7/27/2019 A week in Pornichet

1/8

BIKE AND THALASSA 2013

TOURIST INFORMATION ON THE REGION

EDITION: 22nd January 2013 Grard COHEN BACRI

All rights reserved - CODEP FFCT de Loire Atlantique

1

7/27/2019 A week in Pornichet

2/8

GENERAL COUNCIL EDITORIAL

Generally speaking one can say that France distinguishes itself by its multitude of landscapes. At the

departmental level, it is the same: crossed from east to west by the River Loire, Loire-Atlantique

Department is painted in blues and greens.

Blue, first of all, on account of our river: for a long time, Nantes was nicknamed little Venice of the

West. Blue is also the colour of the protected wet areas - with over 70,000 hectares of marshes, the

region is ranked in 2nd place in France for its protected ecological areas. Blue, finally, because of theAtlantic coastline which extends for over 133 kilometres, of which there are 68 km of vast beaches

and small inlets.

Green, without a doubt, in the hilly areas in the north of Loire-Atlantique, near Chteaubriant where

pastureland dominates. Green also in the south-east of the department, with our very rich vineyards

and their famous Muscadet and Gros-Plant wines.

We are fortunate to live in a region with such varied landscapes that have enabled Loire-Atlantique

Department to protect its identity over the centuries. However, this has not prevented our department

from experiencing profound transformations: steady population increase, important changes in areas

resulting in population movements, developments in economic activity. These changes demonstrate

the departments vitality, an attribute that, we are pleased to say, has kept its inhabitants happy and

contented.

Welcome to Loire-Atlantique!

OUR DEPARTMENT (44)*

The River Loire is in no hurry; its marriage with the Atlantic Ocean can wait.

At first the Loire has to admire its last castles and its islands; then it has to welcome its guests, the

rivers Erdre and Svre, travel through vineyards, visit Nantes, collect waters from its marshes and

enjoy the sound of birds singing. Before the wedding ceremony, it will have to pass under the arch

of Saint-Nazaire bridge.

Finally united with the Atlantic Ocean, the Loire continues to surprise us, with its beaches, its seasideresorts, its spectacular wild coast, stormy days or a setting sun.

The iodine king even enters the land to make salt.

The Regional Park of Grande Brire, with its marshes, offers safe havens to birds and curious

onlookers.

The River Loire is at the same time a border and a gigantic blue line which shapes Loire-Atlantique.

In the north, on Brittanys doorstep, the department is Celtic; it is green in the region of Chteaubriant,

the countryside of Me and of the Three Rivers (Don and Isac). In the south, there are lowlands and

vineyards with the Grand-Lieu Lake, the Retz region and Pornic.

You must do as the River Loire does and take time to visit our department on your bike. Quiet roads,

small lanes and cycle paths are there to be used!

Loire-Atlantique is ready to welcome you, so are the FFCT leaders who, through cyclotourism, will

ensure that you share their love for the region.

Admire the landscapes, breathe the ocean air, fill yourselves with iodine, relax and refresh yourselves

with the thalassotherapy.

EDITION: 22nd January 2013 Grard COHEN BACRI

All rights reserved - CODEP FFCT de Loire Atlantique

2

7/27/2019 A week in Pornichet

3/8

MONDAYS RIDEToday, you are invited to a spectacular show: the ocean, salt marshes, briron thatched cottages

all vying with each other to give you the greatest pleasure.

From the start, this circuit will enable you to discover Europes most

beautiful beach (7 km of fine sand), cycle up to the port of Pouliguen and

then via the wild coast, reach Le Croisic and its headland.

After returning to Batz-s-Mer, setting off via the Salt Marshes Road

(Route des Marais Salants), a stop at the museum "earth of salt" (Terre de

Sel) will allow you to discover the secrets of salt production resulting

from the combination of the sea, sun and wind. You will learn how to tell

the difference between "flower of salt" (Fleur de Sel) and coarse salt

(Gros sel). Better informed, you will continue through the White

Country (Pays Blanc), the domain of the salt workers called "salty

bottoms" by the brirons of the Black Country (Pays Noir).

