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No Asparagus in France (no Brittany Spears!!)

No Asparagus in France (no Brittany Spears!!)

Old Aug 18th, 2001, 02:26 PM
  #1  
Sheila
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No Asparagus in France (no Brittany Spears!!)

Quick trip report about the two weeks holiday we’ve just had in Brittany. Thanks to all who helped with the planning.It's in 4 parts because I'm so wordy. Sorry.

The weather was, out of the 14 days we were there, stunning for 7 and overcast but warm for 7, with a couple of pretty tremendous rainstorms; the scenery was rolling hillsides and beautiful bays with lovely little French villages tucked in amongst them; and the relaxation factor was remarkably high (remarkably because we went with 5 friend two of whom were under 8).

Leaving Aberdeen, after work on Thursday we drove as far as Cumbria, and spent the night in the Crooklands Hotel just off the motorway near Kendal. Double room, without breakfast £52.50. Adequate meal. The hills are bare-no sheep, no cows. Weird. Then we drove on down as far as the Cotswolds and did some relly visiting for a long lazy lunch, then paused in the early evening at the Red Lion at Chalton, just north of Portsmouth, where we linked up with our friends. Very good pub for food and kids.

The only bad experience of the trip was the car ferry. We were booked on Brittany Ferries overnight from Portsmouth to Caen without accommodation (comes of booking late for the first day on the English school holidays). The queues for the boat were shambolic and huge and I think the most sleep any of us got was about 3 hours. So when we got off the boat and headed west out of Normandy next morning reaching Mont St Michel in the early morning mist was a bit of an out of body experience.

Mont St Michel was superb. We got there about 10am. (traffic was pretty steady- start of les grands vacances too) The only down side was the crowds. It was bad enough going in at 10; but coming out at 12.30pm was pretty unbelievable. Nice cafes all the way up. The monastery at the top was amazing. Drove on to Quimper (at least, KMR did-I slept in the passenger seat most of the way). Found the village of Pleuven and a lovely house in the countryside outside it; booked through Brimar holidays.

Visited Beg-Miel; close by. Great beaches for the kids, with both rocks and sand. Had lunch at a Creperies (Kervastard) in the village. Galettes and Crepes are traditional dishes of Brittany and if you’re not eating them, you’re probably eating fish or shellfish. Whole meal for 4 adults and 2 kids came to about £60. Spent the afternoon checking out the area. Little village of Cap Coz seemed nice-Blue flag beach but so busy we’d have been better parking in Portsmouth. Mousterlin-right on a point into the sea, with great rock pools for the kids to take their brand new fishing nets into. Benodet- the Blackpool of the south (blech)

Next day rose at dawn to go to the fishmarket at Concarneau; it advertises tours but advertises them badly. If you want to do it, you have to be at the Tourist office on the quay at 6.30am-not wandering around aimlessly at 8!!. However there’s a stunning fish shop, part of the fish sheds, and they gave us our modest purchases(you’re kidding) in a polystyrene box filled with ice (which, considering we had forgotten the cool bags was a bit of a necessity).

Then we went and had breakfast in the Ville Close. This is a walled town set on a tiny island in the middle of the harbour, and reached by a little pedestrian bridge. It’s a delightful mediaeval cameo; full, inevitably of tourist shops but pretty good shopping for all those Breton jumpers in amongst it all. Some hours later we staggered over the road to the “little” market. (the big one’s on Friday). Followed by a girls’ lunch at le Jardin de la Baie in the village of La Foret Fouesnant a couple of miles away- 280ff for 2 adults and 2 kids. Pretty OK. We then repaired to the beach at Beg-Miel and then home to barbecue all that fish.
 
Old Aug 18th, 2001, 02:27 PM
  #2  
Sheila
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Somewhat further afield next day. We went right down to Cap Crozon, Penmarc’h, in the South West. Terrific beach-La Torche-famous for windsurfing and surfing. Repaired to the fisherman’s co-operative; a shopaholic’s dream. Don’t ask how much I spent, never mind the whole lot of us. If shopping in Brittany, my top tip would be to shop in the co-ops. There seems to be one in most seaside towns, and they have gorgeous stuff much cheaper than the tourist trap places.

This is the area of Finisterre called the Bigouden, after the womens’ headdresses. Very Breton. My favourite of all the places we visited.

