PAYS DE LA LOIRE

TUFFÉ

JUNE 2018

I stayed at Le Po Doré site near Allonnes for a week but then moved on to Camping du Lac at the old town of Tuffé, a few miles north east of Le Mans and about half way between Saumur and Caen.

This small and quiet rural village grew up around an Abbey unusually founded and occupied by Nuns in the 7^th Century. Benedictine Monks were admitted 400 years later and the House was demoted to become a Priory subordinate to the Abbey of St Vincent in Le Mans.

The old buildings were extensively replaced and extended in the 17^th and 18^th centuries and, as with so many religious and aristocratic buildings in France, gutted during the Revolution and turned to other purposes thereafter.        In this case they were used as a pottery workshop and garage for farm equipment.

Modern volunteers care for the remains, particularly the principal two-storey building and a separate cloister and gardens with a large Pigeonnier nearby. The pigeons for the Prior's table had the luxury of an extensive array of pottery lined nesting boxes on the interior walls of the tower-like Pigeonnier. Volunteers are currently engaged at a leisurely pace in archeological and restoration projects.

These historical remains are rather dwarfed by recent housing developments though it has to be said those nearest the Abbey have been done tastefully and are limited in height.

One of the sources of the villages current prosperity and interest is a “Base de Loisirs” (Recreation Centre) created around a large lake in the valley just north-west of the village.

The lake is roughly rectangular in shape with long sides of about 1 km and short ones of ¼ km each. It is surrounded by a mostly flat and gravel-surfaced track popular with anglers, walkers and cyclists.  I very much enjoyed using it frequently, sometimes for just one circuit and sometimes for two. These rides were shorter than others earlier on the trip but more regular.

There is also a sailing club with boards for windsurfers, small dinghies and catamarans very popular with locals at weekends, and at one end of the lake an artificial beach has been created with imported sand that's also popular for sunbathing, swimming or just relaxing.   

Near the campsite and sailing club there's a restaurant and bar with a "Menu Touristique" - not exactly a gourmet's first choice but a distinct cut above a typical English, or even French café/bar.       Pedaloes and canoes can also be rented here.

So, taken altogether this was a very relaxed and calming place to stay - at least for the first ten days. 

I chose a pitch at the lowest level of the site as it had a good view of the lake – seen through the window of the caravan in this picture.

View of lake and glimpse of its peripheral track

That was fine for most of the time but led to a dramatic curtailment of my stay at the end after a few days of thunderstorms and heavy rain.     

I was awoken one night at 02:00 by a loud thumping on the side of the van and a voice saying “Fireman”.    It wasn't a fire alarm though but instead a flood alarm announced by “Les Pompiers” who provide civil emergency services of all sorts.    

The lake is fed by a small river that flows down the valley and the heavy rains increased the inward flow to an extent that the outflow couldn't match so the water level was rising rapidly.   The Pompiers had issued notice to evacuate the site with occupants taking cars to a park at a higher level but leaving vans where they were.

Here is a copy of the email I sent to family describing what happened.

I used always to have a Grab Bag containing vital essentials on the boat but never thought I'd need one in a caravan!

The worst thing last night after being woken by Le Pompier was remembering the most important things to take, finding them, and thinking the bike, table and chairs that were all outside might float away or be badly damaged if I just left them where they were.

I'd put the bike in the car so often that was soon accomplished but in my haste I broke one of the table leg's locking struts - so I don't know if that will still stand up any more.

It was 03:00 by the time I'd retreated to the car park and I went for a short drive to try and discover how high the water had reached - but the easiest access point in the village had been taped-off, so perhaps low-altitude citizens had been evacuated as well.

But I did find an entrance to the path around which I had cycled several times and the water had risen nearly to that level- perhaps 18 - 24 inches below the level of the van's lowest feet and 24-30 inches below the lowest floorboards. 

But of course the slope was fairly gentle so I realised the volume needed to really trouble the van would be huge because of the large area of the lake.

Nevertheless it was on my mind when I returned to the car park at about 04:00 and again at 05:15 when I woke from an uncomfortable doze as daylight began to creep over the landscape.

So, I was back at the campsite entrance at 06:00 to find the access key I'd been given didn't work and the reception office was in darkness. I thought I'd have to wait for some-one to show up. But, luckily a staff member who had been dozing in the office was alerted by the car's headlights and came out to investigate.

He said - "You can't stay in your van". "That's OK" I replied, thinking it could easily be a couple of days before enough water drained away for residence to be resumed, or even longer if there was more rain. "I just want to collect my van and leave the site. I can do that in 30 minutes maximum". "OK", he said.

So that's what I did and was on the road by 06:30, though tidying up and packing away the pots and pans, unwashed dinner dishes, etc, wasn't up to my usual standards. He also advised using Routes National only since he'd heard many of the Départemental roads and villages along them were impassable.

My objective was to reach the site at Ouistreham at which I had already booked a pitch for Friday and I was glad I took the site staff member's advice, even though I had to go back some distance to Le Mans to do so.  It continued to rain most of the way to Caen and several minor roads leaving the A28 and A88 had notices at the Junction - "Barré, Inondée".

It took a lot longer than usual to set up the van when I reached the Bella Riva campsite at Ouistreham but eventually the rain stopped and I finished doing so.

Its now windy but sunny and all is over except for the broken table leg and that I'm very tired.

Altogether an interesting experience but not so traumatic as arriving at Richards Bay in a Violent Storm (See Grandpa's Voyages blog).