A Weekend In Brittany

Sat.18^th and Sun.19^th May.

We’re getting into the swing of things here…no early starts as we’re well and truly into holiday mode now and as it’s still light at 10pm, we don’t eat till late…i.e. later than we do at home.

On a visit to the Carrefour market after leaving le Conleau at Vannes, we bought a bicycle for moi (they didn’t have one suitable for Mike so we’ll have to keep looking) then we drove to Port Navalo on the Gulf of Morbihan, parked Boris and had a wander around the fabulous little fishing/boating harbour town before moving on to St Gildas deRhuys where we stopped to have lunch overlooking the Bay of Quiberon, enjoying the view and the sunshine.  Our overnight stop was at Piriac sur Mer which we reached via the fast road part way, then narrow slow roads.  By the time we arrived, the weather had turned and light rain was falling though not too much for a short walk to the beach before dinner and a small excursion on the bike.

Our plans for today (Sun.) were changed early on by necessity.  Boris was running low on fuel and being Sunday, the only open service station we could find would not accept our credit card, there was no attendant there (they don’t work on Sundays) so we had no alternative but to stay here…here being Guerande, as we didn’t want to risk running out and being stranded.  It turned out to be an absolute bonus! 

When we’d parked up and had lunch, we walked the 1.5kms into the walled medieval village which was absolutely fabulous and we enjoyed a happy couple of hours or more wandering around the cobbled streets, into the magnificent church (even though we’re not religious, we share an interest in churches of all denominations) and checked out the chocolate shops and cafes etc.  The rest of the afternoon was spent playing UNO…it has been raining on and off all day but a great day.  We drove all of 26kms today…at this rate we’ll be here until 2113!!

Monday dawned, still raining and cold.  Newsflash…today is Pentecost and a public holiday in France so the nearby service station is not open at all, as Mike found out by riding ‘our’ bike there to check it out, but he did come back with a baguette and some small cakes from the boulangerie which was open!  Last night’s plans were quickly changed and we decided to go the 10 or so kms to Batz-sur-Mer and stay there till tomorrow morning, when we should be able to get the necessary fuel to continue on our journey…but…it must be our lucky day as only a few kms down the road, we came across an open service station so swooped in, filled up and continued on to lovely le Croisic, another gorgeous seaside village.  We spent an hour or two strolling through the cobbled streets and inspecting the impressive church of Notre Dame de Pitie before continuing on as originally planned down the coast to St Jean de Monts, stopping at St Brevin for lunch after crossing the massive bridge over le Loire Estuary at St Nazaire.  A side trip to Noirmoutier-en-I’lle was cancelled when we found the short cut we were taking was flooded by the high tide and as low tide wasn’t due for another 5 hours, we retraced our steps and carried on to our destination.  We’re just outside St Jean de Monts at a camp 4kms from the town and as it’s too wet and cold to walk or ride, we will investigate it in the morning.

The main idea of this trip is to more or less recreate the ride we did in 1969 on our little motor bikes, there are no concrete plans other than to meet friends D. & K. in Paris in July to watch the final day of le Tour de France.  So far, we have been planning a day’s adventure the night before and often the plan changes through the course of the day.  We have stumbled into surprising towns and villages and through gorgeous scenery, and we’re enjoying ourselves immensely, in spite of the weather.  Vive la France!