fabulous Citroen CX to make up for it.

Photos.

Saintes........