These couple of days are ‘in between’ - interesting all the same - so may be shorter.

We called in to Chateau Lascombe as this was our favourite of the wines tasted during the Balade and were fortunate to be able to purchase some - smooth talking James!

We decided to head up the coast to La Rochelle, where we thought we had stayed in 2008 and eaten (a couple of times) at an Italian restaurant that was basic but excellent, with a fun (French) owner.

A bit of a disaster day and we didn’t find it ... we actually went through La Rochelle on our way to Chatelaillon-Plage in 2008 ... but finally found a campground for the night. Suzanna searched and searched overnight and came up with Chatelaillon-Plage so off we went - yeah! Bingo. Found the hotel, the restaurant, the beach- had a walk around, a coffee, and then headed out. We could have stayed but wanted to get back into the Loire.

The countryside changes again, back into wine country and chateaux, manoir, glimpses of the Loire.

And another gem this night; an “eco” place, he composts the toilets and recycles just about everything, and the showers were nice. We cooked, wandered around and enjoyed the quiet. From here we head to Saumur.