France - Week 4

---

.

This is the fourth ‘episode’ in another of 'our' travel experiences.

The collective ‘episodes’ describe our journey from our arrival in Paris, France (from the 2nd week of May) and our journey to Floriade (Holland), then the remainder journey through northern and western France. In this part (week #4), we describe our journey around the coast of Brittany.



As always, if you want to 'see' more detail in an accompanying picture, click it to enlarge.



We've attached a few pics that give you a flavour of our journey, and some 'flow over' past the dialogue. You may need to manually go to the next page to see them.

Sunday 3rd June - Brittany.

In our last travelblog, we'd signalled we'd arrived at Brittany. Brittany - in French, Britagne - is reputed to be quite different to the rest of France. If one is to percieve a stylised line drawn map of France - that is, simple lines instead of a detailed representation - then Brittany would be a sort of rectangle. The northern side (Cotes D'Armour) faces Britain, the western side (Finistere) faces out into the Atlantic Ocean, and the southern side (Morbihan) looks towards western Spain.

We had secured accommodation the night before on the northern side at Treveneuc. Sunday opened dark and gloomy, with showers threatening. Our summery clothes went into our bags and out came the warmer, heavy stuff. We decided to stay at the same B+B another night as it was both central and comfortable.

The Brittany coastline is reputed to be wild and rugged. Compared to the ruggedness of the Cornish coastline, we found the Cotes D'Amour coastline to be awkwardly messy - or fractured - but certainly not wild. At each of the many little creek associated indentations on the coast is a village. Where there is a little beach (of sorts), the village surrounds are strewn with summer holiday apartment blocks. The height of the tides along this part of France are about 12metres (ie from low to high), and at the moment with a full moon and the solstace, are around 15 metres. At low tide, the foreshore is extensive. But, instead of huge, wide sandy beaches, the eye only sees weed strewn mud flats and prolific outcrops of low rocks. For us, not the prettiest sight.

We spent the day poking our noses into many of the little villages. We found several 'odd' sights. Fortunately, the holiday season has yet to begin, so the crowds were absent. We are being told that where the French would take their 5 weeks annual holidays at the beach, the current economic climate has forced change. Now, many are preferring to take several short breaks through the year instead. It may be that this region is on the receiving end of those changes.

Sunday in rural France means everything is closed. We found a small supermarket open in Paimpol (a larger village) and being unable to get a baguette sandwich, we grabbed a large bottle of beer, some cheese and dried pork sausage (read French salami). We found a warm sheltered spot in a tiny cove at Kermustre and enjoyed a wonderful lunch in a shortlived sunny break. We saw that most of the large beer bottles available in the supermarkets have a cork - as in a champagne cork - with wire cap. These bottles also state the contents have not been pastuerised, and are bottle fermented. We not only liked the flavour of the selected bottle of beer, but also liked 'popping' the cork for a beer.

By late afternoon and at the village of Lezardriex, we were both feeling sleepy. We concluded it was the beer we enjoyed for lunch; but, hey, a holiday is supposed to be about relaxion - isn't it? We took our leave of meanderings, and returned to our digs for a rest.

Monday 4th - Finistere.

We took our leave of Cote D'Armour and headed for the Finistere coast and the town of Roscoff (say Roskow), which at one time was the source of tobacco and grog smuggling to Britain and Ireland. The town harbour is a great refuge for boats against stormy weather and has changed little over the centuries. It still comprises a medieval core with many intact medieval and later buildings. Being a coldish windy day, it took little imagination to comprehend the windswept stature of the port during bleak winters. Nevertheless, we wandered around the town and - as Bruce's mother used to say - allowed the wind to blow our cobwebs away!

Over the course of the day, the sun increasingly peeped through the clouds. In this Atlantic facing region of Brittany, the beaches are wide sandy bays broken only by large rocky headlands. We were surprised at the lack of tourist accommodation. Though most houses appeared to be less than a century old, it appeared this region was 'God's waiting room' - ie. used by retirees. We'd noticed the attribute the previous day, and commented again today - most dwellings were either constructed using local stone, or used local stone extensively. The large scale use of stone in the largely barren surroundings made them look a bit bleak. But, we couldn't get over the use of flowers. The effort put in by the owners to have a really colourful display at the front fence, or against a sun facing wall, made for a very cheery aspect.

