Bertie goes to Brittany

Monday 6 May 2013

In the morning we had a leisurely rise and by the time we had showered it was 09.30. Carrefour was of course open and Petra went over to do a weeks shopping. Kevin in the mean time cleared up from breakfast and drained the grey tank. It wasn’t until 10.45hrs that we finally left the car park and headed off towards Brittany.

The vast majority of the journey was on toll free motorway and in any case only an hour and a half from Pontorson. About 20km from our destination, Port Plerin, we found a MacDonald’s to used the Wifi to update the blog and send emails etc.By the time we had done all that it was 14.00hrs before we arrived at the free Aire at Port Plerin.

The Aire was lovely and is situated in between the mouth of the estuary leading from the sea to a sea lock and on to a really long yacht marina/harbour that stretched at least a mile or so from the lock. From our front window we watched the ebbed tide flood at an amazing rate and for at least 4m in height. The Aire included water and dumping facilities totally free. 

The weather was beautiful today and we enjoyed our lunch sitting in front of Bertie watching the birds and small craft sail by. As is our way we had an hour doing van work Petra cleaned and vacuumed and Kevin took apart the bathroom skylight to remove 3 years of grime. It all went off without a hitch and now sparkles in the sunlight. He also had to get the fly remover out of the garage. On the way here we went past a rape seed oil field and we were bombarded with flying creatures. Some of them were set like concrete.

Once our jobs were done and we were all clean and bristol fashion again we sat outside for tea and cake followed by a brisk walk up the hill along the coast towards Plerin. The walk was short but steep and well worth the effort. We were rewarded with some delightful views across the bay and harbour entrance. 

Our view from Bertie.

Top of the hill

The gorgious Petra

You would think there must be a better form of transport to go against the tide? We walked quicker than this chap.

Tuesday 7 May 2013

Brittany is a beautiful place to visit, you can see why it is the number one place for Brits to visit in France. They say it’s like Cornwall! Well not sure about that but, it is green lush and very beautiful so no complaints there. 

Now we are in Brittany, there seems no rush to leave so we are going to travel around  here for a bit. There are simply loads of free Aires to stay all over Brittany so it is ideal for us. Another advantage is the mileage is kept down so we can move just a small amount and see a completely different part of the region.

Today we travelled only 67km to Treguier but not before visiting Paimpol a super harbour town with a maze of cobbled streets. As luck would have it Tuesday is Market Day and the stalls were out in force and took over the whole of the town centre. They sold everything from Breton sweaters to Artisan made trinkets. At the far side of the town the general stalls gave over to food and the smell of cooked chickens on the spit was very inviting. The fats from the spit ran down into a trough full of potatoes! Get your bird and roasts all together I suppose. 

We made three purchases, the first being a bag of stoned olives stuffed with pepper. Petra nearly died when he told her that would be €8. As it happened they were wonderful so worth it. Second, was a pair of nice stripy tea towels. Not for drying the crocks but to use and table cloths (until something better comes along...) They are in Bertie colours so look resplendent. Finally, a french stick a for lunch, it never ceases to amaze the difference in the bread region to region. It is always fabulous especially with Brie or Camembert and baby plumb tomatoes.

It was really nice walking round the market at leisure everyone was so friendly and we chatted away to many a stall holder. In the end our legs and tummy’s told us it was time to go and we made our way back to Bertie and onto our final destination for the day.

The Aire at Treguier is again free but is lacking in some of the things we have come to expect. Most notably Water!! Luckily, Bertie runs fully charged for just such occasions. We have enough water and food to last about five days. 

After lunch we decided we were both tired and decided we would not explore Treguier until tomorrow and we would stay two nights. The Aire is really lovely overlooking the tidal inlet from the sea and why would we move so soon. So its all to come tomorrow and we think we are going to give the bikes their first outing for a very long time. So, Petra did her tapestry this afternoon and Kevin took a nap (old bugger!). We also watched the tide rise 6m from low water to high tide. We had no idea they had such high tides in Brittany.

In the evening Petra cooked one of her curry’s which was great but a bit hot and put us off the Hardy’s 1853 Shiraz. It also resulted in the Patchouli oil burner being forced into action (love Patchouli). We then whiled away the evening playing games ie Domino's, Backgammon and Rumikub. 

Wednesday 8 May 2013

As we decided we were in no hurry to leave Treguier and our rather nice view of the river, we took a leisurely walk into the town at about 10.30hrs. Wouldn’t you know it it was market day again. Well, it would be rude not to have a look around. Most of the stalls were the same as yesterday but in a different location it was still fun exploring. 

The town is on a hill which we had to walk up to get to the centre and the market worked its way down the other side to the now compulsory marina, chandlers and tourist information office. We had a good look around the latter and relieved them of several fine publications including one on the art of the region. Walking back up the hill up a different road we came down on we stumbled on more market stalls and Kev bought a really nice Breton scarf white with a blue stripe.

The Rough Guide states that the only thing that Treguier has to it’s name is a fine Cathedral called the ‘Cathedrale St-Tugdual’ it has three towers; one gothic, one Romanesque and one 18th century. The last, financed by Louis XVI with the winnings from the Paris Lottery. It has holes in the shapes of playing cards. So we had to have a look inside. It really is a lovely church with some amazing contemporary stained glass windows. We spent much longer in the church than we expected.

 A considerable amount of time was spent looking at the Tomb of St Eves a native of the town who died in 1303 and for his incorruptibility - became the patron saint of lawyers. Apparently, attempts to bribe him continue today and if you are successful a small thank you plaque made out of marble is inscribed with the gratitude of the recipient and placed on the outside of the tomb. At the foot of the tomb was a rather unexpected relic.....his skull and other bits....placed in a gold glass fronted box with doors to shut the poor fellow in. We thought he must have had a bit of a tussle or two in his time as both his front teeth were missing. Anyway, the locals and the like love him and there were dozens of candles lit to attract his favor.

After our visit was over we made our way back to Bertie and through a civic centre of the town to a small square that has (so we understand) the most important statue in Brittany. It  represents the pain of a woman for the death of those who gave up their lives during the wars. She is sitting down and is in traditional clothing worn by a woman in mourning. As we passed by there was a ceremony taking place to which looked like a memorial to a fire fighter as there was a guard of honor there from the fire service. They gave a few speeches and played the most beautiful moving accompanied solo in French. It was very touching to watch.

We spent the rest of the day in Bertie relaxing and enjoying some quiet time.

This was just one of the many fantastic windows in the Cathedral 

Sorry about the poor picture....Camera and Kev not man enough for the job!