Well, last night when the gardener said €10 and sort it out in the morning, it turned out it was high season “Special Offer” €24! A round of futile discussions in our own languages left me €14 down, to be fair it did say €24 on the gate – had the gardener or I been bothered to look. I’m monitoring prices now, but it’s the problem with a beach resort wanting to pack each pitch (but as it was 80% empty). I set off through typical seaside suburbs and eventually hit the St Nazaire seafront, to be greeted by a massive statue in the sea (something to do about balancing on ducks). My initial target, and the purpose of my visit was around the corner. You can’t miss the giant concrete slab sided Submarine Pens. Very impressive, but leaving an overwhelming feeling of fear, both of the people working in the pens, and the people in ships in the Atlantic Ocean. The thickness of the concrete shows the bombing force that they were expecting, the subs sailing out into the Atlantic silently sink anything they came across. A definite lose – lose situation, but I’ll have to watch “Das Boot” again. The city is trying to use them for a museum on Atlantic Liners, and other spaces but the forest on the roof the most innovative.

I’d already decided not to cross the bridge (as it would need a telephone reservation on the 17 bus) so stuck to the north side. Initially it was a terrible wasteland with oil refineries, ports and tanks everywhere. The air smelt very flammable. The scenary soon changed to lovely fields and cycling across marshes before quiet lanes towards Nantes.

I hit Nantes at rush hour which was interesting – cycling down the middle of rows of cars on a dual carriageway trying to remember how wide the panniers are and keep the bike straight! The campsite is really nice site right in the town centre, with tram outside, restaurant, use of the local pool – €14 quite reasonable.