I went on a drive to Clisson with my scooter.
The scooter is usually the best way for me to move around a little bit freely. It gives me the possibility to visit places located around Nantes. I followed the advice of one of my colleague and decided to go visit Clisson, the town like many in the area has a castle because it is located close to the old border between France and Brittany.
I checked Google Maps before leaving to look at the right way to get there. I learned that it knows how to give directions for cars and for walkers but doesn’t know what to do for motorbikes that can’t go faster than 50 kmh. I modified the calculated route to use only local roads instead of highways and high speed roads, I was given a drive time of roughly 45 minutes by the route calculator which meant around 1 hour drive with my scooter.
The weather was sunny and warm, I almost left wearing only a t-shirt but changed my mind at the last minute to go grab a jacket. I had forgotten that the wind can be quite strong in this part of the country and was reminded every bit of the way. Here I was driving on small roads from Nantes to Clisson, this was the kind of thing I rarely do and I truly loved it. I drove through the outskirt of Nantes and through the boring areas with only shopping centres; once I was out of those I could see fields of grapes everywhere those grapes are used to make muscadet wine. I had absolutely no idea that this region was where the wine came from, I think I will take the time one week-end to go see wine producers to learn a little bit about the wine production in the area and its history.
I am spending so much of my time travelling that I never get to visit France so it is a real pleasure to drive through those small villages, to see the muscadet fields and to check those houses built so long ago. I sometimes felt like stopping to ask people how there life was, it must be so different from mine. I was a little bit hungry when I reached the village of Pallet, I expected to be able to buy something to eat in a bakery but no shop was open. I did a quick survey of the village and yes all the shops were closed, only someone from Paris would expect shops to be open on a Saturday afternoon everywhere in France. While looking for an open shop I saw a banner promoting the 24 hours table tennis event happening in the city. Those not interested by table tennis could go visit the museum of Nantes vineyards. Definitely something one should not miss.
I passed by the Lu factory (the brand is extremely famous for its biscuits in France), I don’t know if I was hallucinating because I was hungry but the area around the factory smelled like biscuits. As I didn’t find a place to fill my belly in Pallet I considered breaking in the factory to steal a box of biscuits. Had I done so I would have probably been caught and I am sure that the security team would tell me that I was not the first one with the same stupid idea. Clisson was anything but disappointing. It is a nice little town where life must be sweet and relaxing. The weather was great and the castle was standing proudly on a hill. I spent the whole afternoon walking around in the streets as well as inside what remains of the castle. This is typically one of those places that I really enjoy but I know would never be able to live in. The place is so peaceful that I completely understand why people prefer living in such a place rather than in a bigger city.
I was about to leave to drive back to Nantes when my eye caught a group of old-timers playing some kind of game. At first I thought they were playing “petanque” but they were in fact playing “la boule nantaise”. The game is roughly the same but the balls were bigger and made of wood. I looked quite intensively at the game as well as the people playing it. There were as many males as females, as many young people as old people; there was definitely a family vibe to the place. I must have stayed a full hour watching what was going on, next time I am in Clisson I will give this game a try.
La suite!
