9 November 2022 - Trip to Atlantic coast of France

Off to the West coast of France with our camper, we started out in Maastricht as usual. Spent the next day and night in the Belgian town of Bouillon with its ancient castle in the Ardennes. Free camping space, crowded with all Belgians! Beautiful weather. And a great specialty market the next day (cheese and sausage, sausage and cheese).

En route to the Atlantic, we encountered the famous Fontainbleau and so decided to visit. Wow! Spent the night just outside one of the gates (see photo, again for free!). Felt safe with a military complex on the other side of the parking space.

As we continued our random  wayfaring along the Loire River, I was awe stricken by old, old homes built into massive rock (see photo).

The ancient but also lovely and bustling Blois was our next (arbitrary!) stop. A nice discovery, just a little bike ride over the river from where we stayed with the camper. Unfortunately, everything was closed from Sunday to Monday afternoon. So we moved on but will probably be back.

Almost a week after departure, we arrived at the Atlantic coast only to find that all of the zillion camping places in St Jean de Monts were closed. Luckily, a parking place for campers was open. The weather had turned bad; it was impossible to bike along the coast; and the rain made wven walking unpleasant. The place was like a Peyton Place. Unable to find ANY other region in France or — for that matter — northern Spain that would be dry in the coming days, we decided to head home much earlier than expected. We had to be back in the Netherlands by December 1st, so we couldn’t just keep moving. :( 
    Once again, arbitrarily picking a place to stop showed us another jewel: the elegant, old city of Niort (pronounced New Yor). The launching of the 2022 Beaujolais wine was being celebrated, so that was yummy and fun. We also met some great ladies then.
    A further jewel discovered on our return trip was the city of Auxerre. Once again, we could park the camper for free, just across the bridge to the old section of the city. Would like to see the modern part of this city with its unbelievably huge and numerous cathedrals and castles. 

Just two more stops and we would be home: Verdun with its WWII history and the university city of Namen/Nemur in the French-speaking region of Belgium (Wallonia). 
    Took ONLY LOCAL ROUTES the whole trip and thus saw only French or Belgian license plates and campers the entire way!
    Plan is re-visit a number of places and look up other ones along the way: Dinant, Troyes, and La Rochelle (which we didn’t get to see due to stormy weather and a passenger chair in need of fixing). LAW