You will then reach La Turballe and its magnificent fishing port. You

will follow the coast by LERAT (to the right of the small port, former

sardine-canning factory) to reach PIRIAC-s-MER, its harbour and visit

the village (heritage house, guardroom, half-timbered house, flowered alleyways).

After QUIMIAC, the MERQUEL headland deserves a stop

(opposite the headland of Pen B); Kercabellec and Mesquerwill lead you to St MOLF.

In front of St Molf

Chapel, you will turn

right to get to the typical

village of Kerhinet where

a picnic will be waiting

for you. Having

recovered your strength,

you will go to La

Madeleine via small

roads and will cross the Sandun ponds.

Going via St Andr-des-Eaux, you will reach Escoublac and La Baule aerodrome. You can then letyourself glide down to the sea towards Pornichet to end this bike ride and prepare yourself for the first

session of thalassotherapy. This afternoon we are going to plunge into sea water.

TUESDAYS RIDE

The regional park of GRANDE BRIERE, with an area of 40,000 ha, is a

hunters and fishermans paradise, as well as a refuge for numerous

migratory birds.

Built on granite islands encircled with canals, the villages of thatched-roof

cottages invite you to go for a stroll.

This is country dear to Alphonse de Chteaubriant*: Grand marais

sauvage dont on ne voit pas la fin, tout plein du silence des hommes et duchant des oiseaux, o vont se dployant de grandes ailes blanches comme

de la neige, et o, entre les fleurs deau, ne cessent de glisser les barques

dans lair splendide nimbe de soleil - *See page 8 for translation.

During the must-do marsh cruise in a "chaland" (a rowing boat), you will

glide in silence towards the big canals lined with reeds, gleaming

piardes* enhanced by yellow iris and pearly water lilies. Numerous small museums affecting the

speed of your cruise will allow you to experience the secret and charming character of Brire. You

will dream about tasting the "pimpeneau" (swamp eel), whilst listening to your briron guide telling

you about the life in his Brire before ending this bike ride.

EDITION: 22nd January 2013 Grard COHEN BACRI

All rights reserved - CODEP FFCT de Loire Atlantique

3

7/27/2019 A week in Pornichet

4/8

WEDNESDAYS RIDE

From Mindin (start of the ride), at the

foot of the bridge straddling the Loire

estuary, you continue down towards

the estuary by St Brvin les Pins,

(XIII century Romanesque church)

The seaside resort of Pornic will be

our destination, with its harbour (for

fishing and sailing), its medieval city,

its fishermans district, not forgetting

the customs path.

The XIII-XIVc castle of Gilles de

Rais (Blue Beard legend) cannot be

visited.

Between St Brvin and Pornic along a very jagged coast, there are still some fishing places (or

carrelets). At St Michel Chef Chef, you can taste the famous pancakes. Go to the beach of Tharon

(fishing places or carrelets on stilts). La Plaine-s-Mer, Le Cormier, Port Giraud, La Tara, La Pre are

areas of fishing on foot (pche pied). From St Gildas Head,(little Finistre of the South Loire): view of St Nazaire, the

bridge, Pilar Island and Isle of Noirmoutier. At the headland a

lighthouse can be visited and there is a bunker and viewpoint

orientation table. Prfailles offers a rocky coast, small sandybeaches and a spring with a high iron content.

Whilst returning from Pornic towards St Nazaire Bridge, we shall

go through the Pays de Retz.

At St Pre en Retz (a large rural village), there are traces from

the Gallo-Roman time (a well). Visit the old renovated wash

house.Above: a carrelet-

(Courtesy of www.linternaute.com)

THURSDAYS RIDE

Today we have a short bike ride for everyone towards St Nazaire, a port well-

known for its shipyards, where the liners the France and Queen Mary 2 were

built.

Along the way, we shall stop at St Marc-s-Mer and its famous "Hotel de la

Plage"- setting for the shooting of the film "Mr. Hulot's holidays".

We shall also say Bonjour to the statue of its director, Jacques Tati.

