We fell, to La Rochelle
Strictly speaking, we haven't reached La Rochelle yet like we anticipated as I had a climbing accident (which I will go into more detail later) and decided to rest up for a few days on a camp site, , and a heat wave was on its way so we needed a swimming pool to cool down in!
We had left Brest and started heading south down the west coast aiming for La Rochelle, I went to La Rochelle when I was a baby and my mum talks about how much she loved her holiday there in the early 90s, but as I was still in nappies I do not remember it, so this was part of the journey I was looking forward to.
Wild camping in season in Brittany can be a little more difficult, locals don't like it and it can be difficult to get places free, we decided to head to a spot we found by the beach in a town called Pornic. On the way we wanted to go to Vannes.
On our way to Vannes we stopped off at a spot we had found on park4night in Plozevet. It had a very small beach and car park, it was only for one night and it was quiet, nice, place to stop. I was feeling tired from the driving now and just slept when we pulled up, it was certainly needed.
After a peaceful night sleep, apart from the bin men turning up at 8am, I felt like my batteries had been recharged.
We left our little spot for the night and headed down the coast to Vannes. Vannes is situated on the border between Brittany and Vendee and was founded 2,000 years ago, it has some really interesting buildings and is a lovely place to stop and grab a coffee or some food, and wander around the old, historic town.
I found an free outdoor climbing wall in Pornic that I wanted to visit, and we searched park4night for a location to stop the night.
Using Park4night in the UK a lot, I always find it useful to read the reviews and comments. Just because someone has found a spot, spent the night and not had any issues it doesn't mean you will have the same experience. I have heard stories of people parking on private land with out knowing and been woken up in the night by the police.
We found a little small cove with a gorgeous little beach, with bins and toilets. According to the information we found you are allowed to stay on this car park for upto 48 hrs, after this you will get moved on. The beach was busy until about 8pm and the car park was close to being full. despite this we found a spot and stopped for the night. As the night went on the car park became empty and quietened down and became a really nice place to stop.
The next day we were woken up by road works and tree cutting, but its France so it wasn't too early. We got up for a coffee on the beach and attacked the day.
The climbing wall was only a 10 minute drive away, and Ellie wanted her first experience of drive in Europe.
We found the wall, I packed up my gear and we walked over, I was quiet impressed with the set up to be honest, lots of different styles of routes, crimpers, slopers, pinches and so on. Ellie hasn't got a great deal of belaying experience yet so I decided to sport climb up an easy route, set up a top rope and try some harder stuff that way, as I find this a lot safer with a new belayer and also builds up my trust in her as a climbing partner.
This is where catastrophe hit, on the move below is exactly where I dislocated my shoulder. I am still absolutely devastated by this, I have had shoulder dislocations in the past but recently through regular climbing, training and being careful my shoulder has felt the strongest its ever felt since the first dislocation. I wasn't even on a hard route challenging my self, reaching around the feature on the wall for the hold I put my arm in a funny position and it popped.
Ellie performed magnificently, kept her composure and lowered me down safely. I was really proud of her as she is still learning the ropes (Pun intended). Because of the dislocation, it means its going to affect my trip to the alps. I still think I can get full movement back in my right arm to be able to perform on Monte Rosa but I think the Matterhorn is out the question... for now. After discussions with my guide and friends we have unfortunately had to make the decision to postpone the Matterhorn until next season.
After Pornic we were supposed to visit La Rochelle for a few days, but with my arm having limited movement we decided to take a holiday from our holiday. We had been on the road for a couple weeks now, the washing needed doing and we decided to find a camp site close to La Rochelle for a few days relaxing.
A heat wave was due with temperatures expected to reach over 40 degrees, we decided we needed a swimming pool!
We used pitchup.com to find a site and went ahead and booked one.
Just north of La Rochelle we found a small quiet camp site for just 13 euro a night, it had a swimming pool and laundrette...Parfait!!
Patrick
We've been on the camp site a couple of days now. Its clean, quiet and everyone is super friendly. There is not much in the local town apart from a bakery, a shop and a pizza take away(which we must add, is absolutely delicious)
http://www.pizzeria-de-chaille.fr/
We haven't quiet made it to La Rochelle yet, but we are on our way, washing done and avoiding the heat wave in the pool!
Keeping the van cool has been an absolute nightmare but we have a good chill and had time to catch up on all our admin work.
We are fully up to date on our blog now and will keep you posted with more regular updates as and when they come along with Van life tips and a few more stories about our adventures so far.