By mid afternoon the rain came again, so we headed for Le Faou to look for accommodation. We secured a B+B nearby at a working farm and stayed there also for dinner - begun with the most wonderful onion tart.

Tuesday 5th + Wednesday 6th - Morbihan.

We awoke to another bleak and miserable day. The computer showed us that the huge cloud mass rolling in from the Bay of Biscay was sufficient to keep the day wet. We decided we'd head south-east towards the 'lower' part of Brittany; Morbihan. We figured it pointless trying to wander the coastline in the wet. We did ponder that maybe we're conditioned to view the beach as a good weather landscape.
We headed for Quimper as the tourist information had positive things to say about the small city. Fortunately, we agreed - it is a great little city. With umbrella and raincoats, we enjoyed the largely medieval city centre. We found the local 'Les Halles Marche' (fresh food market) building and secured ourselves some Spanish tapas and red wine - thoroughly delightful and wonderfully warming.

We headed further south-east and stayed in Auray (a little before Vannes) - again a delighful town. Though some way up the river from the coast, the town had originally been a Roman port and with that reputation remained a fishing port because it gave a safe haven from the Atlantic swells. We also learnt that a century ago, the Icelandic fishing fleets harvesting the north African coast would stay over winter here. The B+B was in the small port area on the opposite banks from the town centre - both set on the steep hillside. The Port Augustin area had the usual steep and very narrow winding streets found in fishing villages. The port loading area has been revamped into a cosmopolitan eatery area - and very popular with locals and tourists alike. A meal of 'friuts der mer' (seafood) was greatly appreciated. The French scallops are huge!

Wednesday opened brighter, so we decided to stay another day. After a wander through the centre of Auray, we spied a swish patisserie selling Kouign Amann pastry. This is a local delicacy. It comprises layers of extremely thin shortcrust style pastry, separated by a caramelised sugar material (go look ...http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/08/long-live-the-k/ ). Surprisingly unsweet, it was exceedingly more-ish. But, the calories......
Back in the car, we headed to the coast to view the very densely urbanised holiday centre of Quiberon. This is on a peninsular, with one side a quiet bay and the other named 'Cote du Sauvage' (the savage coast). The very strong winds had all the kite surfers of the region doing 'their thing'. The long sandy beach was also a track for the sail tricycles. Available for hire, the hard sandy beach was a racetrack for these fun machines.

The region also boasts several prehistoric stone obelisks - known locally as 'megoliths'. These were arranged by inhabitants several thousands of years ago for some unknown reason - probably spiritual. Some are huge, and some of the stones are said to be several hundred tonnes each. Currently, no accepted theory exists to explain how they were put into place, nor how they were moved the several hundreds of kilometres from where the stones would have occurred. Odd, but fascinating.

Further along the coat, we ventured to Gavre and Port Louis. Both are at the harbour entrance for regional city of L'Orient, of which sits astride the Le Blavet and Le Scorff rivers. Both sit on peninsulars, Port Louis being closer to L'Orient than Gavres. Some 400 years ago was recognised as a defensive position and a large fort was established. Interestingly for us, it was here that vessels heading to the East Indies (Indonesia) for spices departed. With the development of more modern guns, Gavret became the defensive position some 200 years later. With all that history on the Gavret landscape, we were dismayed that the Germans destroyed parts of these relic buildings to establish concrete gun emplacements for their WW2 purposes.

Thursday 7th - more Morbihan.

Another wet, miserable day challenged our travel planning. Typically, wet days mean either driving or an indoor activity. Being nearby to Vannes, we thought maybe that city would offer a distraction from the rain. We drove in, and out again. Like many cities in France, there are no shopfront awnings. And being in a rural area, the car dominates. The thought of walking narrow footpaths along wide streets with cars splashing water was far from appealing.