Following day we went east to Carnac. This place of megalithic mystery has over 400 standing stones in lines and whole host of other mysteries. We walked from the visitor centre east to a Tumulus and had lunch in a Creperie right there on site. It’s a fantastic place. You really need, I think, to know a little about the archaeology of the period (and luckily for me my husband does. The main sites are fenced off, but there a tours through them every day including at least one in English. You can get in amongst alignements elsewhere, of which more later. We went on down, mid afternoon to the Qiberon peninsula, to see the Grand Menhir; which is on the same site as a Roman theatre, a tumulus and a huge chambered cairn. Completely remarkable.

Next day we ran out of steam (and good weather). Took a trip to Concarneau early for fish then stayed home reading in the rain.

On the Friday, we spent a couple of hours in the market in the local town of Fouesnant, then all went west to Audierne in search of beaches and better weather. Found a chilly beach nearby then had a long lunch in the Café du Quai in the town. I’m told the sea food was really good. It cost about £12/head including the wine. We then went right west to Pointe du Raz (the westernmost point of France) Is it commercial or what? You must park in the formal car park and you can only get in and out by passing all the shops and cafes. It’s about a 20 minute walk across the heath to the Lighthouse and the more intrepid can walk out over the headland. It’s really worth doing, even if it felt more like a promenade in the city centre than the end of the earth. There were hundreds of us. We drove along the north coast of the peninsula intending to visit Douarnenez. It was full so we didn’t stop but went on to the Mediaeval town of Locronan. It’s a bit of a theme park; very quaint, and as a consequence a .bit lifeless, but very pretty. I have it on good authority that real people live there and Disney doesn’t have the rights (although it has been used as a movie set).

Next day we flitted through to the north coast. Following the megalithic theme we visited the Carn du Bernanez. This is an amazing structure over 4000 years old and absolutely staggering in its scale. We had lunch in Ker an Nod in Treburden on the north coast; probably the best meal up to then. This whole area is little holiday towns, beaches large and small and SO clean. Lots of links to the Irish saints
 
Old Aug 18th, 2001, 02:28 PM
  #3  
Sheila
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Made our way down to the village of St Laurent de Plemy and our house for week 2, La Grange. Booked through Country Cottages in France, it was quite different to week one’s house. It was an old farmhouse; whilst the first house was modern. It’s clearly a holiday home for an English family and had lots of their stuff there, which was pretty good. Big garden. The village was little and had a bar we never saw open; but it was only 3 miles from a couple of other better served villages.

So, second Sunday, after a short side trip to St Brieuc for the market (not a real one-just a covered mall of stalls) we took a trip to Dinan. They have a designation in Brittany-Petite cite de charactere Bretagne- Dinan was the third we’d been in (Moncontour, the small town 8 miles from Plemy was the 2nd and Locronan the first) Dinan is a mediaeval town-like Locronan turned into a bit of a theme park. Beautiful but full. Nice lunch in Creperie la Fontaine du Jerzual (570ff for 5 adults, 2 children, including drink) There’s a lovely toy shop at the top of the hill with a large teddy bear outside which constantly dips a hoop into soap and blows bubbles-charming. Climbed the clock tower- you have to avoid the quarters when it’s chiming.

There was in the house a tourist leaflet called “Markets of Brittany”-I do like French markets- which listed where they were any given day. Having been led astray about St Brieuc the preceding day, we headed into Moncontour billed as the Monday market. Guess what? No market. But the village is sweet, again with its mediaeval heart protected. A nice touch was that all the businesses had metal hanging signs depicting what they did-like old guild signs. They have a mediaeval festival every August and it’s been tarted up for that, but still-very nice. So after a wander round we set off for Pontivy, a market town to the south, which, somewhat amazingly, had a market. We bought a chicken with its head on and the 7 year old with us was NOT pleased to see what that led to. Very nice bar called Grand café, which introduced the said child to the French Diabolo-so far kiwi is her favourite. Visited the Chateau Rohan, then went back to Moncontour and went for an evening’s walk with the local ramblers’ group- who were very friendly.

That was enough inland stuff for the kids so we headed to Pleneuf Val Andre next day for the (guess….) market! This one did the business. Lots of fresh oysters-and the guys who caught them sitting on the church steps eating them and drinking beer. Sunflower stall; horse butcher stall and three cheese stalls. It was great (one of them had to be!) Headed up to Erquy, resort town on the coast 5 miles away and had a long lunch in a harbourside café. The skies opened and we had no coats and the cars were a mile away, so it was a very long lunch. The restaurant (Le Relais)was very tolerant- but then the bar bill must have been amazing. Again we repaired to the Fisherman’s cooperative.
 
