Our next planned hop was a short one, a journey of some 40kms were we to go straight there. Of course, we didn’t. We would be passing the southern edge of the marais that had drawn our attention on the way to Piriac-sur-mer and a road cut up through the marais so it seemed a good opportunity to investigate a bit further.
The idea was fine in principle but a road closure at the beginning of our diversion sent us around a tortuous diversion of its own on twisting, relatively narrow roads through the backstreets of a small town. Eventually we regained the road that we had intended to be on beyond the road closure. I was not looking forward to returning on the same route.
The view from the Frodo’s cab gave no hints about a marsh, that we could see. In the village of Rozé we spotted an impressively tall belvedere structure, about four storeys high, clearly intended for views of the surrounding flat countryside. Furthermore, there was a handy-dandy car park near its base which – take note other authorities – had two specific motorhome parking areas which permitted a 24-hour stop.
The weather was dry but mainly overcast. I checked the nearby river for signs of life and found nothing, so we clambered up the stairs to the top of the belvedere. Sure enough, we now saw the marsh stretching out before us. In better conditions and with more time, it would have been an interesting place to dally further.
This wasn’t the day, though, so we continued to Francine’s first chosen port of call on the Île de Fédrun, one of seven islands of Saint Joachim. We made it to another car park which, sleepy though the area appeared, was big enough to take school buses so space was not a problem.
We went for a wander, rather longer than intended. We did find one stretch of water but not with anything resembling access. We did find a chocolate box village with largely thatched buildings, some of which were in need of maintenance but others of which looked spick and span and achingly attractive..
Lunch beckoned and Francine had spotted a creperie beside a bridge that we had crossed on the way in. There is supposedly a Michelin starred restaurant here but a creperie would suffice and help the bank balance. It proved to be a fortunate choice because on offer was Persillade d’Anguilles, eels dressed in garlic and parsley. Francine is not a fan of eels but I am; she went for a ham, egg and goat cheese galette. We washed our lunch down with a bottle of cider served with the traditional bolée, a glazed pottery cup.
Time to return to our original trajectory and find the campsite close to our intended attraction. With much relief, Francine found a route back which circumvented the serpentine twists of our inbound journey. We crossed the Saint Nazaire bridge and arrived at Camping La Dune de Jade at St. Brévin Les Pins, which is now less of a campsite and more of a mobile homes village. It’s a common but somewhat sad development of some campsites and at €200 a night for a cabin, you can see the attraction, especially if more and more motorhomers shun campsites to stop on free/cheap aires. There were still a few touring pitches, though, and we found one that suited Frodo.
And so [lose 100 points] to the reason that we are camped opposite a rather industrial-looking Loire estuary: the Serpent d’Océan, a giant skeleton sculpture shaped like a slithering serpent. It is by Chinese-French artist Huang Yong Ping [so there]. He has clearly been to the same school of artist bull as Anthony Gormley because the twisting serpent is supposed to “reflect the twists of the Saint Nazaire bridge” before which it sits. Right.
The sculpture is positioned on the beach of the estuary so is partially covered at high tide and completely revealed, supports included, at low tide. I haven’t had a chance to play with my Big Stopper ND filter since a trip to Greece in 2022 and was keen to have a go at this subject. Wanting to blur the water movement, I needed the tide to be in.
After getting Frodo settled and working out how to carry my tripod whilst cycling, we climbed on our bikes to pedal the 4 kms or so up to the sculpture. Tide tables suggested the tide would be largely in and so it proved to be. Now to try to capture the beast whilst avoiding the irritating drone that was being flown at the same subject. I started with a rather obvious side-on shot which included the distracting opposite shore but then Francine found me a much cleaner head-on aspect. The day and subject were largely monochrome, so monochrome it is, then.
Reasonably satisfied; time to return for a pre-prandial and dinner.
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