ROUTE THREE: To Spain
FROM THE western Channel’s busiest port, via the Vendée to the deep French
southwest. You’re then poised for northwest and central Spain. Drivers
landing at Dieppe, Le Havre, St Malo or Caen may also follow most of the
itinerary.
DAY ONE, MORNING
Cherbourg to Avranches
80 miles, no tolls
No sweat leaving Cherbourg. Simply follow signs for Caen, Mont-St-Michel and
Rennes, and Bob est ton oncle. Soon, you’re rolling with the
countryside to Valogne, from where there’s a straight, fast road, via
Carentan, to St-Lô and Caen. Orthodox routes take it.
But you’re in no hurry, so turn off right, along the more friendly D2 towards
Coutances and Mont-St-Michel. That way, you’ll be filtering through villages
and hedged pastureland fought over viciously by US troops in summer 1944,
but now returned to the deepest calm. Who cares if you get stuck behind a
herd of cows? As you drop towards Coutances, note the great gothic cathedral
on the skyline — but not to the exclusion of making a decision about lunch.
First option is in Genêts, a tiny coastal spot from where walkers set out to
trek across the bay to the Mont-St-Michel. The views of France’s most
sublime monument are perfectly uplifting; it seems to have been placed fully
formed on its rock by divine hands (or a divine crane, anyway).
Chez François (near the town hall, 2 33 70 83 98, www.chezfrancois.fr ) is a
Genêts institution. At once bar, tobacconist and village inn, it offers
rustic dining at refectory tables laden with full-frontal country fare and
home-made cider. Most of the stuff is cooked on an open wood fire and prices
reflect the ambient conviviality: £2.35 for starters and puds, from £5-£7
for meat dishes. Get there by leaving the main road at Avranches towards
Granville and then, almost immediately, left towards Vains. But ensure
you’ve booked ahead, the place is popular.
Alternatively, stay on the main road until, just past Avranches (direction
Rennes), you leave for St-Quentin-sur- l’Homme. Here, Le Gué- du-Holme (2 33
60 63 76, www.le-gue-du-holme.com, from £18.50) offers a toothsome touch of
reliable Norman class.
AFTERNOON
Avranches to Mesnard-la-Barotière
173 miles, £3 tolls
Carry on to Rennes and circle it, following signs for Nantes with slavish
devotion. These will spit you out of the urban tangle and along the Breton
border to the outskirts of Nantes itself. Here you transfer your devotion to
signs for Bordeaux and La Rochelle, soaring over the Loire on the fly-away
Cheviré bridge.
Continue south, until you hit the Vendée region, seaside fave of thousands of
Brits and, almost as significantly, heroic centre of resistance to the
French revolution in the 1790s. Thousands of Vendéens were killed in the
name of fraternité and what-have-you. More of this in a
moment.
First, pull off the motorway at exit 5 towards Les Herbiers, and a few miles
on, in the village of Vendrennes, turn left to Mesnard-la-Barotière. Spot
the castle — a magnificently noble pile surrounded by 17 acres of parkland —
and check in. Having been destroyed in the Vendéen wars, then rebuilt, the
Château de Mesnard-la-Barotière now offers aristocratic chambres-d’hôtes
(2 51 66 14 16, www.vendee-tourisme.com, doubles from £65, B&B;
£79, £92 or £112 will get you bigger and even more stylish rooms). The lady
of the house will serve dinner for about £18, if you prebook.
Should that sound a little OTT, head for Les Herbiers itself, to Le Relais (18
Rue de Saumur, 2 51 91 01 64, www.hotellerelais.com , doubles from £37).
This is a homely spot with a smashing restaurant (from £15) and more
functional rooms up above.
Les Herbiers, a charming little country town, had its share of suffering
during the counter-revolutionary uprising, an episode about which, you will
be unsurprised to hear, republican France keeps rather quiet: it’s
problematic, of course, to square wholesale slaughter with the Rights of
Man.
The story, though, is told brilliantly in the Cinéscénie summer-night
spectacle up the road at Le Puy du Fou, the greatest regular outdoor show in
Europe. Hundreds of actors, plus farm animals, horses and bears, play out
great frescoes from Vendéen history across a 55-acre “stage” — which takes
in a lake and real castle. The music and special effects are stunning and
the experience, for me anyway, unforgettable. There are 28 weekend
performances, June through September, and seats go fast. Adults £16.50,
youngsters 5-13, £9.30. Visit www.puydufou.com or call 2 51 64 11 11 for
details. The attendant 96-acre historical theme park is also the finest of
its kind, though you’ll need to add a day to the trip.
