Raid on St Nazaire - mini trip

[The Other PaulG]

Ever been in a situation where your mind feels completely full? You can't complete one task, because that would mean not completing other tasks which are also urgent? So you end up in a kind of self inflicted stalemate, not really able to complete anything?

I realised that I was in that situation and knew that a bit of time on the bike would be the best therapy. But I could afford a max of one day off work, so with just three days to play with, what was the best I could do?

I have for a long time wanted to visit the Ile de Re off France's west coast. I am not entirely sure why, it was just a place that really interested me. Then... having read about the daring WWII commando raid on the dock at St Nazaire (to keep the Tirpitz out of the north Atlantic), I really wanted to see where this all happened. St Nazaire is a little further up the coast from the Ile de Re, so a plan was hatched. (There's also a decent Clarkson documentary about the commando raid, available on YouTube).



Having discounted the more convenient Portsmouth / Caen crossing due to its crazy price, I booked onto Thursday night's Newhaven/Dieppe crossing. It's well timed because it allows you to do a full days work on the Thursday, and gets you to France at dawn so you get a full day to play with.

Arriving at Newhaven on Thursday night, there were plenty of bikes - notably an interesting French 2WD Dnepr combination and a gaggle of WC GSers from Chesterfield.

I still don't know of a better feeling, than that buzz of excitement as you ride onto the ferry at the start of a trip.

 

[Q plate]

Love to visit here so jealous as hell, keep the photo's coming and safe trip.. I missed the cemetry in the town on my first visit. Excellent campsite there to just along the estuary that they sailed in on. My Dad was with me on the last trip a few years back unfortunately now in a home.. we gotta make the most

 

[The Other PaulG]

I wanted to optimise the time I had on the coast, so rather than a scenic bimble I chose the fastest route through Rouen, le Mans and Angers. The weather started out fine, but soon black clouds gathered and after an hour or so I was riding through hail. Whilst the autoroutes are great fast roads, they're not good places to stop so rather than pulling over and donning the oversuit, I got soaked through.



At the next Aire I put on the oversuit - much relieved to now be warmer but as usual with my oversuit, feeling like a sail in the wind at the 85-90 mph the toll roads permit.

I am sure we're all familiar with traveling on these French autoroutes, life becomes a sequence of planning the next fuel stop, along with the ubiquitous ham and cheese baguette.




My faithful 'satnav' never lets me down, as long as it doesn't get wet..



The Guzzi performed faultlessly throughout - it has a sweet spot at 5,000 revs and that equates to 90 in 6th, so it's perfectly geared for highway speeds. I'm quite mechanically sympathetic so I really like it when the engine's in that comfortable, smooth zone and you can gauge your speed just by the feel of the motor.

A little way north of le Mans the skies cleared, and from then on it just became warmer with every mile further south.

 

[The Other PaulG]

Mid-afternoon, I passed La Rochelle and crossed the long suspension bridge that connects the Ile to the mainland. Here's the view looking back from the Ile -



Hot and a bit weary, first things first, let's have a cold beer...



Then set up camp, get my first round of clothes washing done and have a shower.



Flies on my visor... remember when we used to have flies in the UK???



The camps site is pretty good - it's the municipal site, chosen from 30-40 other sites on the Ile, because it's within walking distance from St Martin. 19 Euro-bucks a night for a pitch.

 

[theoneandonly]

you're away for 3 days ...and you're washing clothes ?

 

[The Other PaulG]

you're away for 3 days ...and you're washing clothes ?

Can't help it. I approach a 3 day trip like a 3 week trip - take minimal kit, and when you get the chance, wash what you can.

Any downtime - do some admin!

 

[The Other PaulG]

Anyway, having the deep sense of wellbeing that can only come from knowing you're up to date with your dhobi, I went for a look around St Martin.

The town itself is built within incredible man-made defences. I've never seen such extensive networks of huge defensive walls and ramparts. This (stolen) image shows the star-like structures -

Google tells me it was Louis XIV's idea, to defend against siege. There are more modern gun emplacements, presumably built later to defend La Rochelle against sea-born attack.

The town is pretty and also quite affluent, this is where Paris's finest come on holiday.

 

[The Other PaulG]

There is an interesting harbour, around which there are some very nice restaurants.





And this chap must be one of those very well-off Parisiennes...

 

[The Other PaulG]

Back at the camp site and with a very significant hunger - it had been a while since my breakfast baguette - I was delighted to find that the on-site cafe was in fact pretty switched on, and I'd arrived on Paella night. Despite not having booked, they squeezed me in and I had a frankly brilliant meal, for something like 11 Eurobucks.



Back into town after dinner and another treat - this was the weekend of St Martin's free Jazz festival. So sitting with a beer, watching some absolutely top drawer jazz bands on the side of the harbour... this was all going very well.

I'd have said I don't especially like jazz, but this was traditional jazz so very melodic and some of the musicians' skills were just astonishing. The guy playing the clarinet... I could have listened for ever. That was 'Paris Paname', by the way.

 

[The Other PaulG]

Saturday - woke as the sun rose to the sound of rain on the tent which is one hand quite peaceful, and on the other a bit frustrating.

However, as the day lightened, the rain slowed and stopped - in fact from this moment on it was nothing but blue skies and sunshine. (good day for washing).

I took a walk past the eastern end of St Martin and found a beach where I could have a decent swim - great start to any day.

