YUMMY
BRYHER
Category Archives: BRITTANY
FINISTERE REGION BRITTANY
CONCARNEAU
Arrived into Concarneau in Breton Konk Kerne in English means ‘Bay of Cornwall’, found the ‘Aire’ handbrake on, all locked up, off we set on a lovely scenic walk along the harbour to the foot ferry, wow what a way to arrive, it takes you across the harbour entrance on the ‘Lanriec’ passage, the crossing is 200 metres & is the “smallest world cruise” trip lasts 5 minutes!!! Great fun & quick way to enter the city. It’s a quaint old fortified town on a long island in the centre of a harbour, very beautiful, you can walk along the ramparts with some spectacular views, the town made its living from the fishing industry for hundreds of years & still to this day 100,000 tonnes of tuna are caught just remember this when your tucking into your tuna mayo buttie!!! Narrow streets filled with shops & restaurants, time for lunch, you’ve got to be on the ball here for lunch as it starts at midday & finishes at 2-2.30, just realised that its now 2.15, race on, found a lovely restaurant tucked around the end of a narrow lane, devoured sardines, salad & a bottle of local rose, bliss. Back on the foot ferry, decided that we wanted to stay a little longer as we’re enjoying it so much or could it off been the rose?? Found a great campsite ‘Camping du Moulin D’aurore’, just down the road from the Aire, when enquiring with the receptionist who ladies looked like a French version of Tom Cruise! Said there was a deal on as it’s out of season now, you can imagine Tony he was practically hugging the poor guy!!!
Fantastic market on Friday bought loads of stuff for the bar-b-q, just relaxed & enjoyed our stay tremendously.
CONCARNEAU
WALK INTO CONCARNEAU
FOOT FERRY
CAMPSITE
Tripped onto Pont L’Abbe it’s between the ‘Odet’ river & bay of Audierne, found an incredible spot right on the estuary, had a pleasant walk along the towpath, beautiful landscapes shaped by the tides well worth doing. Back to Snuggly for prawns & rose whilst watching the tide ebb & flow up & down the estuary fantastic site, really tired as we’ve driven 12 miles today!!
Hugging the rugged scenic coast road taking in Loctudy,a Welsh flag caught my eye this town is twinned with Fishguard, the impressive light house in Penmarch, up to Raz Point, this is like Lands End & John O’Groats a bit commercial for us but still very beautiful, very dramatic, crashing waves and strong winds, in the distance you can see 2 lighthouses & the Island de Sein, the famous ‘Ar Men’ lighthouse which is the best-known and the furthest from the French coast, a triumph of engineering that took 34 years to build, a beautiful statue ‘Our Lady of the Drowned Souls’ keeps watch over the water, worth making the effort. Found another lovely spot oh so we thought until we got infested with ninja mozzies, I was up most of the night zapping them with Tony snoring beside me, managed to get a couple of hours sleep, woke up to elephant man sleeping beside me, the mozzies had attacked his face, poor thing.
Onto Douarnenez located in the mouth of the Pouldavid river an estuary on the southern shore of Douarnenez Bay, another picturesque town, here comes a factoid: the town is linked to the legend of Tristan & Iseult from the times of King Arthur! Looking for a place for lunch fell upon L’Athanor restaurant www.l-athanor.com last table available, what a find OTT decoration, very flamboyant with an exceptionally friendly host, my word it had the food to back it up, a must visit, lush! We’re looking for a spot for the night, found a quiet place in Plonevez Porzay, just had a paddle, lovely.
PENMARC’H
BREAKING THE RULES!!
AUDIERNE
OH NOT AGAIN!
PERKY!
PORS LOUBOUS
COASTAL WALK GR34
‘OUR LADY OF THE DROWNED SOULS’
POINT RAZ
DOUARNENEZ
FANTASTIC RESTAURANT
PLONEVEZ PORZAY
MORBIHAN REGION OF BRITTANY
JOSSELIN
Its late afternoon & we’ve just arrived at Newhaven ferry port, this is the first time that we’ve used this route to Dieppe, Tony wasn’t impressed, delay to get on & took forever to get off, last one off!!! Eventually off the ferry it’s now 11.30pm driving 10 miles to catch up with some motorhoming friends, Jimbo & Sandra, obviously not tonight!! No street lights on anywhere after a few chosen words from Tony & with me shining a torch in all the wrong places apparently we managed to park Snuggly up!
Awoke to a grey misty rain filled sky 17 degrees, but Sandra & Jimbo lifted our spirits or could it off been the copious glasses of wine! Great catch up, just managed a night with them as it was their last day after a month vacation & our first of our month.
