Broome Manor Pétanque

Le Croisic

In 2013 and 2014 Broome Manor Pétanque undertook a tour in France, organised by Ralph Jones and Peter Latham. The tour was to Le Croisic and the surrounding area in the Loire Atlantique, at the mouth of the River Loire, near La Baule. Some went by ferry and car, some flew to Nantes and came by minibus.

We played in two ‘free-for-all’ tournaments, at Le Croisic and Le Pouliguen, and matches against two clubs – Le Croisic and La Turballe. The matches were against mainly retired people like ourselves, but some of us found ourselves up against frighteningly good teenagers in the 'free-for-all' competitions.

Needless to say, we scarcely won a match, although Ralph did win one match on each tour, with Peter in 2013 and Dick Hardy in 2014, and there were other successes.

We were entertained royally by both clubs, and we would like to thank them enormously for their welcome, and their forbearance in the light of our ineptitude. For comparison, think asking the French cricket team (it exists!) to play England in a Test Match!

We would particularly like to thank Isabelle at La Turballe (who seemed to take a shine to Dick) and Bernard at Le Croisic, who organised our matches.

We had a ‘tour free’ year in 2015 but for 2016, we have organised a tour to Chinon in the Loire Valley.