Continuing along the seafront, we shall have a quick look at the American

monument commemorating the landing of the US soldiers in St Nazaire during

the First World War before going to fight in the trenches.(This monument, destroyed by the Germans during the Second World War, was

rebuilt by the city).

Then we shall stop at the commemorative monument for Operation Chariot.

In March, 1942, Operation Chariot authorized a British commando squad to damage Lock Joubert to

prevent German battleships from being repaired in St Nazaire.

The lock door closing the basin was destroyed during the raid - by the explosion from HMS

Campbeltown - and it was repaired only after the war.

EDITION: 22nd January 2013 Grard COHEN BACRI

All rights reserved - CODEP FFCT de Loire Atlantique

4

7/27/2019 A week in Pornichet

5/8

THE LANCASTRIA LINER TRAGEDY AT ST NAZAIRE

On 17th June 1940, the Lancastria dropped anchor in the estuary of the Loire, 10 miles from the

natural Harbour of the Carpenters (Rade des Charpentiers), in front of St Gildas headland, with 90

other ships requisitioned to evacuate British people threatened by the lightning advance of the

Germans.

The day before, the enemy had dropped into the natural harbour its terrible LMB mines, with a chargeof 800 kg of explosives.

At 11 am on June 16th, with the mine-dredging not yet completed, the embarkation of the British

troops on to the ships began.

It is estimated that 57,000 men were repatriated via Saint-Nazaire between 16 th and 19th June, 1940.

On 17th June, at about 3 pm, the Lancastria was ready to leave the port of St-Nazaire with

approximately 9,000 passengers on board.

(We do not know for certain the exact number of passengers on board, the ship manifest will remain a

military secret until 2040.)

It was 3:50 pm when the Lancastria raised its anchor and at the same time there was a third air raid by

6 to 8 stukas which aimed directly at it. The Lancastria was hit four times.

The first bomb perforated the deck, exploded in n2 hold, causing the terrible slaughter ofapproximately 800 Royal Air Force personnel in the middle of the ship.

The second bomb pierced n3 hold, freeing 500 tons of thick and sticky fuel oil, which quickly spread

throughout the ship.

The third bomb went through the funnel and exploded directly in the engine room, below the

waterline.

The fourth bomb penetrated n4 hold, blowing up the sides of the ship and letting the sea rush into the

holds.

They tried to launch the lifeboats which were still not damaged but due to the sizeable list, only two

boats managed to move away from the Lancastria, loaded with men, women and the wounded.

Others capsized under fire from German planes or because they were overloaded with fleeing

survivors.

Those who could swim jumped off the ship and plunged into the water and, with difficulty, swamthrough a 20 cm thick oil slick, alight in places.

They suffocated in "a magma of blood, fuel oil and broken pieces of wood ".

Hundreds of survivors clung on to the upturned hull, hoping that the ship would hold until help

arrived; but the Germans continued their destruction of the wreck, firing at the ships hull and men in

the water, and releasing incendiary bombs to try to set alight the floating fuel oil.

At about 4:10 pm, the Lancastria sank.

Nevertheless, in spite of the continued bombing, several hundreds of the shipwrecked victims were

rescued in small boats lowered into the sea by the many ships docked in the area.

Due to lack of space, those in the worst state were thrown back into the water to make room for those

more likely to pull through.

The survivors were covered with wounds and burns, and poisoned by the fuel oil which they had

swallowed, and of those who had managed to escape the explosions, drowning and machine-gun fire

hundreds succumbed on the boats coming to their help, suffocated by the swallowed fuel.

The official registers mention about 2,477 survivors.

However, the ordeal of the survivors did not end there; some of them, unloaded in Saint-Nazaire, were

captured by the Germans and interned.

Others were luckier and got back to England on other boats.

EDITION: 22nd January 2013 Grard COHEN BACRI

All rights reserved - CODEP FFCT de Loire Atlantique

5

7/27/2019 A week in Pornichet

6/8

For many months, the sea cast up corpses on the coast of Bourgneuf Bay, brought there by the estuary

currents.

The number of bodies was so high that many people could not be buried in coffins, and it was often

just in trenches between two layers of straw that they were laid.

