Driving down from Calais to Bordeaux (ish): What route / where should I stay?

[Mr Moofo]

I am driving down to stay the weekend with some friends about 60 minutes from Bordeaux. We will stay with them Friday and leave Sunday.
We have a channel tunnel crossing on Wednesday and will come back the following Wednesday.
I have two nights before staying with them, and four nights after. I know very little about the area - other than it has a big sand dune and is not far from Oradour san Glane (and the inner grimness in me would quite like to visit)

Rough route would be Calais -> Le Mans (which I have stayed in and is a dump) and first night in Tours / Angers area
2nd night - La Rochelle
3rd / 4th nights with friends

Then ....

Anyone been round there / live round there and can give me some pointers ?
Or is La Rochelle worth two nights and doing on the return trip?

Any suggestions gratefully received

[KungFooBob]

If you stay in Angers you have to go see the Apocalypse Tapestry, it's fucking grim, but worth a see as there's not a lot else to see in Angers.

Old town Tours is pretty good for bars and restaurants.

I didn't really rate La Rochelle, I only went because it's the place mentioned in the GCSE French Tricolore textbooks.

[Mr Moofo]

I didn't really rate La Rochelle, I only went because it's the place mentioned in the GCSE French Tricolore textbooks.

TBF, that is what we are basing the tour on!

Looks like Angers gets the bums rush.

Better suggestions?

[Count Steer]

I used to use a route provided by Flash (of Flash Tours in Niort) to get down to that area and stopped over at the Hotel du Saumon in Verneuil d'Avre et d'Iton on the way down and back but that route takes you further inland and is twisty/great for biking. Stayed in Chinon a few times and liked the place.

Only ever been to La Rochelle to get a bike serviced. Le Mans is missable.

I'll see if I can dig out the route and see what jogs my memory about some of the places.

[Mr Moofo]

I used to use a route provided by Flash (of Flash Tours in Niort) to get down to that area and stopped over at the Hotel du Saumon in Verneuil d'Avre et d'Iton on the way down and back but that route takes you further inland and is twisty/great for biking. Stayed in Chinon a few times and liked the place.

Only ever been to La Rochelle to get a bike serviced. Le Mans is missable.

I'll see if I can dig out the route and see what jogs my memory about some of the places.

Any suggestions would be good - I know North France and East France through my Switzerland days - but this is all a little undiscovered for me.

Off to have look at your suggestions

[Mr Moofo]

Chinon would do - why would I want to stay there ?

[Count Steer]

I used to use a route provided by Flash (of Flash Tours in Niort) to get down to that area and stopped over at the Hotel du Saumon in Verneuil d'Avre et d'Iton on the way down and back but that route takes you further inland and is twisty/great for biking. Stayed in Chinon a few times and liked the place.

Only ever been to La Rochelle to get a bike serviced. Le Mans is missable.

I'll see if I can dig out the route and see what jogs my memory about some of the places.

Any suggestions would be good - I know North France and East France through my Switzerland days - but this is all a little undiscovered for me.

Off to have look at your suggestions

I don't think there's much to do in Verneuil but the hotel/food was

@Rockburner may have more ideas. TBH most of the time in the area was riding and eating. I know we went to Cognac but don't remember seeing much of the place. Might have gone to Angouleme too. I know a bit more about further south like Bayonne/Biarritz and inland from there into the Pyrenees/Basque country but that's a bit off track for you!

[Count Steer]

Chinon would do - why would I want to stay there ?

Wine, castle, Rabelais, river.....

(We first stopped there because we found a nice little Logis just over the river from the main bit. Thought it was an OK place and liked the Logis so went there again. There's a few places within striking distance to visit. I've been trying to find the Logis...it's a few years now. It might be the Rive Sud, not sure from the pix. It wasn't posh or expensive but the couple running it were nice as were the courtyard rooms. It was 8 mins walk across the bridge to the main bit).

[Sadlonelygit]

La rochelle, 24 hrs tops. Ile de re and Ile d'oleron better imo
Oradour.......meh
Lascaux caves, Rocheouart, St emilion if wines your thing.
Rochefort is cool on market day, rope museum is more interesting than it sounds!
Bergerac is worth a day out too!

[Count Steer]

La rochelle, 24 hrs tops. Ile de re and Ile d'oleron better imo
Oradour.......meh
Lascaux caves, Rocheouart, St emilion if wines your thing.
Rochefort is cool on market day, rope museum is more interesting than it sounds!
Bergerac is worth a day out too!

Hurrah! Someone agrees with me about Oradour!

[Mr Moofo]

Just about to book up accommodation
Any other suggestions?

Thanks

[DefTrap]

I've only driven that full route a couple of times - it's a loooooong way even on the fairly clear autoroutes, so you'll need at least one overnight stop. I did it once at Le Mans but it's not exactly pretty.

Angers is ok, quite pretty - I ate at Bistrot des Ducs when I was there, really good. Blinding steak - and I don't eat steak that often because meh you get it everywhere in France.

I really like La Rochelle. You'll only be interested in the old town and it's small so always gives the appearance of being rammed, so I wouldn't spend more than a day there. But it's pretty enough down there for a wander and sitting by the port quaffing beers in the sunshine is lovely. My favourite hotels are Maison des Ambassadeurs and Le Champlain, both very centrally located, and properly old-school French hotels - there's a decent carpark closeby under the main square. If eating, everyone plumps for those massive plates of shellfish. I can't really recommend anywhere to have that because shellfish isn't really my thing - but I'm told Bar André on the port is the best for that. Personally I would go round the corner from that to a great Italian place Le Comptoir italien. For caffs, my favourite is Cafe Moliere (just down the street from Maison des Ambassadeurs) as it's properly French, but if you want the full on big ritzy french caff experience then you have to go to Cafe de la paix (a hundred yards the other way)

[DefTrap]

Might have gone to Angouleme too ...

There's a great proper curry shop in Angouleme! Nothing else remarkable about the town from what I remember.

[Sadlonelygit]

Might have gone to Angouleme too ...

There's a great proper curry shop in Angouleme! Nothing else remarkable about the town from what I remember.

Angouleme is best visited 1st week (or thereabouts )of September for the circuit de remparts.
Handy for bike parts if you need any too.

[Mr Moofo]

Might have gone to Angouleme too ...

There's a great proper curry shop in Angouleme! Nothing else remarkable about the town from what I remember.

Angouleme is best visited 1st week (or thereabouts )of September for the circuit de remparts.
Handy for bike parts if you need any too.

Is Angouleme worth a visit, or go elsewhere

Having just seen it it twinned with Bury in the UK and Turda in Romania would suggest it's not

[katana]

If you stay in Angers you have to go see the Apocalypse Tapestry, it's fucking grim, but worth a see as there's not a lot else to see in Angers.

Old town Tours is pretty good for bars and restaurants.

I didn't really rate La Rochelle, I only went because it's the place mentioned in the GCSE French Tricolore textbooks.

Yeah I went to La Rochelle for the same reason. Was underwhelmed.

[Mr Moofo]

Well, we are going to La Rochelle, whether you lot like it or not!

[Sadlonelygit]

Spend €8 and pop over the bridge. Lunch in St Martin is very la-de-dah

[katana]

Well, we are going to La Rochelle, whether you lot like it or not!

Hey, did you have the french text books?

It is nothing like that.

[Trogladyte]

It was a good while ago that I did this. I stayed in Le Mans overnight. The cathedral is amazing, like a huge brooding malevolent spider, keeping an eye on her estate.