August Visits in and around Loire Atlantique

One of the bonuses about having friends come over to see us in Loire Atlantique is having the excuse to revisit places we love.  A couple of weeks ago we had just such an opportunity and certainly made the most of it.  

We started the ball rolling with a trip to see the wonderful sound and light show put on every year in August at Martigné-Ferchaud.  Etincelles Aquatiques is a truly spectacular show put on over 3 nights by the local people based loosely on the many Breton myths and legends, fairies and imps and inspired by the proximity of  La Roche aux Fées (The fairy rock).  The venue is in a natural amphitheatre surrounding a lake, tickets can be bought on arrival or in advance and as the seating is on wooden benches a good supply of cushions is a must.   Even arriving a couple of hours before the show to get good seats is not boring as the atmosphere is so wonderful,  galette, crepe, and coffee sales people work their way through the rows of people with chips, sausages and other cold drinks available from stalls nearby.

The show starts at sunset and lasts 1 hour 30 mins so it’s also worth bringing warm clothes or a blanket as the night can be chilly.   Every year something new is added to make this an event worth coming back to.   The cast ranges in age from 6 upwards and numbers around 260 with 900 local volunteers helping out behind the scenes.   With wonderful music, special effects and spectacular fireworks the show is a magical experience for all ages.

Our next self indulgent foray was to Vannes, one of the prettiest towns we have been to and a firm favourite.  The market held there on Wednesday mornings is huge and everything you imagine a French market should be; vibrant, busy, interesting, reasonably priced and with a large variety of goods for sale.   The main street is closed to traffic and contains clothing, bags & baskets, flowers, and other non-perishables while meat, fish and veg have their own spurs off the main drag.  There is also an indoor area dedicated to charcuterie and shellfish.  We spent a happy 2 hours wondering around absorbing the atmosphere until our rumbling tums directed us towards the restaurants.

In Vannes you are really spoilt for choice when it comes to finding somewhere to eat, but we settled for a restaurant overlooking the newly refurbished quay and had a lovely lunch of moules frits.   The area around the quay has only just been completed, it’s now a wide paved walkway with a dedicated outdoor exhibition area and there was a pottery market while we were there.   The other new facility there is a huge, very reasonably priced, underground car park.

At 2pm as soon as the streets were cleared of stall holders, the Little Train set off with us on board (we’re kids at heart), a lovely experience for all ages with commentary in English as well as French.  How the driver manoeuvres the train through the tiny cobbled street, nooks and crannies is amazing and must take some practice.

The other lovely thing about Vannes is the Golf du Morbihan, with boat rides around it and to the islands it’s a great way to spend the afternoon, although if you want a tour of the golf,  it’s best get to the docks just after lunch as there isn’t another boat scheduled until 5pm after that.   By the time we got there, we had to settle for a short ride to the nearest island – Ile d’Arz on what is really a water bus but it was a lovely way to end a super day out.

Next on our schedule was the annual Wild West festival in Bain-de-Bretagne held over 3 days in August, West Country has entertainment for all the family.   A large market selling all things western from hats & boots to full Indian regalia, a rodeo, Indian village with very authentic looking (French) Indians, line dancing for all abilities, and new for this year were a bird of prey show, log felling and chainsaw sculpture and hot air ballooning.   There are also concerts held in the evenings into the early hours.   We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves although the weather was just a bit too hot for comfort while we sat watching the Rodeo.   We didn’t know that the show was in 2 parts and when the intermission was announced we decided to start for home and it wasn’t until I heard the show re-commmence in the distance that we realised it wasn’t over but by that time we were too hot and tired to trudge back.   Still we did see some great horsemanship, rounding up skills, quite annoyed bulls trying to ditch their riders and bucking broncos.   We were very impressed with the dedication of those taking part in making the whole thing as authentic as is possible in the wilds of France rather than the West, the costumes, tipees, skills and atmosphere were brilliant.   The Indians even sporting mohawks on their heads which must be quite difficult to live with when out of costume in every day French life.

Our final afternoon out was a new experience for all of us, we drove down to the dam and lock at Arzal on the Villaine and took the boat trip to Roche Bernard.  A 90 minute round trip with a 20 min stop (just long enough to buy ice creams), it was very enjoyable but as the boat now only operates in the afternoons, we felt it was a shame that the opportunity to explore Roche Bernard was no longer possible.  We are often puzzled by what we perceive as the French distain for commercial opportunity,  as in this case – if the boat ran regularly in the mornings as well,  the businesses of Roche Bernard would surely benefit from extra tourism.  Lovely lakeside and river locations with no boating facilities,  gardens open to the public with no refreshments, even my favourite – the Nantes elephant which only does 6 circuits a day finishing at 5.30 pm at the height of summer when it’s light to 11pm.  Surely he doesn’t belong to a union?   Want to experience these for yourself, then book a great holiday in one of our lovely gites.

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