After the early morning excitement of Mont Saint-Michel, I drove about an hour away to Rennes, the capital city of the Bretagne (Brittany) region. I found it difficult to find a parking station, and was trying to follow the signs to one rather than use the GPS, which was confusing me! I ended up finding a station and drove in to park the car... It's always an experience as a solo driver driving your right-hand drive car into a parking station designed for left-hand drive cars. It requires quickly putting the car in park, handbrake on, seatbelt off and jumping the centre console to pick up the ticket from the open window. Then you have to reverse the process to get going before the boom comes down!
I parked and went to explore Rennes. This was a city full of all the lovely half-timbered buildings that I had seen in other little towns around the Normandie region. It was so lovely to walk around.
I grabbed a sandwich for lunch in Rennes and wandered around the city. I decided that today would be a driving day, and so set off again at 2pm for the Loire Valley.
I picked a place out of my camping and caravanning book called Domaine De La Belle Etoile to stay for the night - it had a tiny entry in the book saying "vineyard with wine-tasting and farm produce" and I was sold! I turned up and the very polite owner immediately forced me to taste some of his wine ("forced")... It was delicious! And I bought a bottle of rose there and then - sadly, I couldn't fit much more into my already-packed camper! He then plied me with sparkling wine, also delicious, before we sorted out payment for the campsite, which was cheap too! I picked a spot under a shady tree and drove, slightly drunk, to it to set up for the night. But I was drawn to the vines, and snapped a few photos of them and a hot air balloon that went over before it got dark. Definitely one of my favourite campsites that I stayed in, it was lovely.
Campsite: Domaine De La Belle Etoile
Rating: 9/10 - lovely site. A bit hard to find but worth it. The wine is delicious and the site very tidy and peaceful.