3.6.10
1.6.10
Some pics from Guérande.
I did not take this picture from the sky (stole it from a webiste called l'internaute), but it gives you a good idea of what the medieval city looks like.
To go there from le Croisic, I decided to ride among the salted marshes, which ended up not being such a great idea since it was a long, narrow road with no shoulder and cars going at 90km/h, which would be aroung 70mph I guess, and not really willing to make a effort for the idiot riding her bike. I feared for my life.
Anyway, once out of there, after a climb quite painfull about an hour and a half or so into the ride and in the heat, I made it to Guérande, famous for the salted butter caramels (there are still a few left in the gear room btw).
And here I come to one of the gates. It kind of reminds me of Beaune because of the walls going all around, and the more recent city built around these walls, but the architecture inside the medieval city is totally different, and the rocks used are different too, it's like chuncks of granite.
So here are a few pictures I took there.
After my little tour, I snuck out through a back road,
got out through another gate
last little hill... It doesn't show but I took a picture of this church to have a pretext to stop catch my breath and wipe my sweat...
And then I rode down following a bike only path. Haaa much more relaxing. They made it on an abandonned railroad.
There were a few unexpected hills at the end, but it was all pretty.
It's not quite been a month yet
since I did that bike ride I wanted to talk about, so I am deciding it's not too late to put pictures of the rest of it.
For now, the Presqu'île du Croisic, which litterally would mean: the almost island of the Croisic (look at the map in a previous post to see why). So Le Croisic is the town at the north end of the almost island (also called Presqu'île guérandaise, I think) and it's a small harbor town.
The harbor is where the "traicts" are (don't ask me to translate), arms of the ocean entering into the lands and feeding the salted marshes.
Like in the Pouliguen, you don't want to miss the high tide to go in or out on a sailboat, because it might become a little bit of a problem.
The town was established a long time ago, since already Romans and Saxons were fighting for the spot. So there are a lot of very ancient buildings (I'm not saying the buildings were built by the romans and the saxons - it's just to say it's an old town - I dont' want to be yelled at by the other guy again) from different eras that look pretty neat.
Oh that's the crêperie... hmmmmm...
the mayor house,
the church (in case you didn't figure that out...) looking a lot like the ones you see around in this region, like in Batz-sur-mer in the previous post...
and then just good looking little houses...
OK, off to Guérande now.
12.5.10
4.5.10
La Cote Sauvage
The wild coast
This is the name given to the shore north that I followed after leaving Le Pouliguen.
The reason for this name is probably not obvious from the first pictures of this post, but you will see further the sharp cliffs that replace the long sand beach of La Baule.
There is quite a but of salt produced in this region.
Here are salted marshes.
When you get closer to the shore, some structures remind us of darker times...
The great Blockhaus is now a small museum.
Nice house.
In Batz-sur-mer. In front is the Chapelle des Muriers and the clock tower in the back belongs to Saint Guénolé's church. The Chapel was not detroyed by the war, but by a hurricane in 1918. Saint Guénolé is also the brand of very good cookies made in this town... I brought some back once if the lucky ones who ate them all remember.
Still in Batz-sur-mer. Hmmm Crêpes!
And now, we are finally getting to the "Wild Coast":
Another few blockhaus on the way...
The ride is really nice there... slightly rolling, but allowing to enjoy the scenery all the way to Le Croisic that I will show you in my next post.
This is the name given to the shore north that I followed after leaving Le Pouliguen.
The reason for this name is probably not obvious from the first pictures of this post, but you will see further the sharp cliffs that replace the long sand beach of La Baule.
There is quite a but of salt produced in this region.
Here are salted marshes.
When you get closer to the shore, some structures remind us of darker times...
The great Blockhaus is now a small museum.
Nice house.
In Batz-sur-mer. In front is the Chapelle des Muriers and the clock tower in the back belongs to Saint Guénolé's church. The Chapel was not detroyed by the war, but by a hurricane in 1918. Saint Guénolé is also the brand of very good cookies made in this town... I brought some back once if the lucky ones who ate them all remember.
Still in Batz-sur-mer. Hmmm Crêpes!
And now, we are finally getting to the "Wild Coast":
Another few blockhaus on the way...
The ride is really nice there... slightly rolling, but allowing to enjoy the scenery all the way to Le Croisic that I will show you in my next post.
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