France holiday day 11 Escape to and from Nantes

Despite having packed everything the night before getting off Ile de Re island took alot longer than we'd expected. Traffic started queuing about 3 kms from the toll bridge (the toll we paid covered both ways so not too expensive really). It took nearly a hour more than we'd hoped to reach La Rochelle plus the satnav was sending us around the houses but eventually got on the right road for Nantes. However the traffic approaching Nantes was pretty crap too but it was due to everyone going via its bypass to another motorway.
We were heading to Les Machines where the huge mechanical elephant was built. Easily found a carpark but had to take off the cycles as the barrier was too low. As we arrived and got in the queue a British family in front were asking about the elephant ride to which they said there was only two places available - we'd arrived too late! Instead we took the workshop tour, all in French so took some patience to wait and see the demo they were explaining otherwise it was really interesting to see the next stage plans for the theme park as well as the impressive old ship building warehouses it was based at.
Across the docks we queued behind what could only be described as a French version of the hillbillies for the Marine Carousel. Set on three levels each ride 'animal' had different interactive, mechanical levers and button to operate their features. More patience was needed as after each 2 minute ride was about a 5 minute wait as everyone got seatbelted or told how to operate the levers etc.
It was nightmare to drive out of Nantes due to blocked roads and re-ordering of routes, and the satnav nearly had a meltdown so just relied on 'Touts Directions' to get us out.
Without any campsite booked we used our first Aire at 5 euros. These are glorified parking areas for motorhomes for overnight stay and sometimes offer WC facilities etc. It was already nearly full with motorhomes hogging the electric points. However, apart from being right next to the main road into a village it worked out very well.