Old Aug 18th, 2001, 02:28 PM
  #4  
Sheila
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On Wednesday, we headed for the beach again at Binic on the other (western side of the bay of Douarnenez. This whole area is called the pink granite coast (for obvious reasons). This was another charming holiday town (How do the French manage to do this so much better than we Brits?). There were a couple of beaches with a rocky outcrop in between, and a double swimming pool built into the rocks-one for swimmers and one for children, with beach bars overlooking for the boys. But the rain came on so we went further round the coast to Paimpol, famous for some fish or other (I lost track of which town did which fish!). It also hosts a steam train which we intended to let the youngest child play on. Lunch however (I think it was except for the final evening, the best place we ate) in L’islandais restaurant, lasted till after the train left. We heard the whistle in the distance just as we got up from the table. The restaurant’s name is derived from the fact that 100 years ago the whole place made its living by sending fishermen to Iceland for months at a time.

So on the way back to Binic, we stopped at Kermaria ; this is an amazing chapel with mediaeval frescos of the Dance of Death. A lot of Breton folklore is associated with Death, and this really does have to be seen to be believed. One of the top visits of the trip.

Day 12 we headed to the Fort la Lotte at Cap Frehel on the north coast. Cap Frehel was absolutely choc-a-bloc with visitors, following our drive up the coast past great flat beaches and huge dune systems, so we went on to the next headland. You walk down from the car park about ¾ mile to this amazing fort you cross three moats to get to. It’s a huge granite affair, and again, has been used as a film set. It wasn’t much quieter than Cap Frehel itself. A word of technical warning. You might think, when you see the large car park and array of tour busses and no toilets that the loos themselves must be down at the castle…well, they’re NOT!! Lunched in St Cast Le Guido further round the coast. It has a big town beach which the kids spent the afternoon on.

Last proper day, our pals went off to visit pals, and we headed south to see more stones. Went first of all to St Just. These sites were only discovered about 10 years ago, and are not well known. They are an array of standing stones, and tumuluses and chambered cairns and alignments and even the odd dolmen. It’s an amazing site. In the afternoon we visited the Pierres Droites, a set of alignments of about 400 stones, which were knocked over by the Church about 1000 years ago. Some have been re-set and you can get in amongst them as you now cannot at Carnac.

On Saturday we headed back to the ferry at Caen. We had persuaded Brittany Ferries to find us reclining seats by way of cancellations so we were less trepidatious. We stopped at the dam at St Malo for a picnic lunch, watching the yachts, in blazing sunshine, navigate through the locks, then raced to Bayeaux to see the tapestry, passing Mont St Michel agin. It does look surreal stuck in the water like that. We were too late-another word of warning. It may be open till 7 but you can’t get in after 6pm. We supped at le Petit Normand in the shadow of the Cathedral after watching a wedding come out into the evening sunshine and be photographed. It’s a lovely restaurant and very welcoming and VERY big portions. I noticed it had honourable mention earlier this week. I suspect it was the 2nd best meal of the fortnight. 680ff for 4 adults and 2 children. Caught the ferry and came home.
 
Old Aug 18th, 2001, 08:27 PM
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Diane
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Lovely report, Sheila! I'm married to a guy who thoroughly enjoys ancient architecture and big mysterious stone markers as well...We'll have to consider Brittany for a future adventure.
 
Old Aug 19th, 2001, 08:10 AM
  #6  
Kavey
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Fantastic!

Thanks


/<avey
 
Old Aug 20th, 2001, 06:38 AM
  #7  
Roger
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Obviously I found your report so disregard my e-mail. Enjoyed your report, makes me want to visit Brittany.
 
Old Aug 20th, 2001, 07:25 AM
  #8  
s.fowler
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This is such a delightful travelogue -- thanks so much Shelia! [Now are you going to send some pictures for the "fodorite" page???]
 
Old Aug 20th, 2001, 07:28 AM
  #9  
rand
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Thanks Sheila. Did not know about St. Just and Pierres Droites. Since we will be passing right by them..........
 
Old Aug 20th, 2001, 11:59 AM
  #10  
Sheila
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Thanks Sally.I'm afraid I don't "do" photographs. I don't take them and I don't have a scanner.
I have, however, in the last half hour sent and email to Roger suggesting he sends you some of his Scottish ones. Now there's a coincidence
 
Old Aug 20th, 2001, 12:17 PM
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s.fowler
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Just another day in our "fodorite" lives Thanks for thinking of the page!

Anyone else out there have Brittany pictures? I want to see those wondrous strange stones
 
Old Aug 20th, 2001, 02:02 PM
  #12  
Sheila
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Have a look at

http://www.ot-carnac.fr
 

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