Blogs from La Rochelle, Poitou-Charentes, France, Europe

Today we head to the Coast. La Rochelle is in Charente-Maritime on the Bay of Biscay. Since Millau, we have been in uncharted territory (except Saint-Emilion) so everything is new to us. While Jarnac may not be our dream home for retirement, it is important to experience as much of France and all corners, if you plan on living there someday. La Rochelle has been on our list of potential retirement homes for a few reasons: 1) it is on the coast and deep down I am very much tied to the water; 2) there is a train station with a TGV to Paris; and 3) the weather appears to be very similar to Portland, meaning low humidity. We are close to starting our third week, and since we are in La Rochelle for three nights ... read more

Very pleased with this campsite and especially our pitch as, as it gets hotter, the shade provided by a couple of big tall trees is keeping us reasonably comfortable. Forecast for the next few days is to get hotter and even hotter until we probably spontaneously combust. Hopefully a storm will come along before that happens ?. Decided for first time to use campsite showers rather than the excellent ones in the van mainly because there is no grey waste emptying grid on the campsite And the water supply is a little far to want to carry too much water to fill the tank. As it happens the showers are super so good decision. No idea why there is no grey waste or motorhome service point. Campsite is so well set up it seems an odd ... read more

Da ich gestern Meeresfrüchte gegessen hatte, nahm ich das Frühstücksangebot mit Schinken aus Bayonne und Käse und Baguette dankend zum Ausgleich an. Vorher natürlich die obligatorischen Corn Flakes. Auf Croissant und das leckere Pain au Chocolat verzichtete ich diesmal. Danach startete ich meine Spaziergang durch das Zentrum.. Den alten Hafen hatte ich ja am Vorabend schon gesehen und er ist wirklich sehr sehenswert. Die Einfahrt wird durch zwei große Türme bewacht, die abends schön beleuchtet werden. Ich machte mich auch auf die Suche nach einem Starbucks, aber es gab dann doch keines. Google hatte bei der Suche danach ein anderes Café angezeigt und das war auch weiter weg vom Wasser. Statt dessen bestellte ich Eis und Cappuccino am Hafen und auch diesmal kostete letzterer über 5 Euro für eine normale Tasse. Also wie am Vortag auf ... read more

In the space of 36 hours we have gone from mountain to walled city to chateau to donkeys in pyjamas. Bonkers. We left the pyrenees layer then planted (normal service resumed there) managing not to leave anything behind. Slightly worried that the ants were making an appearance again having found a couple on Seths toy case...... I'll keep you posted. We made our way to Carcassonne, weirdly 4 years to the day since we last went, in the sun, passing fields and fields of sunflowers. I still want to be a sunflower farmer! No song turns and we find pyre way to the place where all of france was yesterday. Literally all of them. Seth was overwhelmed by the city walls, castle like and huge, but less overawed by his pizza lunch! He had pretty quickly ... read more

We've visited La Rochelle once before, via boat from Ile d'Oleron. This time we took the rather handy train. Only 10 minutes to Chatelaillon station by scooter and 11 minutes on the train to La Rochelle. Easy. A good decision as not a good weather day, grey and chilly. Better walking round a lovely town than braving the windy seafront. Had a lovely day and out of the wind it was a little warmer but we saw lots of people huddled up in their big coats. Very unseasonably cold. There seemed to be quite a number of Euro 2016 supporters about, especially Irish. The town was buzzing with lots of visitors, all wandering about taking in the sights the same as us. We had a picnic in the main square for lunch, courtesy of the local ... read more