The cemeteries of La Baule, Pornic, Herbaudire, and the graves on the island of the Pillar now bear

scars which cannot be erased.

Silence on a tragedy

In England, Winston Churchill who did not want to affect the morale of the country and its troops,

decided to forbid for 5 years any publication on the subject, classifying it as official secret - which

explains why the history of the Lancastria is so little known.

Today, the wreck still rests off St Gildas Head, 24 metres below, 7 km away from the coast, along the

channel of the Loire.

It is classified as a "War grave" - the site is marked by a buoy with the inscription "Lancastria".

SUBMARINE BASE.

We shall then go to the St Nazaire submarine base, built under the German occupation during the last

war. Before the beginning of the second war, the port of Saint-Nazaire was one of the largest on the

French Atlantic Coast. The German army arrived at Saint-Nazaire in June, 1940. The first German

submarine got there on 29th

September, 1940. A mission from the Todt organization inspected the portfrom December, 1940 to assess the possibility of constructing a submarine base to protect German

submarines from British air raids. The works were entrusted to engineer Probst. The submarine base

was partially built on the turning basin of the Companie Generale Transatlantique.

The work was carried out in several stages. It began in February, 1941 and ended in December, 1943.

This work required the presence of 1,502 workers and 3,166 forced labourers. Between the end of

1943 and the beginning of 1944, a strengthened lock was built in the alignment of the base to protect

submarines during lockage between the estuary of the Loire and the basin. The lock measures 155 m

in length, is 25 m wide, 14 m high and is equipped, on its roof, with anti-aircraft defence systems.

Characteristics

The base dimensions are as follows: 300 m in length, 130 m wide and 18 m high with a surface area

of about 39,000 m2 and a volume of concrete of about 480,000 m3. The thickness of the base roof is

about 8m. It consists of four different layers: the first one, made with reinforced concrete, is 3,50 m

thick, the second, concrete and granite, is 35 cm, the third, again in reinforced concrete, is 1,70 m.

The fourth, named Fangrost, was made by superimposing cross beams of 1,80 and 1,40 m in height.

The roof is equipped with concrete tanks for 20 mm guns, with a tank for a 20 mm quadruple gun, an

armoured dome for two machine guns, an individual shelter (tobrouck) for machine gun MG and a

bunker for a mortar M19. The base contains 14 alveoli (kind of garage for submarines), numbered

from 1 to 14 from north to south: alveoli 1 to 8 are dry docks 92 m long by 11 m wide, for one

submarine; alveoli 9 to 14 are wet docks, 62 m long by 17 m wide, for two submarines each. Two

inter-garages allow access to the upper floors of the base. They are situated between alveoli 5/6 and

12/13. In addition, the base is equipped with 62 technical workshops, 97 warehouses, 150 offices, 92rooms for crews, 20 pumping plants, four kitchens, two bakeries, two power plants, a dining hall and

an operating theatre.

We shall climb up on to the submarine base to discover an interesting view of the port of St Nazaire,

after which we shall get back on our bikes to ride along the port, the shipyards and the Airbus

factories, cradle of the A380, before getting back to our hotel.

EDITION: 22nd January 2013 Grard COHEN BACRI

All rights reserved - CODEP FFCT de Loire Atlantique

6

7/27/2019 A week in Pornichet

7/8

FRIDAYS RIDE

Today, we go along the banks of The

Naughty Boy River* (The Vilaine). The

long circuit is very beautiful, but by bike,

some of you may need a triple chain set to

nibble at steep hills. We are going to leave

the Loire-Atlantique to go to La Roche

Bernard, in Morbihan, to the top of the old

bridge dominating the river and the small

port of La Roche.

Having crossed the Naughty Boy by the old

bridge, you turn right towards Marzan,

Paule and Muzillac to return to the picnic

near the dam of Arzal.

Those who want to save their energy for the

thalassotherapy will go directly towards the

dam of Arzal and the picnic.

After lunch, we shall cross La Vilaine again on the dam. Our return to Pornichet will be by Gurande

and its medieval city, then La Baule, along the most beautiful beach of Europe, the highlight of theend of this ride.

