On the road to Bretagne (Brittany)

We left la Grande Motte on a rather dreary day for southern France where weather has been unusually cold for this time of the year.  It was sputtering but we were off to a good start, didn't miss any turns and found the highway for direction Barcelona.  We hadn't done a road trip in France in quite a few years, naturally things have changed.  The highway system is very impressive but also very expensive. It is privately owned by a consortium with the lofty name of Vinci.  I tried to find out who was behind the consortium without any success, it appears to be quite secretive.  In any case it is impressive in that the roads are well maintained, directions are clearly indicated and there is a radio service which broadcasts hourly or even continuously on major hangups which might occur along the way.

There are plenty of rest areas, so many in fact that it's almost mind boggling.  Some are more rudimentary with just a gas station and a store while others offer a broader range of services such as showers, finer dining and even hotels.  We've traveled by car a great deal, in the U.S. Mexico and Canada.  Canada is by far the worse in terms of rest areas.  We crossed all of Canada from coast to coast and probably located 5 which is beyond pathetic in terms of the service provided.  The U.S. is generally pretty good, highways are well maintained too and free of charge.  Mexico has a fairly comprehensive highway system but it's not cheap either although not as expensive as France.  The trip from St. Paul de Vence to La Grande Motte probably cost around 65 Euros (about $80.00 Canadian depending on the exchange rate) while the trip from La Grande Motte to Nantes cost 67 Euros, about the same.  In Bretagne (Brittany) highways are free, as soon as you get to Nantes.

The things one likes about France, lack of big advertisement on the highway, discrete panels, hidden away hotels etc...might also be the things one dislikes about France when one is tired of driving and seeking a motel type accommodation.  First of all there are none right beside the highway except for the odd rest areas which might have one usually fairly small hotel.  It's not like Canada or the U.S where you can just spot hotels from the highway, here it requires a bit more work.  We were getting tired and decided to get off the highway at a place called Chantonnay, it was on the map, I figured it would be a decent size.  Unfortunately there was a pilgrimage of sort going on and all the hotels in the town and the surrounding area were booked. We were directed to another town supposedly only 10 clicks away, turned out to be more like 25 or 30 clicks.
Got to the place in question, the two hotels in town were closed and we never found the other one.  Lost about a frustrating hour, decided to push on to Nantes.  Nantes was very chaotic with lots of "peripheriques" which circle the city, of course no hotels in sight.  We got lost on a peripherique and on our way to Paris. Had to turn around and I managed to spot Vannes (a smaller town) which held the possibility of some hotels being available.  Got to Vannes, it was cold and miserable.  There were 2 hotels not too far from the highway, i.e. you could actually see them, miracle of miracle.  The person at the reception desk was not very receptive to our request for a "chambre".  Apparently none were available in all of Vannes because of the golf tournament and that damn 4 day weekend was plaguing us again.  My only consolation was that the weather was crappy and golfing was not going to be a very pleasant experience.

At this point we were feeling quite dejected and sick of being on the road nevertheless we pushed on towards Lorient.  I spotted a hotel (again from the highway, double wow!) and there were a few rooms left, yes our quest was over.  This hotel was part of a chain and sort of a do it yourself booking although there was a receptionist there at the time we arrived.  Generally you can just plunk your Visa card down and book yourself a room via the handy machine outside.  These rooms are tiny,two suitcases, two adults and that's it. You can almost pee and shower at the same time but hey, they serve a purpose and they're pretty cheap by European standards.  Including breakfast for 2, 56 Euros that's a pretty good deal.

Refreshed and happy the next day we drove to Quimper and then to Guilvinec which was our final destination.  Just another note on French highways, not as many trucks and the trucks which are present are not as big as the ones in North America.  I liked that.  The speed limit is a fast 130 kms on a good day, on a rainy day 110 kms. Most people go faster, I do think the French are pretty good drivers. It's quite difficult to obtain a driver's license here. Many people fail on their first attempt and it's not unusual to have to try twice or even 3 times in order to get one.

This is it for my blog so far.  I will be updating when we visit some new spot but for now we're staying put with family.  Hope you enjoyed it.