To South-West France via Le Mans & La Rochelle

This was the route we used in 2007 in order to visit the site of the Last Stand of the Huguenots at L'ile de Rey near La Rochelle. Taking an early morning ferry from Dover to Calais, it is easily possible to drive to La Rochelle in one day, all but the last bit on motorways. Turn right onto the A16 after leaving Calais Port. Aftr Boulogne, you have to pay for a bit. At Abbeville, it becomes the A28, which you follow to Le Mans but it is not continuous. At Rouen, you have to follow the signs for the next section interminably (or so it seems) through the town, which itself is well worth a visit. Then, take the A13 towards Caen, from which the resumed A28 turns left. At Le Mans, turn right on the A11 for Angers, where you turn left on the A87. At the A83 junction, turn left & get off on the N137 (right turn) at junction 7 for La Rochelle. The entrance to the city has that French "we can be as scruffy as the Americans look but the old town is very pretty. We stayed in the Hotel Champlain, where we parked in a separate garage & walked into town to eat.

Harbour entrance

Hotel de Ville

Hotel de Ville courtyard

To get to the Ile de Rey, you drive by the airport to a splendid toll bridge. The island is a delight. We were examining the fortified town of St Martin, having already looked at the ruined Abbaye des Châteliers & a big coastal Vauban-style fort at Fort de la Prée. St Martin was very posh & full of yachts. We drove on to about 2/3rds of the island & turned back along the South coast, which was relatively disappointing.

The main road South to Rochefort is rather ugly but things take a turn for the better if you then dawdle to Royan, as we did. We set off South, branched off to Mayennes, all restaurants shut although parking available, crossed the big bridge &, blessings, found L'Orée du Bois café at Ronce-les-Bains open & had splendid seafood gratinée casseroles & puds (ice cream for Avis & a much better cheese selection for me) for only €33. Duly gratified, we set off on a green road through the woods but close to the sea going South. We stopped near the lighthouse North of Palmyre & walked with some difficulty, up the sand dunes to look at a bleak sea view. Driving through Palmyre, we thought to give it a miss & carried on to Royen, finding the basic but quite adequate Hotel Hermitage on the Front for €67 including breakfast (at €6 each, all 2007 prices). The next day, follow the D145, D18, D255 to Blaye via Mortaigne & St Thomas Conac.

Dawn at Royan

The view from Mortaigne towards the sea

St Thomas Conac

Blaye fortifications. These have family history interest for Ken on this link.

Governor's House in the fort

The older part of the castle

The view from the fort over the Gironde

From Blaye, follow the D669 to pick up the A10 by turning right for Bordeaux. Now see the next paragraph.

For a short cut direct to Bordeaux from Le Mans (the way we came back in 2010), turn left & follow the A11 for a short while until the A28 resumes to the right for Tours. (Stop in Tours for the Loire Chateaux). Turn right for the A10 to Bordeaux & stay on it for a long way. Turn left off on the N230 just East of Bordeaux. This is part of the Bordeaux ring road, the A630 which it soon becomes after crossing the Garonne. The A63 goes off to the left after nightmarish traffic. Follow this. There is a pay for section. After a tedious couple of hours driving over Les Landes, there is a pay section to Bayonne & past Biarritz but, if you want to get the the Jones' chateau at St Marie des Gosses, come off Junction 10 & follow the sign carefully to the village of St Geors & on to Biarrotte. Turn left onto the D817 & right to St Marie, signposted. (This has changed recently from the instructions on this page prior to 22/9/2013).