SATURDAYS RIDE

The purpose of the ride is to go to the mouth of La Vilaine and see its mytiliculture* installations.

We shall therefore go to Trhiguier renowned for its farmed mussels.

Farmed mussels are raised on oak pickets, according to an age-old technique which began in Aiguillon

Bay (Vende). These mussels distinguish themselves by their hard, very black shell and a yellow

flavoursome body.

Raw or cooked, there are numerous ways to eat mussels:

in beer (with shallots tossed in olive oil with parsley) cooked in the oven under cheese and breadcrumbs, and a spoonful of pesto,

in a quiche (made of eggs, cream, herbs and shrimps),

stuffed (especially mussels from the Mediterranean Sea),

in brule-doigt* style (under the grill),

in clade (grilled on a layer of dried pine needles),

but also in soup, in brochettes, in mouclade*, in fritters...

EDITION: 22nd January 2013 Grard COHEN BACRI

All rights reserved - CODEP FFCT de Loire Atlantique

7

7/27/2019 A week in Pornichet

8/8

Ah yes - your mouth is watering, but for the moment you will have to content yourselves with an

energy bar! We shall return to our bikes to go back via Pnestin and its gold mine.

Do not hope to make your fortune there! This beach takes its name from the mineral research carried

out during the last century, although the site was in fact already known in antiquity.

The exploitation of gold-bearing sands still employed 15 persons on the eve of the First World War in

spite of its low profitability. For those who wish to do so, a practical lesson of wild oyster fishing at

sea can be arranged. You will be able to taste the fruit of your harvest. Incredible freshness!

SUNDAYS RIDE

Your stay is already coming to an end, so we

are proposing a short ride amongst friends;

a last look at the Bay of La Baule, a last ride in

the salt marshes to visit the Pen Bron Hlio

Marine Centre.

Pen Bron Marine Centre specializes in re-

education and rehabilitation. Situated in the

village of Turballe, in an exceptional location,

90 km from Nantes, 27 km from Saint-Nazaire and 15 km from La Baule, it welcomes children andadults with various mobility handicaps.

After crossing by boat, we shall arrive at Le Croisic and its port for a farewell coffee offered by the

leaders.

Gerard COHEN-BACRI

__________________________________________________________________________________

* Translators notes:

Page 2 - Department (44) - France is divided into 101 departments, 5 of these are overseas (Guadeloupe, Martinique,Mayotte, French Guyanna and La Reunion). Each department has a number (given by its alphabetical order on the list). Hence

Loire Atlantique is No 44. During this tour, you will be riding through Ile-et-Vilaine (St-Malo) which is No 35, Cote dArmor

(Sables dOr/Frehel) = No 22 and Morbihan (Josselin) = No 56. With Finistere No 29, the latter three departments (22, 35, 56)

form the Brittany region whereas Loire-Atlantique is in the Pays de la Loire region. This regional distinction is mostly political.

When you look at car number plates, you will notice these numbers and it is an indication of where the car comes from.

Page 3 Alphonse de Chateaubriant (1877-1951): French writer who won the French Academy Novel Prize for his novel La

Brire written in 1923. Attempted translation of the extract: "Big wild swamp the end of which we cannot see, full

of mens silence and birdsongs, where big wings, white as snow are deployed, and where, between the

aquatic flowers, boats sliding continuously in the magnificent air haloed with sun.

For additional info: cf. www.en.wikipedia.org

Page 3 Piarde: swampy areas

Page 7 River La Vilaine Gerards translation for this is the Naughty Boy strictly speaking it should be

The Naughty Girl. There are several theories as to how the river acquired its name. Cf. fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilaine

Page 7 - Mytilliculture = mussel farms, brule-doigt = burnt fingers (applies to food hot from the grill) - Mouclade: mussels cookedwith wine, cream, curry

EDITION: 22nd January 2013 Grard COHEN BACRI

All rights reserved - CODEP FFCT de Loire Atlantique

8

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/http://www.en.wikipedia.org/