Travel Day: Cressensac to Rochefort and Gite Nature

 Travel Day

Not much in the way of pictures. Marie took two pictures of the goats as we left the Farmhouse. Margot, our host's daughter is an artisan cheese producer. The Farmhouse that Mary-Line (pronounced Maryilyn) runs is truly a working farm.

These two were near the driveway;

50 or so others were being coy.

The building across this field is directly in

front of the Farmhouse and is where 

Margot produces her artisan cheese. 

And after arriving in Rochefort late in the afternoon (because GPS took us on a wild goose chase for 30 minutes) I took one picture of the Corderie Royale. This building has to be at least a half mile long. It's the home to the International Sea Centre, a vast museum space that is part of the Arsenal de Rochefort (Grand Arsenal) in Rochefort and the city's historic, cultural, and tourist landmark. You can read about it here.

The Corderie Royale is over 1100
feet long. For 200 years this place
provided the rigging for the French
Navy until 1867.

We are looking forward to a shorter drive to Nantes Friday and are excited about meeting up with Gabriel and his family, but Marie is battling some kind of infection again. 

We'll start with a pharmacist and then figure out next steps in the morning.

Rochefort to Gite Nature at Le Cellier (May 26-30, 2023)

Well, it's the next day, and as our GPS often says, "Rerouting." That's what we'll be doing the next 4-5 days. We both tested positive for COVID this morning. Marie has been hit pretty hard with head and chest congestion, coughing, a fever, and fatigue. I have no symptoms. The pharmacist this morning was really helpful. With the aid of Google Translate she recommended over the counter remedies for us.

Our GPS routed us away from the A10 toll way
due to construction delays. Within minutes of 
departing Rochefort, we were surrounded by
wheat fields. Wheat everywhere we scanned.

And then there was a village and I kept thinking
maybe GPS was messing with us. We pulled over
once to examine the route with our Michelin road
map and were headed in the right direction. We 
were rerouted once before to nowhere, so this time
I had my trusty Michelin road map to cross check
the newer technology with an older one.

Fields and fields of peas also surrounded one of
the many villages we drove through as we made
our way in the direction of Nantes.

Does this look like we're about to merge onto a
major toll road going somewhere?

And how about this?

Or this? Turns out that's exactly what happened—
as predicted by GPS and Michelin. 

We'll be in isolation at this remote place outside Le Cellier village. I found Gite Nature on AirBNB a few months ago. My thinking was that we might want a kind of vacation from our travels at this point. Turns out the natural setting in the countryside near the Loire River was a prescient decision. Who knew we'd both test positive for Covid and need to isolate a bit?

Entrance to the property is under the railway bridge.

Contact info if you're interested in renting this.

Our studio is a 19th century stone cottage in a 

protected natural preserve bordering the Loire

River. The grounds are spectacular and the studio

is comfortable in a minimalist way.

There's something for every age at Gite Nature.

This is our front door and the living space window.

Stone house close up. We have this whole building.

Another view of the house.

Even more land. This is a different section.

"Outbuildings" are used; they just look questionable.

This trail runs east and west for hundreds of miles.

Bikers, walkers, and runners make good
use of the trail.

Gabriel Heusse dropped by for a visit to make plans
for the day and evening. He biked over on the trail,
because he lives in a village 3 kilometers east of us.

Outdoor courtyard and games room.

The weather is unusually warm this time of year and we're thankful that our stone home has the typical three foot thick walls. It stays cool inside when it's 80 outside.