We read of more megoliths on the coastal area beyond Vannes and headed there. To our surprise, the weather picked up and at times the sun even poped through the clouds. Fortunately, we were able to walk the rocky headlands, and venture through the scrub to look at massive stones placed in situ eons ago. As noted, it is fascinating thinking about how pre-historic peoples organised the available technology to achieve such a massive task. Or without extant evidence, do we under-estimate their technicological prowess?

We headed towards Nantes, a large city further along the Atlantic coast. We'd read that for centuries Nantes was the 'centre' of Brittany, but that post WW2 the French gov't excised it into the province (now) called Liore Valley. Apparently the Nantes peoples still refer to themselves as Breton's. And, as we later discovered, those in the Liore valley don't think Nantes is pert of 'their' valley (though it now is the major city of the region). We can see why the 'excision' was undertaken because as soon as we entered the Liore river valley basin, the vegetation changed remarkedly for the better. Clearly, the underlying soil is different to Brittany.

Being latish in the day, we headed inland a bit and found a delightful B+B in Le Cougou.

Friday 8th - towards Nantes.

Hooray - SUNSHINE!!!!!! After the previous day's rain, we welcomed the sunshine. Given the green landscape of the (western) Liore valley, we went tootling through the countryside. The bustling little villages all looked amazingly 'cute'. In one, a rustic pathway led us along a delightful treelined creek. ventually we came to a flower-laden bridge which led to a (disbanded) watermill. At another, we stumbled upon a morning marche (market) and secured some wonderfully smelly cheeses, aged pork sausage and cured ham. We also bought some Nem rolls from an Asian stallholder (Vietnamese?). Off to the supermakarket for some beer before looking for a lunch spot. Basking in sunshine beside a treelined farmyard dam, enjoying a distustingly wonderful array of artisan foods was almost heaven. Sadly, clouds bustled across the sky and ended our fantasy lunch.

We continued our way along the green rustic by-ways before eventually making our way into Nantes. A surprisingly modern and large city, we found a carpark and went sightseeing. After the ambience of rustic rural charm, the (now quite cold) cityscape was a harsh contrast. We took our leave and headed further along the Liore valley to Ancenis to look for a bed for the night. Being Friday, those we selected from a list were fully booked. we eventually found a place some 18km away at La Varenne. What a find! It was not a B+B, rather a Gite (self catering accommodation only). Being a very old building, the upstairs bedroom and downstairs living areas allowed us to cook for ourselves. The building is part of a family farm, the cop being wine. While the owners had an artisan vineyard, they have recently retired and told us they make just a few bottles for self use. There were crates and crates of bottles! We were told they only farm one hectare of grapes. A google search indicates that one hectare will produce around 6000 bottles! Jeeeeeeez, and we thought we were alcky's!!!!

The owners asked if we'd like to sample some of their wine! Like ducks to water, we were taken to the cellar. There was no going back. Ahhhhh, bliss!!!! Much time later, after tasting a variety of wines, accompanied by walnuts to 'adjust' the pallete, we realised we'd have to get to the shops to buy our dinner ingredients. We bought a bottle of their wine, and went in search of a boulangerie (baguette, and an after dinner cake), charcuterie, and legumemarchand (greengrocer).

Saturday 9th - Liore Valley.

Another nice bright (but cloudy) day! Though the accommodation was a gite, our hosts invited us to petit dejournee (breakfast). Being farmers, we were offered home made bread; both baguette and pain (loaf). We learned that they use only flour and water, leaving the dough under an openweave cloth to attract spore cultures. After a couple of days, the yeasts had risn the dough. Exactly the same as how they ferment their wine grapes. The jamsm jellies and butter were similarly home made, and the fruits were from their farm. We both - but Judy, especially - felt comfortable in that environment.

After looking at their wine making facilities - quite rustic, and being taken to another farm to see some brandy being made (at 85 degrees - rocket fuel), we bid our goodbyes.

The remainder of the day is for the next part of our journey.



Cheers



ps. The fifth and final segment of this FRANCE journey can be found here.

---

Photos

Port Louis fort
Boats were required to enter here and pay taxes