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Thursday 1st May 2014 Everyone was up quite early today even though sleep was late for some. We are headed for the town of Brest, nearly 100kms north of Plovan. This is the nearest airport where Mark & Elna can get a connecting flight to S.Africa.
The weather has turned, and by the time we got to Brest the heavens had opened up and heavy rain fell as we sped along the last section of freeway.
Luckily, it stopped as we entered the town, where it was very quiet with few cars and few people around. Today is the French version of Australia's Labour Day, and no shops, cafes or businesses were open. We did see a small procession when we walked into town as well as a crowd singing in the Place de la Liberte.
After sheltering from a brief shower of rain we made our way down the mall, the ladies lamenting on the fact the shops all seemed to be having sales and were closed! The mall ended at the bottom of the hill when it reached the harbour, this having an impressive bridge crossing it as well as a having a
good view to the Musee National de la Marine (marine museum) which was set in what looked lie an old fort. This too was closed.
We walked some distance up the river, many of the establishments on the bank appearing to be of military ones, as well as a drydock, before returning to the car. This we then drove back to this area looking for a scenic place to have our lunch. Bit hard to find, but we ended up in a carpark adjacent to the harbour police complex. not the most picturesque place, but it did have views across the bay.
Still having time to kill before we were to drop Mark and Elna at the airport, we drove to Oceanopolis, a large marine complex which had a large aquarium there. We had second thoughts about going in as we only had a couple of hours before going to the airport and entry was about A$100 for our group. Some of the exhibits were out in the open, so when the heavens opened up again the decision not to go in was made for us. Judy & Rags may go if they come back to Brest next
Hybrid Tree
by Spanish sculptor Enric Ruez Geli, Somewhere between art and technologyweek.
After farewells a subdued Rags and Judy left the airport, sad for Mark and Elna, and sad that the fun we had with them was not going to continue in France. Fingers crossed they catch up with us in Prague for the next stage of our adventure.
Leftover soup warmed us up and with the fire taking the chill off the room, we settled in for the rest of the day, Judy starting to mark some assignments that were in before tomorrow's deadline.
Friday 2nd May 2014 We had a quiet morning, Judy downloaded assignments for her university group due at 2400 today. Typically, she had a handful of applications for extensions, these all taking time. Rags in the meantime did a few loads of washing and some tidying up, before going to the local store for a fresh baguette. Judy felt she'd had enough by this time and needed to get out of the house.
We therefore drove north about 20kms to the little town of Plouhinec, one we had not been to previously. This area is famous for the discovery of the Menez Dregan , or Lead Dregan,
Brest airport
Farewell to Mark & Elna a cave with evidence of humans and fire dating back over 400 000 years ago. Stone spearheads and axes have been found in this cave, as well as the existence of fires since its discovery in 1985. There have been “digs' here on an annual basis in the summer months. We saw the area where the digs are held, high up on the edge of a cliff. We were obviously too early for this year's dig.
Just to the north of the cave area there is a long bay with swells rolling in, surfers taking advantage of the waves. A few houses in the local style overlooked them but the majority of the town was south past the tourist centre which had a restored cairn of rocks there, a possible shelter all those years ago.
There was a track following the coastline and we followed it for some way, meeting many locals who use it as their daily walking track, as well as many tourists such as us. Every few hundred metres there would be an information sign, explaining in French, something of significance in regard to the early inhabitants. Judy was able to decipher most of the
information using her school French and what she has picked up this trip.
On our return to Plovan we dropped in at an Intermarche supermarket, where we were able to buy a few things to go with the, very slowly, diminishing supplies we already have.
Dinner tonight was a simple pasta, meat and vegetable dish, which Rags served with the obligatory cabernet savignon!
Saturday 3rd May 2014 Our sleeping patterns have altered significantly because of the late sunset. We are now going to bed regularly at around midnight and sleeping through until 0800 -0900. Today was no different we getting up at about 0900.
Judy went straight to her laptop and started answering emails – lots of them, as assignments were due at midnight last night. A lot were requests for extensions. She's a bit soft, but very fair and professional when dealing with them.
Breakfast was Rags' first attempt at cooking crepes. He cooked bacon and mushroom crepes topped with an egg. They looked fantastic in the frypan, a little mixed up by the time they were served on a plate, and tasted excellent. Certainly filled us
up for a few hours.
Judy continued with her marking, Rags getting a little fidgety, so he went outside and mowed the lawn again. With the rain and the warm sun you can almost see the grass grow, the lawn needing another trim after last week's effort. Looks good again!