We’re heading towards Vannes, but Jimbo recommended Josselin, found a lovely free spot for Snuggly, OMG just opened the motorhome door & it’s like some one has just turned on the central heating 28 degrees what difference a day makes, unbelievable! Wow what a pretty town, what hits you first is the castle with its medieval renaissance architecture & its impressive granite towers they dominate over the lovely setting on the river Oust & Nantes-Brest canal, pots of flowers bursting with colour are everywhere I can see why the town is listed as a ‘Small city of character’. The narrow streets are lined with half timbered medieval houses all in incredible condition, time for a drinkie, plenty of choice decided on a bar right by the castle memorising views, the town is really geared up for motorhomers with 3 ‘Aires’, UK take note, don’t get me started on THAT issue!!!!
After a rest less night due to the heat, made our way to Malestroit, another delightful medieval town where the Nantes-Brest canal runs through, here comes a factoid: the canal is 385km long & has 238 locks! Market day is on Thursday, great produce, fab choice, plenty of provisions bought, really enjoyed conversing with the stall holders, especially with my rusty virtually non existent French with plenty of arm waving!! Both feeling a little peckish, so sort out a restaurant in ‘Bouffay Square’ decided on something traditional, so a no brainer had to be a Galette, this is a pancake made with buckwheat flour & is savoury, we chose the ‘Complete Galette’ which is the most tradional, it has ham, Emmental cheese & egg, delicious, thankfully only ordered one it was huge! We spent the rest of the day relaxing & enjoying the glorious weather. After such a lazy day yesterday thought it would be a good idea to explore the area on our bikes, picnic packed, bikes off, here we go, its fantastic for biking as its flat with paths running along the Nantes-Brest canal, well almost until we did a little detour looking for an ancient monument all uphill, which we never found in blistering heat, round trip off about 25km, bloody knackered could hardly get off the bike, walking like John Wayne for about half an hour, needless to say our stock off wine had a hammering!!
MALESTROIT
PAM LIKES A GOOD SAUSAGE!!
Sore heads this morning & our other bits, too much information!! Drove 15kms to ‘Lizio’ small Breton village famous for its 4 museums with a population of only 800, lovely quaint village, very relaxing.
LIZIO
Enroute to Vannes but wanted to stop at Rochefort en Terre as a fellow motorhomer had said how beautiful it was, it has been voted as one of the most beautiful villages in France & it certainly lives up to that, narrow streets mixed with 16th century half-timbered & Renaissance buildings, houses decorated with colourful geraniums bursting into bloom. After all that sightseeing you’ve guessed it we’re feeling peckish, stumbled across a magnificent patisserie making the local delicacy ‘Kouign Amann’,which means cake & butter in Breton, a Breton crusty cake, made with Viennoiserie dough, layers of butter & sugar, we opted with one with apple in it OMG delicious definitely one each, not sharing this!!
ROCHEFORT EN TERRE
Next stop Vannes, looked at the ‘Aire’ all stuffed in like sardines not for us! So on the hunt for a place for Snuggly, as it’s a city very busy, eventually found a spot by the marina, blazing hot day, managed to fit Snuggly under some trees for some much needed shade. Back pack on, sunscreen smothered on our exposed bits, loads of water, off we go. Situated in the heart of the Gulf of Morbihan, had a lovely 2 mile walk along a tree lined avenue into the walled city, through a Medieval gate which opens into the old town, attractive streets & buildings mainly constructed in the 16th century, some of the houses have slates hung from the front of their buildings a piece of Breton traditional architecture, really unusual. The Rampart gardens are beautiful, well maintained with an abundance of colourful flowers & shrubs, nice break away from all the hustle & bustle, just devoured moules & frites lovely end to a fantastic day.
Woke up really early as it’s so hot, onto Quiberon peninsula, found a free place in between here & Saint Pierre Quiberon, settled in, time for sunbathing & bar-b-q. Feeling refreshed decided to cycle into Quiberon about 5km, lovely scenic ride along the coast, parked up by the ferry port thought we’d have a look when the next ferry was going over to ‘Belle Lle en Mer’ island factoid coming: its 11 miles long & 6 miles wide, it’s the largest island in Brittany. couldn’t off planned it better it was departing in the next 5 minutes, tickets bought, quick jog to the boat & off we set, beautiful 50 minute boat ride to the island, Tony remarked that it reminded him of his first visit to St Marys in the Isles of Scilly, boat moored in Le Palais, sought out the tourist office, filled with loads to see & do, went into the famous sardine factory which has been operating since 1932 consumed loads of free samples, happy days! Decided to take the bus to Sauzon for lunch, wow what a stunning port, perched in a supreme spot at the entrance to a deep estuary it used to be a thriving fishing port, but still has loads of charm. Majority of the restaurants were serving the traditional Galette but we fancied a picnic, found the Boulangerie/Patisserie, bought a quiche, baguette filled with cheese & salad, found a stunning spot the other side of the harbour, delightful. Made our way back for the bus, back to Le Palais for the ferry back, picked up our bikes set off for the ride back, just made it back before the heavens opened, totally knackered, but another incredible day.
snugglywuggly 