Friday 17th October 2008 – Brech, France

We had beautiful Autumn weather for a lovely drive to Brittany. There were lots of vines on the way to Saumur and more on the hills behind the southern banks of the Rhone where there were also large numbers of wine caves. We crossed the river to the north bank at Gennes and were rewarded with beautiful views of the Rhone and the land to the south. The Rhone was very low with most of the river bed consisting of sand banks and islands. Judging by the very high flood prevention banks and walls, the river rises much higher at other times of the year.
For some reason best known to itself, the sat nav wanted to take us via Nantes but Jane suggested a better route from Ancenis on the D164 and D16. This turned out to be excellent – fast roads, few lorries and very pretty. We joined the main N165 just south of Pontchateau and, although it was a faster road, it wasn’t nearly as interesting. We soon arrived at Auray and stopping at the Leclerc hypermarket we stocked up with some wine. Just north of Auray we stopped at a camperstop at Brech, best described as ‘adequate’. I spent some time reorganising the lockers in order to accommodate the wine before preparing dinner.
Photos: The Montreuil-Bellay camperstop with the former abbey in the foreground and the romantic chateau behind; The River Rhone near Gennes.