After a bowl of hot soup and some crusty bread we decided it was time to get out of the house for a while. The weather was being kind to us again, cloudy but lots of blue patches. Later in the evening there wasn't a cloud to be seen. Our destination was the town of Penhors, only about 5kms from here but for some reason we hadn't been there. Pleasant little place with the beach cafes filled with people yet the hotel resort just up the road quite deserted. Similarly deserted was the shell museum/tourist shop in the square opposite.
The coastal pathway had quite a few people walking along it, and we commented on the erosion and degradation of the coast next to it. Global warming is said to be raising the water levels of the oceans, here it appeared that this was exactly what was
happening. All along the coast we have witnessed the sea taking off large chunks of land, in some areas more than others. Here at Penhors, as in other spots, we could see the loads of rock and soil being used to build up the levees in the lower areas.
We continued north up the coast, winding through small hamlets and fields until we reached the town of Plouhinec which ended up joining Audierne. Here we revisited the town, now much quieter than when we were here on market day. Judy did her usual window shopping and checking out on what was available, we stopped in a patisserie, where we bought an apple tart, a pistachio twirl and a yummy looking grain baguette.
Homeward bound, Rags thought, but with a detour to the town of Pont-Croix as we had been told there was a bicycle shop there. We didn't find it at first, instead, we walked around the old town enjoying it's quaint charm. Near the church, the bells started to ring. This signified that a wedding had just been held, so we went back for the obligatory gawk.
Driving further up the street we found the bike
Pont Croix
Delightful little town shop, unfortunately they didn't stock our sizes of long riding gear, but it did give us an idea of the cost of bike gear in France.We'll keep our eyes open from now on, the prices seemingly better that at home.
Leftover soup and bread, followed by ice-cream had us replete. The evening continued, coffee, port, computers and the pistachio twirl bringing a good day to an end.
Sunday 4th May 2014 Today was a 'stay at home' day. Judy had assignment marking to do, Rags wasn't feeling 100%! (MISSING)
We got up at the late, for us, time of 0930 and did a few chores such as washing before settling in for the day with Judy working, Rags reading and supplying Judy with regular cups of green tea.
Judy had a pleasant surprise. In her absence she was awarded a prize for being one of the top 10 tutors in 2013 at Online University of Australia. This award covers all the tutors and discipline units nationwide, and is awarded by the votes of the students participating in them. As there must be some hundreds of tutors this is not a
Lunch
Soup, baguette in colourful surroundings mean achievement. Rags is very proud of her, some recognition for all the extra work she puts in!
Lunch consisted of what we could find in the fridge, we intend to empty this before we leave on Thursday. Steak, tomatoes, mushrooms, beans and eggs made a nice 'fry-up', we feeling quite full when finished.
Later in the afternoon, after a short 'nanny nap” on the couch, Rags used most of the vegetables we had, added them to the leftover soup with a packet of chicken noodle soup, letting them simmer away for a few hours. This made a delicious meal which we had at about 1930 after a few “after 5” drinks.
Judy was doing well with her marking so she continued into the evening before our bedtime around midnight.
The weather forecast was predicted as fine tomorrow with rain for the rest of the week so we decided to make the most of our time here by driving to the town of Pont Aven, about 60kms south of here. Gauguin, the artist, was inspired by the scenery there, so we expect to see the galleries etc here. Rags is more interested in the Belon oysters
Iris
They were huge! served at their cafes by the harbour!
Monday 5th May 2014 Pont-Aven was our destination today, but we dropped into the Decathlon store in Quimper on the way. This store is set up like a huge Bunnings store in Australia only rather than selling hardware it sells all types of sports and recreational gear.
Aisle upon aisle stretched in front of us when we entered, loaded with camping, fishing, canoeing, diving, tennis, football, skiing , golfing, tennis, hiking, running, you name it, as well as cycling gear! Rags thought he was in heaven! Unfortunately we have to watch our luggage weight between Paris and Prague, as EasyJet is not very flexible with excess luggage from what we have heard.
We both came in to buy some long cycling trousers and trouser rain protection for the Greenways part of this trip, but we left with one each of the above, plus cycling shorts and socks for both of us, plus a cycling top, jacket and bike tool for Rags and a pair of gloves for Judy. The total cost for this came to under A$300, only a fraction of what it would be
Les Ajoncs D'Or
The hotel where we had our lunch. at home.
Dragging ourselves away from here we continued on, reaching the town of Pont-Aven at lunchtime.
This is one of the most attractive towns we have visited, lying on the banks of a long estuary with buildings on both banks and boats tied up along the waterfront. The tide was out whilst we were there, most boats sitting on the muddy bed of the river.
Lunch was at the Les Ajoncs D'Or, a hotel-restaurant. This was a very classy little place and we had the lunch that Rags' mother gave us as a present for our wedding anniversary. Entree of Belon oysters followed by a main course of 4 pork-based dishes accompanied by a glass of the local white wine made for a most enjoyable meal. Thanks Mum.
