Blogs from Guipry-Messac, Brittany , France, Europe

Saturday 15th June My sixth week in Brittany was taken up with the road trip, so now we find ourselves at the end of the seventh week, with only one more week remaining before my placement as a language assistant ends, and I move on. Last weekend, straight after my road trip, here in Guipry-Messac was the Happy Days Festival (Les Jours Heureux), a 1950's rock'n'roll music festival. It was held over three days (Fri-Sun) and included many bands, food and bar stalls, merchandise stalls, classic car display, drag races (at nearby Lohéac raceway), and more. My host family was very involved with the event, being members of the organising committee too. We spent many hours there, setting up, manning the ticket booth, and also packing up and cleaning the venue afterwards. A number of consecutive ... read more

Sunday 19th May – Friday 24th May I was sick for this period. Most likely a gluten response due to accidental intake. This is the longest period of time I have been sick following gluten intake. The trials and tribulations of having Coeliac Disease. Saturday 25th May I was nearly better today with just some stomach pains remaining. I decided to get out and about a bit again. In the afternoon I went for a riverside bike ride for about an hour. It's always very pleasant along the river. This weekend in Guipry-Messac was a junior soccer extravaganza. There were plenty of teams from around France and greater Europe in attendance, they had three reduced-size fields going, and lots of games sere played. They also had rides and sideshows, as well as a disco and fireworks ... read more

Sunday 5th May Today was the Festival du Port in Guipry. Guipry was in former times a salt port – Breton salt was exported to the rest of France, and a tax had to be paid as it left Brittany. Guipry was a tax collection port on the River Vilaine. Part of the festival was boat rides on pleasure craft from the port of Messac, across the river. We went at 10 o'clock to have a boat ride. The organisers put us (me & hosts) on the boat of an Englishman and his wife. They put no-one else on that boat, so we had a private cruise with English conversation! This retired English couple spends a couple of months each year on their boat idling round the French rivers and canals – very nice. The weather ... read more