Day 8.             Tuesday 6th June 2017.     Mileage:   0000        Total:  292

From:             St Nazaire Sub Pens           To: St Nazaire Sub Pens

Weather:       Very windy, sunny. With some intermittent showers.

The winds and pouring rain did not stop us from dropping off to sleep pretty quickly last night although it abated by 2300hrs. The bus depot next door was a slight issue at about 0600hrs when they all seemed to start up to depart for their routes. I soon dropped off again.

Our camping car location is virtually on the end of the sub pen block. This massive structure dominates the port road. It is disappointing in that there is little evidence of what it was really like all those years ago.  Some of the landward side walls have been removed to allow a straight “walkthrough” to the inner basin. In one of these directly opposite the shielded outer sub lock gates, the Lifeboat and inshore RIB’s have taken up moorings. The tourist office together with a bar/restaurant has space in another and in one of the old enclosed double pens there is a very interesting conversion detailing the glory days of French liners and Transatlantic passenger travel. Called Escal’Atlantic. Many of the others are given over to commercial enterprise. There is even an exhibition hall at one end.

The Escal’Atlantic.

http://paysdelaloire.co.uk/Activities/Family/Family-museums-and-other-sites/Escal-Atlantic

This exhibition takes you inside a mock-up of a luxury passenger liner. This was interesting and passed some ninety minutes or so but I felt it lacked real substance. Disney would have done it much better. An example of this might well be when you emerge out onto the promenade deck and gaze at the pen wall opposite there is a huge projection of the open sea, sometimes we pass another liner, a seagull flies past, then ice bergs float into view followed by a thunderstorm. Disney would have had wind and fine mist spray machines to add another dimension. Probably me, I’m just being picky. At the last moment they pulled something out of the hat. You are evacuated into a life boat and lowered down the side of “the liner”. Exiting into the shop. At least that’s straight out of Disney! 

We had bought a “savings ticket” for three attractions at the Ticket Office, located opposite the Tourist Office. Our next attraction was to be to the submarine Espadron. (Swordfish) We were advised to have lunch prior to embarking as this attraction closes for lunch until 1400hrs. Feeling peckish we went in search of scran. Mike fancied Italian and we were fortunate in we found one only a few hundred metres away on the main square. It was fairly busy. The local shop and office workers were having lunch. Confirmed by the mass exodus at 1345hrs! We heard the term Restaurant Ticket used and both immediately thought of Suzie. Now like us retraite.

We walked the short distance to the Espadron exhibition. This French sub dates from late 1957. She was the first French boat to pass beneath the polar ice fields and is housed in the water of the protected dock, built by the Germans in late 1942. Built in part because they were concerned about attempts to bomb a sub entering the basin and blocking everything. Remember the British had rammed and blown the Southern lock gates to the Normandie basin with HMS Campbeltown earlier that year in late March 1942. This was to prevent Tirpitz and other battleships from using the dock and repair yards on this Western coast.

The self-guided audio tour on board was most interesting. We all know there is little room on board submarines but I felt this particular boat was a Health and Safety managers nightmare. It was seemingly impossible to pass anyone in the corridor, everywhere there were projections, shelves and equipment upon which one could easily bang your head. All made of steel. Nothing flimsy. There seemed no space for anything. The other ranks quarters, bunks and mess deck were extremely cramped. The officers, even the captain’s, one could hardly describe as palatial.

The St Nazaire Bassin North entrance.

Looking East.

The St Nazaire Bassin North entrance.

Looking West.

We returned via the Normandie dock North lock gate to the U boat pens. Pen 1 next to the annexe. If we could have walked directly across, through the grain silo complex, we would have been at the camper.

We called into Carrefour situated opposite the Tourist Office. We went in for milk but were sorely tempted by the Jameson’s offer. A litre of whisky for £10. Yes that’s right. £10. How do they do it Stanley?