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Somewhere to stay on the way to Cherbourg from the Charente


The red bag
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We're spending a week in the Charente in November and would really appreciate some tips of nice towns we could stay on either our trip South or on the way back to the ferry. Somewhere around the Rennes area or perhaps in the

Loire region, Le Mans, Laval, Alencon area.

Simply looking for ideas of somewhere we can stay somewhere we haven't been before and break up the journey.

Many thanks.
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Interesting question. November is a difficult time of the year because you don't know what the weather is going to be like.

Tours (best city in France) is worth stopping over in if you go the Le Mans route. Have a stroll around there is plenty to see.

Or you can stop over in Amboise...which is definitely worth a visit.

Alternatively, if you go the 'Nantes' route where you could cut across from Rennes through the 'Parc Natural de Briere' and stop over in Guerande or better still La Baule.

From there the next day you can cross the bridge at St Nazaire then head towards the Charente going via 'le Sable de Olonne' for lunch.
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Le Mans itself is a nice town, as long as there isn't a big event on - unless your a motor racing fan of course.

November is probably the best time to stop off Les Sables d'Olonnes - I tried to go there earlier in the season once and it was so busy it was a bit horrible.

For something a bit different you could stay at Challans or even La Roche sur Yon and take a spin round the Ile de Noirmoutier, it's very pretty. Again the traffic can be a nightmare in summer but should be lovely this time of year. You can drive over Le Gois which is a road between the island and the mainland that's only exposed at low tide, the water comes over it as the tide comes in and it gets totally submerged (every year there are photos in the local paper of cars floating away) so get your timing right, but it's great fun to drive across it! There is another road of course, and you can probably stay on the island if you want - I have, but in a motorhome.
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Les Sables de Olonnes is a long way to the west of a logical route between Cherbourg and the Charente. If you want to stay as far south as the Loire Valley there are far more interesting places than Tours in the area. I’d recommend somewhere like Nononcourt, close to my preferred route and a charming location.
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Isn't that spelled Nonacourt?  But yes, a pretty place and close to the Loire chateaux if you want, away from the summer season should be very interesting.  I found Nantes an interesting city too, but I was staying with a friend so had a special conducted tour.

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Eurotrash wrote : You can drive over Le Gois which is a road between the island and the mainland that's only exposed at low tide, the water comes over it as the tide comes in and it gets totally submerged (every year there are photos in the local paper of cars floating away) so get your timing right, but it's great fun to drive across it!

Done that ☺ it was huge fun. Not that we stayed here but there is a super, simple but elegant, friendly place to stay very close to the passage : aupassagedugois.fr

NB no relationship at all with the chambre d'hôte .. as we only heard about it later.

Sue
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@ Sue "there is a super, simple but elegant, friendly place to stay very close to the passage : aupassagedugois.fr" - I think we might have had a drink and an ice cream there!! I don't remember the name of the place we went to but is it at the roadside just as you approach le Gois, with a very big terrace? Very feelgood :-)
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"You went over the 'passage du Gois' in your old camper van !!!! ET ?

That was very brave. I bet the motorists behind you were quite relieved when you made it. LOL."

@ ALBF - I did, and they were !!!

I got really nervous part way because vehicles coming the other way kept flashing me - they often do and I've got used to it, guess they just like seeing the old Hymers around, but in the circumstances I wondered if there was something I needed to know, like that the tide was coming in fast or I had smoke billowing out of the back or something. As you say, I probably got more of a frisson than most, driving across in my old truck :-)

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[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]Brit-in-whereveryoulive....you need to buy a map mate.

Nonancourt......btw is not in Val du Loire and is clearly off their route. They may as well stay over in Paris if they go by your suggestions.

And you need to define interesting.[/quote]

You misread my post. An easy mistake. I was making two different points;

1.If you are going to stop in the Loire area there are more interesting places than Tours.

2.The place I would stop at would be Nonancourt as that is more interesting, to me than anywhere in the Loire.
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Nonancourt is more interesting than...

- Chambord

- Chenonceaux

- Blois

- Villandry

- Azy

- Amboise

- Chinon

- Saumur

all that French history !!!

etc, etc, etc

Don't let the fact that Val du Loire is the most visited region in France influence your decision. Personally, I am not sure that diverting 200 km's off route to visit Nonancourt is such a grand idea for the OP. But hay...you never know.

Personally, I would go via La Baule. Proper France. Not some boring stony village with all the shops shut and no restaurants.

BTW, I have worked out who you are now.
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I haven’t got a clue who you are except you are a negative Little Man(?). I don’t know who does your navigation but when I have travelled south through that region I avoid motorways in general and the A28 in particular and my route would take me within spitting distance of Nonancourt and therefore it is a possible stopover and certainly a lot more interesting for that purpose than bland Tours. Please also note that I wrote that there were many interesting places in the Loire valley, I just couldn’t agree with Tours being one of them. No need for a list of places that fulfil that criteria.

What I should have written is that I don’t understand why anyone would look for an overnight stop on the route between Cherbourg and the Charente. To my mind that just wastes two days travelling when the journey is straightforward in one day. I have stopped off on longer journeys but my family always preferred to stop for two nights, to have a full day to enjoy the place visited without the stress of being behind schedule all the time. My choice, not an instruction to others.

I do wish you would allow other forum members to make suggestions that are different to your own without your having to make negative input.

I don’t believe that we would have anything in common in real life so this will be my last reply to youon this forum. Life is too short to have to answer the absurd comments of prats. Get a life!
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Yet another example of a thread which started with a reasonable enquiry being hijacked by individuals who seem to 'police' this forum for their own purposes without contributing anything worthwhile! Perhaps a new Administration team ought to be considered in an effort to inject some new life into this tiresome banality. Wish I hadn't bothered to log in to see if it had improved somewhat!
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There's a difference of opinion, that's all. That's what happens in forums, people discuss things and sometimes disagree.

For what it's worth I'd go via La Baule if only because there seems a large population of second home owners there and restaurants seem to remain open out of season, and there's a good choice of hotels. I love the Guerand, but not sure how much would be open. ( Although thinking about it there is a decent chain hotel just outside the village itself )

We once stayed in Blois but it was many years ago and my abiding memory is of our truculent toddler rather than a good hotel, sorry. Worth a look though I'd have thought.
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