Today was all about exploring the island, gently chugging around (the speed limits are pretty slow everywhere) and just enjoying the sights sounds and smells. It was warming up quite a bit, 25 degrees.

On the western extremity of the island is a famous (famous in Ile de Re..) lighthouse called the Phare des Baleines.



The view from the top is pretty impressive.



257 steps to get up, apparently, and I believe them. My legs were screaming and I was sweating like Fred West on Groundforce.

There was no suggestion box, disappointingly, but had there been I'd have definitely suggested they post someone at the top selling cold lager. However.... their loss.



Back on the 'Moto' and off to see more of the island.

 

[The Other PaulG]

Nearly all of the villages demonstrated Priorite a Droite signs.

Not an issue if you look out for the signs and then take extreme care, but the whole thing seems to be complicated by French drivers themselves applying the rule in a completely random manner. Some do, some don't, are you feeling lucky???




A big industry on the island is salt farming. Hundreds of oblong pools have been dug, interconnected so they can flood them with seawater, which then evaporates leaving salt, They do this a number of times, then shovel the salt out in large quantities.

Significant areas of the island are given up to this. Sorry, I couldn't get a decent photo but the map shows it pretty well.




Another decent sized industry is wine making, with acres of vines.



The local wine was pretty good - I did my best to sample it (in the sole interests of UKGSer research).

 

[The Other PaulG]

I dropped into a supermarket and the range of seafood was just astonishing. This area is known for it, but I wasn't expecting this from a simple supermarket -









That evening, the chef at the camp cafe once again excelled - this pizza was excellent - then into town again for another walk along the harbour then more jazz.... although this was in fact a blues band.

 

[The Other PaulG]

A last word on the campsite, whilst the loos and showers were good and always clean, I was interested that not only were loo seats considered an unnecessary luxury, but also loo roll

After a lifetime spent in rugby clubs, I could not help but find myself singing "Ou est, le papier....?"

 

[The Other PaulG]

Sunday - it's always a massive blessing when it's dry on pack-your-tent-up day. It was indeed dry on Sunday when I very quietly started to pack up as the first hints of light appeared. Today would be a long one, so I wanted an early start and hit the road just after 7.



The French road system is excellent, but it does have some idiosyncrasies. For example I've never quite got used to a road having up to three different road numbers. Then, when heading north from La Rochelle to St Nazaire, for instance, you very soon pick up signs for St Nazaire. However, at Nantes these all disappear completely and you need to follow Vannes signs, right up to the St Nazaire turnoff where there's a single St Nazaire sign right on the junction.

My analogue navigation approach did struggle a bit here, but with a dose of luck I ended up on the right route.

My first destination was the submarine pens. These are vast, there are 14 individual docks within this huge building. Some are dry docks, some simple moorings which could accommodate 2 subs per 'wet' dock.

 

[The Other PaulG]

The docks were reputedly able to withstand air attack. Looking at the places where the concrete has spalled off, you can see the immense amount of steel within the structure.

 

[The Other PaulG]

Then, on to the dock gate that the commandos destroyed. They packed an old destroyer with explosives, disguised it to look like a German boat, sailed up the Loire past significant German defences, and rammed it into the lock gates. The following day the fuses tripped and the whole lot was blown to pieces.

The lock gate -



It's here on the harbour plan -



And here's HMS Campbeltown, rammed into the gates, the morning it exploded.



Also on this site is a monument remembering the slave trade. This is the pontoon where the slave boats docked -

 

[The Other PaulG]

Back on the road, this time north east.



I had seen pics posted by other tossers of V1 launch sites and thought they looked really interesting. Wapps recommended the site at Val Ygot, so that was the next destination.

The roads were not too busy, but for some reason the Aires were absolutely heaving. The bike showed an air temp of 30 degrees so stopping for just a moment was really unpleasant in bike kit.

Some tw@t left his bike right where people were trying to walk past....

 

[The Other PaulG]

I won't post too many pics of the usual pics of the launch site because there have been plenty previously.



Pointing directly at London.






However..... I did find this sculpture to commemorate lost lives pretty moving -



...and here's the weird thing, the really incongruous thing... this site which had a sole purpose of indiscriminately raining high explosives onto civilian populations... it was in the most tranquil and utterly peaceful setting. The mossy floored forest was unbelievably pretty and unspoilt. It really did feel like a place of quiet reflection and peace. How very strange - it still makes me feel a bit odd looking at the pics.

 

[The Other PaulG]

A quick blast to Dieppe just 30km north and I was in good time to have a burger on the seafront before heading off for the ferry. Dieppe is, unlike Caen (Ouistreham) and Calais, a really pretty port with a marina, lots of restaurants and a good vibe.

Saw this nice Harley which floated my boat - no idea what it is, please could someone enlighten me?



Then off to the ferry. It sails at midnight, meaning that you land in Blighty at 05h00. Living about an hour and a quarter from Newhaven meant I could be up and running for work well before 09h00 on Monday morning.

So that was it. About 850 miles door to door.

I crammed quite a bit in, so in fact I felt like I'd been away for about a week, and the formerly fuzzy head was indeed cleared. Even Mrs G was happy, with her Ile de Re Chardonnay and sea salt!

So can you have a meaningful trip in just 3 days? I'd say so, I loved it.

 

[theoneandonly]

so , my bikes have rubbed off on you , as has my preferred crossing point.
my work is done.

ps , if the seafood looked so good , and it did ......why pizza ?