Le weekend

We drove down the coast south of St Nazaire yesterday and I tried to re-live my last family holiday (with parents and all brothers and sister...) from 20 years ago, .  I remember that because I had a driving test, but couldn't drive over here since I was still 17 (driving age 18). 

It was somewhere near St Gilles Croix de Vie, so we went there and carried on down the coast.  My dad would be proud, I think, since we found the playground that us kids entertained ourselves at for most of the time (yes, at 17!).  20 years on and we thought it would be dead and buried, but it's now 4 times the size and clearly still a good attraction.  This reminiscence (spelling?) took a while, so we only made it to just north of La Rochelle last night, and stayed in one of those large static van sites that spread over massive areas of this coast - perfectly pleasant but a bit impersonal.

Saturday in France is a quiet affair which seems to involve either not doing anything, or taking your trailer out for a drive!  We've found our way to Alan and Trish's house, or significant homestead.  It's lovely and we've just spent a good 3+ hours sat on the veranda drinking beer, wine, cider and cognac over apperitifs.  It's a good life.  Paella for dinner tonight. 
Plans are to stay here till Monday avoiding the French day off.  So may well have time to sort out pictures and write a bit more before moving on south.