Port area with Loire at the end

The sun (or rather the alarm clock) woke us up at 8 today, the night was quite good. The morning routine - breakfast, getting ready, washing dishes, getting Herbert ready to leave - now goes smoothly like clockwork, so we were able to move on to the next stop. This should be Saint-Nazaire for today, because there is another submarine port there. We successfully navigated there, but the submarine museum was closed for an hour due to lunch break. So we treated ourselves to a good lunch first. I had the long-awaited Moules frites - mussels with fries - which are available on every corner here in France. Despite not being a month with an "R," mussels are available everywhere and damn delicious! After that, we took a tour of the port of Saint-Nazaire. The old bunker, where the submarines were stored in the past, is still standing and looks really impressive, but today it is more of a "hangout spot" for the local youth. When we arrived at the submarine museum, we were unfortunately disappointed by the staff; there is no possibility to visit the submarine because everything is full, no capacity, etc. One can imagine it for themselves, or not...

Well, never mind. We didn't give up, but explored the area of the port. Huge company buildings have their base there, for example, MAN, which probably builds diesel engines for ships there, and Airbus also has a production facility for the tips of noses and central hulls of their planes. We also saw huge cruise ships and a large dry dock, which one could assume is used for shipbuilding. But these are all just assumptions, as there was no one to ask. In any case, the area is enormous and makes a mighty impression. The walk around the port added approximately 7 km to our mileage.

But then it was slowly time to head towards a new parking spot. After driving 248 km, we arrived directly at the Loire. The small village is called Mauges-sur-Loire, but the parking spot is amazing again. Natural camping, nice people at the reception who also speak English, bread service in the morning, good sanitary facilities with toilet seat covers, and - very important for Calvin - free WiFi. The weather held up well and is expected to remain dry for the next few days. We like it that way.

Tomorrow we will continue inland, with the goal of reaching Orléans. Let's see what there is to see...

Best regards,

Die3Bolis