Turning South

Wednesday 23rd April

 

Aujourd'hui, il pleut......beaucoup!

[caption id="attachment_268" align="aligncenter" width="386"] Drip drop little April showers[/caption]

There...I am brave enough to try some french...please don’t all jump at once and tell me it’s all wrong!!! I’m sure it’s just the fact that at this moment I am bathed in evening sunshine, listening to the sound of the sea washing up onto the shore and hundreds of little birds singing an evening chorus, breathing in the fresh salt air, drinking a cool beer and with the person I love, that’s giving me this lasse faire attitude.

[caption id="attachment_295" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Here I am typing the blog![/caption]

However, last night and this morning it really did rain ...alot!. During the night poor Bluebelle was rocking from side to side as she was buffetted by the wind and rain, needless to say we didn’t have the best nights sleep...! It certainly makes things much more tricky in such a small space when it is raining...even having a wee is a problem....! I’m not worried about where I go, but, in the pouring rain it’s another matter...so it’s either use our loo (more about that later) or hold on until a toilet becomes available. Getting dressed in the morning can be fun too...one at a time is best. Fortunately, we can turn the passenger seat around to face the back which gives us so much more space. Once the bed is neatly stashed away, there is room to be able to make coffee, put a table up and eat. We had our croissants and coffee and headed off into town....loo stop.



Making a decision of where to go every day can be quite challenging as there are so many places to go and oodles of things to do. We love following the coast road seeing where it brings us, but, in reality this takes up so much time which means we aren’t making any real progress, although we are seeing so many beautiful places. It’s really hard just pointing Bluebelle in the direction trusty Tom Tom is telling us and foregoing the urge to just follow our noses. We have promised ourselves that we will come back to this area and explore it more thoroughly one day.

We stumbled upon our first real market today...lots of little stalls braving the weather to sell local food produce...sea food, cheese, meat, sausages, vegetables and cake. We resisited the urge to buy today as our fridge is full, but will no doubt be tempted in the near future. One of the stalls was selling rotisaried chickens and roast potatoes..the smell was divine, but most of all, it reminded me of a time long ago, camping in France with my parents, when we bought one of these as a treat...we had been eating dried food for weeks...the taste was heaven and I’ve never forgotten it.

So, leaving the coast behind we made for Concarneau, by which time the sun was out and beginning to warm us nicely. Parking by the coast, we unloaded the bikes and cycled into the town. The old town is so pretty.

[caption id="attachment_270" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Concarneau[/caption]

Walking over a stone bridge and through a small archway, a band playing medieval music



you are soon transported back 100’s of years.

[caption id="attachment_271" align="aligncenter" width="427"] Through the arched doorway[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_272" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Old town[/caption]

Delightful little shops and houses selling all sorts of traditional goods line each side of the cobbled street.

[caption id="attachment_273" align="aligncenter" width="427"] Sneek peeks[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_274" align="aligncenter" width="427"] Looking down[/caption]

 



 

 

Then a walk along the ramparts takes us back out into present day. We cycled around the town and back to Bluebelle, and headed, once again to a local MacDonalds to upload the latest blog and to catch up with family.

Resisting the urge yet again to trundle down the coast we planned our route and headed for a little place called Etel where we began our search for a night time stop. As I have mentioned before, there are lots of free, designated municiple camping places in France, and although there was one at the harbour in Etel, we decided to trundle on and see if we could find anything better. BT (Simon) didn’t get his name for no reason you know...Big Trouble by name and by nature...so when we come up against a barred (by height) roadway to the beach, BT just nonchantly drives AROUND it...only just making it between two massive rock boulders!!! But, boy was it worth it....just look at the beach we are parked next to...

[caption id="attachment_277" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Night time stop[/caption]

and we are totally alone.



 





Strictly speaking we really shouldn’t be here but, well...wouldn’t you?

We leave nothing but footprints in the sand…..



 

…and finally…..

[caption id="attachment_282" align="aligncenter" width="427"] This tickled me….dogs on leaches!!![/caption]

 

Thursday 24th April 2014

 

After a morning stroll to the beach and some coffee and breakfast we pointed Bluebelle in the direction of Quiberon. The intention was to park somehwhere along the route and cycle in towards the town along the coast. If you take a look at the map you will see that Quiberon is a town situated out on a long spit of land. What we hadn’t appreciated was actually how big the ‘island’ was and how long it would actually take us to cycle our way around it. We finally abandonded Bluebelle en route, hopped onto our bikes and set off. We followed the Cote Savage....it was absolutely stunning despite the overcast chilly weather. The coast line reminded us a lot of North Cornwall so we felt very much at home.

[caption id="attachment_297" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Time for a rest[/caption]







Along the way we happened upon another French market...this time it was much bigger than the last and sold everything...clothes, food, fabric and tools etc... We couldn’ t help but buy some croissant and pain au chocolat for a mid morning snack and a baguette for later. We were amazed at how many people there were here....having become very accustomed to driving through ghost towns, wondering where everyone has gone to!

[caption id="attachment_301" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Market[/caption]



A coffee on the waterfront and then back to Bluebelle.



We cycled about 9/10 miles but hardly made any headway along the ‘island’. Now, when I say we cycle all these long distances, please don’t be under any illusion of us (me) being fit at all...the first ride...back in Ypres, nearly killed me! My knees felt like balloons, I found muscles that haven’t been used in many years and I couldn’t sit down comfortably for a few days!!! So, please take heart...if I can do it, so can you!

[caption id="attachment_305" align="aligncenter" width="640"] I did dip my toes in today but it was so cold it hurt![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_308" align="aligncenter" width="640"] A place called La Bono we stopped at on our way[/caption]



The Gulf of Morbihan is somewhere that Simon has wanted to visit for a long time. Take a look at the map and you will see that it’s a large inland lake, with a small entrance to the sea, filled with many beautiful islands and villages.

[caption id="attachment_310" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Gulf of Morbihan[/caption]

 

There is no way that we could really get a feel for the place in just a few hours. It’s one of those areas that you could easily spend a week or two exploring, either on foot, in canoes or on a boat. It’s a strange feeling for us having all the time in the world to visit these lovely places but also feeling that there is still so much to see and do and the urge to move on. But we will make the effort to come back ,with a specific agenda, and spend more time in just one place, exploring all that it has to offer.

It was late after all our trundling around the nooks and crannies of the gulf so we pinpointed a place on the map where we would find somewhere to stay for the night. Anywhere near the sea, with a lovely view in this area is very well protected and finding those out of the way spots, on the beach, with a view are becoming harder to find....Lots of NO CAMPING CAR signs everywhere! We eventually settled on an Aire...with toilets...and a sea view for the night.



 

Friday 25th April 2014

 

It rained overnight, but the sun is shining and the sky is blue. A quick visit to Ambon for yet more croissant was follwed by breakfast by the river near Muzillac…..to be continued….