Getting Stoned

We left Dinan yesterday morning - Sammie always likes a smoke before we leave to calm his nerves!

He hasn't been the same since spending 24 hours in the hold of a jumbo jet flying to the UK from Oz back in March 2012.

The fuel price wasn't too bad  at 1.16 Euro or 82 p a litre (even though after we filled up at this price, we saw another one down the road which was 1.08 Euro a litre!!).  The supermarkets are the cheapest for fuel. I spotted one today, it worked out at 73p a litre ...

The passengers assumed their positions and off we went ...

We stopped off for a smoko at a lovely little Aire, but I can't remember where ...

We had a break from the rain for a while so we walked around the lake and spoke to a fisherman, he was English!  He said it was a lovely place to be in the summer ...

Lots of the trees and bushes had ID plates on them, which is pretty handy for people like me who haven't got a clue what trees and plants I am looking at ...

There was all sorts of activity equipment around the lake, I got half way across this one! 

Our destination for the day was Carnac to check out the over 3000 prehistoric standing stones. They were erected around 3300BC.....Why??   It is the largest Megalithic site in the world ...

 To me they are just stones, but Elaine is much more into their special powers!

Rock dog 1 ...

They are quite impressive ...

Rock dog 2 ...

Elaine feeling the energy ...

You can also hug the stones! 

There are acres of the things ...

Final stone pic ...

After we checked out the stones we checked out the local Aire in the town of Carnac, which was right in the centre of town but was a bit to crowded for our liking so we headed off towards the beach - and kept going a bit further!

We eventually stopped at a fantastic Aire opposite the cliffs at Quiberon, it was a pay Aire but worked out £3.55 for the night.

We also had the sun shining on us for the first time in a few days ...

This is the Aire GPS location ...

We went for a walk along the stunning cliff path ...

Elaine was collecting treasure for her home made jewellery and artworks ...

Our plan for today was to go back to the beach where Elaine would collect more crap treasure, unfortunately it hammered down with rain all night and this morning it hadn't let up.

We checked out the French weather radar and the situation was dire!  It was pouring everywhere in our area, it looked like the best option was to head inland as the rain is supposed to ease off on Friday then Saturday it is forecast to be 33 and sunny.  So we decided to head towards the Loire Valley!

We stopped off at Lidl for some supplies and cheap wine.  Even I like shopping in French supermarkets, check out the lack of people!  (We did stop and chat to a couple from N Yorkshire though, who had lived there for 7 years!) ...

The rain was the worst I had seen in years, it was non stop and incredibly heavy.  Unfortunately the French drivers don't slow for the conditions, the result being that we were on the road for 5 hours and were held up by 5 crashes, in what should have been about a 3 hour trip!

With all the chronically bad driving it was like being back in Oz ... 

This was the last one, only about 5 mins from our destination, two cars and a truck ...

The truck won! 

And here we are at tonight's stop.  The rain is hammering on the roof and it's 13 degrees, however we are all happy and I am sampling the delights of a nice bottle of £1.35 red!

We are now stopped in a free Aire on the banks of the Loire river at La Dagueniere ...

Our location is the little blue dot to the bottom right of Angers, I can't find the pen for the hitech map pic ... 

 Please stop raining tomorrow!!