La Rochelle

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It's a strange feeling to stand on the same beach again, just outside the walls of La Rochelle, after perhaps 17 years. I remember from that day at the seaside the masses of boats sailing in the bay. Then it was the middle of summer but the picture is little different today - even on a cold, grey wednesday afternoon I can count more than 70 boats milling around - quite impressive really.

I had intended to stop at Arcachon, halfway between St-Jean and La Rochelle, but realising I'd have to get to Bordeaux and then backtrack down the same line to get there didn't inspire me, so straight to La Rochelle it was. Not that it was that straight forward - missing the connecting train by 10 seconds in Bordeaux meant a bit of an awkward few hours; too many to want to sit around in the station but too few to go for a proper explore in the city. The area between the station and the centre is - depite the beautiful cream coloured old town-houses lining every street - pretty run down. When I found a square with an impressive church that would have been a major attraction anywhere else it was silent except for the rustling of hundreds of discarded plastic bags blowing around and the mumblng of the many tramps picking through the rubbish. Probably not a very fair representation of Bordeaux, but I grabbed a quick lunch and escaped back to the station as quickly as possible.

The train journey both before and after Bordeaux passes through some of the flattest terrain of the whole trip. Pre-Bordeaux is the Landes, not unlike a pool table flat version of the New Forest, with its dark pines and sandy soil - for the most part it seemed deserted. After Bordeaux the land changes to a more familiar patchwork of fields, the train following the River Charente all the way to the sea. The river was back within its banks - just - and through the bare trees flood water covered the fields as far as the eye could see. Towards late afternoon the train finally managed to outrun the grey weather and the last part of the journey slipped along the coast in the sunset, the long, low silhouettes of the Ile de Re and Ile d'Oleron marking the SW and NW horizons.

La Rochelle is an interesting mix of the old and new that for once somehow works harmoniously. The old city bears a passing resemblance to the streets of Santiago with an extensive network of covered arcades denoting another city that has to deal with the Atlantic weather. However, the streets are wider and the buildings more cream than grey so it doesn't have quite the same claustraphobic feel on a dull day. Moving south, just across the waters of the Vieux Port, is La Gabut. At night this fairly recent jumble of brightly coloured little buildings along the harbourside appears like a Dutch canalside and they provide an attractive contrast to the old city. Beyond La Gabut and on towards the SW is Les Minimes, the very modern mix of flats, the university campus and the huge hinterland of support services to the giant Minimes marina. With the seperation of the La Gabut and the harbour basins between, the city manages to merge old with new easily and attractively.

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Photos

LR1
La Rochelle

LR2
Open 60s

LR3
St Martin Harbour

LR4
St Martin Harbour 2

LR5
Mini Transats