I thought it might be worth summarising some of our good and bad
experiences of using facilities for wheelchairs and a disabled user in
west and south Brittany and the Vendée as far south as the Île d'Yeu,
and observations on travel in and to France generally. I'm doing this
from memory, so particularly good or bad experiences stand out.
I'm posting this in several sections but will try to link them all together.
For
those who have not read the rest of the blog, these reports relate to
locations where we have taken our Westerly Storm with Sam, who suffered a
massive stroke in 2012 and has right-side weakness. He is lifted on and
off the boat using a halyard and harness and normally moves around
marinas in a wheelchair pushed by me. He can walk short distances along
finger pontoons if they are stable enough and he has something to hold
on to. We find very tidal areas like north Brittany difficult as we can
generally only get Sam up and down ramps two or three hours either side
of high water.
Roscoff Marina: This is a vast, relatively new marina, and the distance from your berth to the
capitainerie
may be considerable. There is a disabled access lift for use at low
water, visible as a little cabin on the top level in the photo above,
unfortunately out of order when we were there in June 2016. Access
around the marina is generally excellent with very wide jetties and
promenade areas and a relatively smooth ramp to the pontoons. I can't
remember the detail of the disabled shower, I think Sam must have been
too clean to need it when we arrived.
L'Aberwrac'h: We didn't attempt to get Sam off the boat here, nor from the moorings at Sainte-Evette. We have never found a way to transfer Sam to and from a dinghy alongside the boat.
Brest, Moulin-Blanc marina: We
spent a week here in July 2017 and another unexpected two weeks in
September 2017. We asked for an accessible berth in advance and were
placed on the visitor's pontoon straight down from the
capitainerie,
where the boat is alongside a very wide, accessible jetty. One minor
hiccup is that at high water, especially at springs, the little ramp
connecting the main ramp becomes steeper as the main ramp becomes
flatter, It took all my strength to get Sam up it. Otherwise the access
everywhere was very good although distances quite long. There was a
choice of disabled bathrooms but we used the men's facilities in the
block under the Tour du Monde restaurant because it had a sturdy shower
seat. The second time we used it the washbasin was no longer working.
The car parks get very full and it is rarely possible to find a disabled
space especially in the summer and at weekends.
In Brest we went to
Océanopolis,
one of France's biggest aquariums, which we would recommend for both
disabled and non-disabled users and is just behind the marina. You need
to take some proof of disability (eg a blue badge) to get a small
discount for the disabled person, none for the carer. We also went by
no. 3 bus into the city centre. The buses were great with wheelchair
ramps available (although it took two goes to lower one of them so they
are obviously not often used) but the city centre is somewhat dull. If
we did it again I would get off the bus at Octroi and walk
down the main street, which is a very long hill, instead of getting off at Place Liberté and walking
up it!
It's
well worth going to the botanical gardens, which are stunning, although
we cheated and drove Sam to the lower car park, and didn't go to far in
because the valley slopes quite steeply.
|
Port Vauban showing wide jetties |
|
Ramp
at a couple of hours before HW, still very steep and inaccessible for
Sam. There is not enough space to turn a wheelchair or even lift it
round on to the upward ramp unless you had several helpers |
Camaret, Port Vauban:
We went to the outer marina, Port Vauban, at least partly because it
had lots of space on alongside berths and very wide jetties. However a
comment on a CA report made me aware that the ramp is steep even at high
water, because it goes to the top of the high sea wall. I went to
investigate and not only is the ramp steep, but at the top is a little
downward ramp which is far to steep for safe access of a wheelchair and
offers nothing to hold on to. I could't think of a way to get Sam past
it, so he stayed on board. Facilities at Port Vauban are in a small
historic building and are down a number of steep steps, so are
completely inaccessible. I didn't go into the facilities in the town
centre marina but they looked rather old and tired.
|
Access to the citadel is bumpy but manageable for a wheelchair |
|
The marina seen from the citadel in fog |
Concarneau:
this was the third time we had tried to get to Concarneau, this time
with success in July 2017. We could have taken a berth at the very inner
end of the visitors' jetty which would have been alongside the main
walkway. I'm not sure if it would have been worth it however, as it was
quite noisy. This is a base for the Glenan sea schools and every crew
member from every one of the boats would be walking past your cockpit.
It was marginally more peaceful on our own finger pontoon. The
facilities are accessed through the capitainerie and it was one location
where i never found the disabled showers, if there are any. The public
toilets on the other side of the building are accessible but not very
attractive. We took Sam into the citadel which was manageable but very
crowded, and spent a lovely couple of hours in the maritime museum which
was quiet, easy to get around, interesting and free for both Sam and
for me as his carer.
Benodet, Port du Penfoul:
We were on the Benodet side of the river. Reasonable finger pontoons
and jetties and good access around the marina. If you moored on a
hammerhead, disabled access might be better, but there is a very strong
tide running through the marina which is stronger the further out into
the stream you are. This was the first time that Guy showed me how to
lash the finger pontoon to the boat – if you use a short rope and make
it as tight as possible, you stabilise the finger pontoon with six
tonnes of yacht. Modern showers with disabled access. The town is also
fairly easy to get around with a couple of small hills but the
wheelchair is manageable all the way along the seafront.
Lorient: The
visitor's pontoon has alongside moorings but was already rafted up two
or three deep when we arrived, possibly with sea-school boats. We were
allocated a finger pontoon instead. There are new-ish facilities with
adequate disabled access, although again I don't think Sam used them.
|
The Port-Louis Capitainerie and bridge to the visitors' pontoon |
Port-Louis: We liked Port-Louis a lot and would not bother going back to the Lorient city marina again. Excellent facilities in a new
capitainerie
building with a lovely view out over the river. Both ladies and gents
had two disabled showers. After experimentation we ended up in the
smaller shower in the ladies because there was more for Sam to hold on
to. The ramps to the pontoons go over a bridge arrangement which is
always disconcerting. The town is uphill whichever way you go to it, so
we didn't get Sam much beyond the seafront
moules restaurants. We didn't try getting Sam on the little ferries across the river, which might have been interesting.
Port Haliguen:
We have been here several times but although convenient I find it very
soul-less, perhaps because of the huge sea walls. Both in 2016 and 2017
we were a long walk from the
capitainerie albeit on different
sides of the marina and we didn't get Sam off the boat. Facilities were a
bit disappointing but there are plans for massive further development
so no doubt they will be much better in future. The beaches are lovely,
however.
|
Fabulous
aerial photos of the marina at La Trinité, click through to see them at
full size. Romeo is the closest pontoon to the bridge and connects to a
walkway at the far end |
La Trinité: We
were chucked off the visitors' pontoon and sent to Pontoon R which is
actually the wavebreak. With luck and determination we got a really good
spot on the inside of the jetty - outside is quite unpleasant in any
kind of weather. The jetty was plenty wide enough to get Sam straight
into the wheelchair but there was an extremely annoying raised barrier
in the middle of the jetty which Sam had to climb over, and little
bridges connecting the jetties which were rather hard work. Pontoon R is
around half a mile by road from the rest of the marina and the town,
but fortunately there are accessible but rather dilapidated facilities
at that end of the marina. It's worth walking round to see the racing
yachts and the Philippe Plisson gallery.
Accessibility: France generally, ferries and hotels
Accessibility: west and southern Brittany(this article)
Accessibility: the Vilaine
Accessibility: the Vendée t/c