Photos

Here is Lola, a ferry boat that links Couëron on the north side of river Loire to Le Pellerin on the south side. It is free of charge from september 1st 2005. It is very convenient for people who need to cross the river because it avoids taking a detour to Cheviré bridge on busy Nantes ring road. There's another such ferry boat upstream the river, between Basse-Indre and Indret.

Lola ferry boat was built by Merré shipyards, based in Nort-sur-Erdre. It can load up to 40 vehicles and 300 pessengers. It was inaugurated on april 15th 2012 by Mathieu Demy (son of film-maker Jacques Demy) and the actress Anouk Aimée, godmother for the ferry boat. The name Lola is a tribute to Jacques Demy first film Lola that was filmed in Nantes in 1961. Anouk Aimée played the role of Lola in this film.

I took this picture at early day last saturday. The weather was sunny but the temperature and the wind were very cold ! In the background you can see the cranes of Coteaux shipyars in Le Pellerin. These shipyards are part of Nantes - Saint-Nazaire port. They are in charge of maintenance of intenance Loire dredges, boats that extract mud and sand from the bed of the river Loire to make it navigable.