Having escaped from the cider farm intact, if a few quid lighter from my alcoholic acquisitions, I hit the road. Some kilometres down the road, I remembered that the Pont de Normandie was a buttock-clencher, but only half way over. That’s what comes of following Satnav Sam. The free autoroute after there took me to Chateaubriant, arriving too late for lunch, but with enough time for a tour of the outside of the eponymous chateau, and the inside of E.Leclerc’s hypermarket. From there a hour’s drive to Nantes Camping, which was full.

Of course it was full, it’s sunny and it’s Labour Day on Wednesday. It turns out not only the camping was closed to me, but the whole of Nantes seems to be taking a day off for May Day. Reception pointed me to another campsite, beyond the ring road, who had space and gave me 15% discount for Camping Club membership. They gave me instructions for public transport into Nantes, for the next day: 15 minutes walk, 20 minutes on a bendy bus, then ten minute tram ride. Wouldn’t have got that adventure with my planned sojourn.

So on with the walking boots, and making the most of today. 13000 steps later, I’d taken in Les Machines de l’Ile, walked past the Carousel, eaten a cheese galette, wandered down the riverside past the Slavery memorial, as far as the tourist office opposite another huge castle, then backtracked to take in the Passage de Pommeraye. This was recommended to me by a Nantaise neighbour in the queue for the Machines, it’s a newly restored three level C19th century shopping arcade (reminded me of Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project, I must dig it out when I get home).

I’m getting ahead of myself; being a bit too non-linear. The main event, and the pretext for the visit, was the Machines. In 2008, the company Royal de Luxe were invited to London, as a tryout for British creatives in running large scale events. This was in the run up to the 2012 Olympics ceremonies. The narrative was that a little giantess (an 8m puppet) had landed in town; she was being pursued by a time-travelling sultan on the back of a large (puppet) elephant, complete with howdah and musical doodah, which is how they got the energy etc etc etc. She sewed cars to the street, and took a shower in Green Park; the Sultan was officially greeted by the mayor on the steps of the National Gallery. Anyway.

I quizzed the attendant, as to whether it was the same elephant, and as far as I could understand, Royal de Luxe are a different but related company who do the touring with another, smaller pachyderm. (They also brought a giant spider to Liverpool subsequently).

The Machines’ current project, in the research phase, is a giant mechanical heronry; in the gallery next to the elephant are a series of mechanical marvels. The crowd are treated to an exhibition of moving automata, often with children invited to take the controls. A heron, a 6m tarantula, a sloth, a chameleon, a swarm of butterflies, and topped off with an aviator, battling the weather from a wind machine and a smoke generator.

For anyone of a mechanical bent; I’m thinking of my brother, and my grandson here, this is heaven: cogs, gears, chains, hydraulics, electric motors; plus holes in concrete dug with jackhammers, all in the remains of Nantes’ former shipyards.

There will be more photos added later, when I’ve sorted out WiFi connections. ( Update: done it!) In the meantime, à bientôt!

There’s a large yellow crane on the dockside, in French, la Grue Jaune. In the cafe there was rather good cartoon of Gru from Despicable Me, with the crane under his arm making an escape.