Very rainy and windy last night. We are woken by horses nudging against the van and cuckoos calling. We are ready to leave as the horses are being readied for their day at work.

We cross the huge bridge at St Nazaire which corkscrews up ahead, giving us great views of a navy ship under construction below us before decending to the start of the Marais marshlands.

We find an aire in Pinochet to empty waste and loo but the 'Flot Bleu'machine won't accept our cards for payment. Snoopy takes us on to La Bernerie-en-Retz where dumping is free.

In Bouin we buy warm Paninis and drive out to L'Epoids, a fishing port on the edge of the marshes where we eat them in a large camper-stop, watching terns and swallows swooping over the reeds.

The road through the Marais winds along a few feet above the marshes with deep ditches along the edge. The blue water ripples in the wind as does the acres of flat grass, and dotted around are villages of low buildings with salmon and ginger pan-tile rooves.

A quick stop in Super-U in Beauvoir-sur-Mer to get some tuna and salad for tea [and beer], plus some fuel then on over more winding dyke roads until we join the main road towards les Sables-d' Olonne.

We arrive at La Roserie France Passion at 16:15.

http://laroseraiedevendee.moonfruit.fr/

This is a rose nursery with a few pitches for camping cars in the orchard. We park on grass in an avenue of blossom, have a walk around the orchard then sit out with a drink in the sunshine. 18:30 it clouds over so we move inside to prepare our salad Nicoise. All around the cicadas are chirping interrupted only by the occasional croaking of toads.