The artist Gauguin reputedly stayed at this hotel just before he died, he based many of his paintings in this area. We can see why, it is a very quaint little town with a creek running through it and into the harbour. Art galleries predominated the main street, these being a big attraction, as well as little restaurants on the bank of the river where many of
his paintings were done.
Besides the usual clothing and souvenir shops, which of course had to be checked out, there were also biscuiteries and chocolatiers separating them. We looked in a few of these, sampling the wares, one chocolatier coming out saying we could taste whatever we wished, just ask him. We had some samples but as we had no intention of buying, refrained from trying everything. Great salesmanship though, people feeling obliged to buy because of all their tasting.
After walking through the town and some way toward the sea, we returned to the car and enjoyed our coffee sitting on a park bench next to the river. Here we watched as the water rose, the tide coming in. We didn't stay much longer, but could see that in a short time all the boats would be floating again.
The 80km or so trip home went quickly even though there was more traffic due to it being late in the afternoon. They have a lot of large roundabouts, these seemingly handling the traffic more efficiently than traffic lights. People here seem to merge well and there isn't an aggressive attitude in the drivers. In fact, we
can't recall a horn being blown or any other form of displeasure between road-users.
Judy got stuck into her marking when we returned back, Rags lighting the fire as it gets cold after about 1800 even though it is still very light outside.
Hard to believe we have been here for 3 weeks until we look back at all we have done. Another couple of days and we start the next part of our adventure.
Tuesday 6th May 2014 Another stay at home day today, Judy getting through the marking of assignments. Should have most of them done and uploaded by the time we leave here on Thursday.
For lunch, we revisited the Vent de l'Quest in St-Jean Troliman. Claude seems to cater for the workers in the area as well as anyone else that wants to drop in. He greeted us cheerfully, as nearly all business people do in France , and we sat down at a table for our meal. Entree was buffet-style again, with salads and cold meat platters there for your choosing and we selected the boeuf bourgogne, (beef burgundy). This came served up with tasty noodles.
Entree
This was just the entree to our lunch!
Thanks Claude. Dessert came from the large selection on the buffet, we selecting a tasty 'toffeed' apple tart. One of their small coffees completed the meal. Complimentary wine and water was on the table which of course we savoured! Great value for 11 euros.
Stopped at Ploneour on the way home, getting a few things at the supermarket there. Then home where work continued and early in the evening the fire was lit as it got colder. The weather was kind to us today, rained overnight but it was only overcast during the day. By 1600 though, the temperature started to drop as it has on other days.
Wednesday 7th May 2014 Bit of a sad day today in some ways, we are sorry to be leaving our lovely cottage in Plovan, but looking forward to the next part of our adventure.
We spent the morning dusting, vacuuming and scrubbing, the house looking as we like to leave a house after a home exchange. All the washing was done so that we leave here with clean gear, from now on it may be difficult to do any bulk washing, we'll have to do a
Boat lifter
About to put the boat back into the water day by day thing.
After lunch the sky looked like it was turning blue again so we set off for our last trip to the town of Lechiagat, a coastal town near Le Guilvinec where we went previously. In fact, when we got there, we found it was only separated by the estuary and we ended up looking across at the fishing boats unloading at Haliotoika where we had been previously with Mark and Elna.
Here we watched one of the fishing boats on the hardstand being picked up by a mobile crane and put back in the water. Rags knew how it was done, but actually seeing them do it without any hassles made the hour or so we spent watching worthwhile.
A little drive through Guilvinec followed before we set off for home. We stopped at Plomeur on the way back to refuel, this giving us enough to get back to Giverne where we will refuel before returning the vehicle. Fuel consumption in the car has been fabulous, with the electric motor cutting in, we have been looking at about 5l/100kms at the most. Mind you, with the price of fuel here in France you
Fry up
Everything we had left in the fridge. Last meal in Plovan. wouldn't want one of the cars we have at home!
Dinner was a big “fry-up” of what we had left. Steak, pork, eggs, cabbage, onion and garlic, potato balls covered in melted cheese, had us well and truly satiated. The rest of the evening was spent with Judy working and Rags keeping her supplied with a hot drink whilst the last of the towels and clothes dried in front of the fire.
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Thelma
non-member comment
Plovan
The town of Plovan and the surrounding areas look very pretty.I like the look of the white houses and think we should have more of them here in Perth to help the homes keep cooler. I liked the sound of those Oysters Rags !! Were they very expensive ? You have certainly been eating well. Will it be diet time when you arrive home, or do you hope to cycle the excess off ?? Rags looks very much the part in his new cycling gear !! Hopefully you will be coming home to a lovely green garden. We have had some storms and heavy rains over night and the gardens are loving it, along with the farmers.