Biking Down the Loire Valley - The Seventh Day

The next morning, we biked over to the German U-boat pens on the waterfront, a short distance away.  They were the main reason this part of St Nazaire was heavily bombed during the war.  Didn’t much hurt the enormously thick concrete roof and walls of the pens, but the near-misses destroyed most of the area around them.  The pens now are used for a museum and for various exhibitions and performances.  The two photos below are from Trip Advisor.

The following description from Wikipedia gives an idea of the massiveness of the installaion:

The base is 300 metres long, 130 metres wide and 18 metres high, amounting to a 39,000 m² surface on the ground, and a volume of concrete of 480,000 m³. The roof is 8 metres deep, featuring four layers: the first one is a 3.5 metre sheet of reinforced concrete; the second is a 35 cm granite and concrete layers; the third is a 1.7 metre layer of reinforced concrete, and the fourth, is a "Fangrost" layer of steel beams, 1.40 metres deep.

Interior of U-Boat Pen

Exterior of U-Boat Pens

We then rode over to the train station, where we were pleased to see that the train had a car dedicated to bikes used on the Loire path, including a staff of two on the car to manage the bikes and hand out claim checks.

Train Car for Bikes - Photo From Web

Although not the TGV, the local trains are very fast and efficient.  We covered 314km in about 2-3/4 hours.  Upon arrival in Blois, we said good-by to Tom, who would return to Britain where he is living, via Paris.  The rest of us rode to where we had left the car, put the bikes on the racks, and set off on the 4-1/2 hour drive to Lyon, arriving about 6PM.

Could not resist one more picture, taken by Roger as we arrived, I believe, in the town of Monlouis-sur-Loire.  It's a great example of how the French just kind of scatter art about, to be viewed in the most unexpected places, in the case, along a minor highway along the Loire.

 

Roadside Art

6km for the day, 422km for the trip!