DAY TWO, THE MORNING
Mesnard-la-Barotière to Pons
141 miles, £10.50 in tolls
Idle a little this morning, especially if you’re at the chateau, for the
prospect is of an easy motorway trot (direction: Bordeaux) under the milky
sunlight and through the rolling wooded lands of the Charente. About two
hours should get you to exit 36 and, just off it, the luminous little
white-stone town of Pons.
To arrive at the centre, turn left at the second roundabout — you can’t miss
it: it’s got statues of pilgrims tracking across — and then park by the
great, and rather lonely-looking, castle keep just up the hill. You’ll have
a few moments to spare, so wander by the lovely 17th-century town hall and
then to the edge to look down over the River Seugne. You’ll note that Pons
is built straight up out of a rocky outcrop. Scrambling streetlets, passages
and stairs climb up and down it.
Enough wandering. Lunch. The Hotel-de-Bordeaux (1 Ave Gambetta, 5 46 91 31 12,
www.hotel-de-bordeaux.com , menus from £26) has a lovely bourgeois facade
and all the provincial style that implies. Along the street, the Auberge
Pontoise (23 Ave Gambetta, 5 46 94 00 99, menus from £9 or £13, Sat/Sun) is
lighter in approach. You’re on the fringes of cognac country, but go steady.
French police don’t consider digestifs a useful aid to carefree motoring.
THE AFTERNOON
PONS TO ST-JEAN-DE-LUZ
190 miles, £7.85 in tolls
So, out of Cognac — and on to Bordeaux: spinning through France really is an
exercise in driving through drink. As you approach the city, seek signs for
Bayonne and do exactly as they tell you.
You’ll sail high over the Dordogne River and soon be trogging straight through
the vast Landes forest. Avoid Bayonne by following directions to San
Sebastian. By now, the white houses with red roofs and the sea air wafting
through the window will tell you that you’re on the Basque coast. There are
few better places to be.
Leave the motorway at exit 3 and run into St-Jean-de-Luz, the thinking man’s
Biarritz. Right on the beach, the Grand Hotel is an elegant pink-and-
white-icing palace. It has just about everything — belle-époque
grandeur, a great entrance hall, rooms themed blue, red and yellow, and
direct access to the beach. Plus, a hefty tag, doubles from £165 to June 30
and from September 1, from £200 in between (43 Blvd Thiers, 5 59 26 35 36,
www.luzgrandhotel.fr ).
If that still appears a little steep, head round the bay to the Hôtel de la
Plage (Promenade Jacques Thibaud, 5 59 51 03 44, www.hoteldelaplage.com ,
doubles from £57 to June, doubles including breakfast from £76
July-September). Some rooms have seaview balconies.
For dinner, the Olatua (30 Blvd Thiers, 5 59 51 05 22, from £13) has a good
reputation for Basque cuisine, and Le Kaiku (17 Rue de la République, 5 59
26 13 20, from £15) the same for fish. There’s also a rash of basic Basque
bistros on Rue Tourasse. Wherever you’re going next will have to be pretty
special to compete with where you are right now.
Get me across the Channel
Eurotunnel (0870 535 3535, www.eurotunnel.co.uk ) has return fares from
Folkestone to Calais from £98 (car and passengers). Ferry deals for a car
and two passengers start at £50 return to Calais, and £160 return to
Cherbourg (€300 from Ireland). Contact Brittany Ferries (0870 536 0360,
www.brittany-ferries.com ; in Ireland 021 427 7801) for Portsmouth-Caen,
Portsmouth-Cherbourg, Portsmouth-St Malo, Poole-Cherbourg, Plymouth-
Roscoff, Cork-Roscoff. P&O Ferries (0870 598 0333, www.poferries.com )
for Dover-Calais and Portsmouth-Le Havre. Sea France (0870 571 1711,
www.seafrance.com ) and Hoverspeed (0870 240 8070, www.hoverspeed. com) for
Dover-Calais. Norfolk Line (0870 870 1020, www.norfolkline.com ) for
Dover-Dunkirk. And Irish Ferries (0818 300400, www.irishferries.com ) for
Rosslare-Cherbourg and Rosslare-Roscoff.
