Celebrations, Coastlines and Coquillage

Blog 42 I think then, and this one finds us still in Brittany having a bit of a break from a break! More on that later though.

The last post saw us in our lovely private parking spot next door to Steve and Claire's in readiness for their wedding the following day. The Friday evening was a lovely social affair, heading to a local restaurant for the speciality Gallettes - as many choices as you could imagine, followed by Crepes. This was with Claire's parents, and brother plus a couple of their friends who'd travelled up from Paris. A lovely evening.

Saturday morning and wedding day. It was very wet first thing reminding Jase and I of our wedding day which was much the same! Fortunately the sun came out at the appropriate time on both occasions. The service itself was at the Mayor's office, and fair play to the local Mairie, he'd made a real effort to learn some English and use it to great effect. The French service seemed very similar in tone to our Civil ceremony, but it definitely felt more patriotic, especially with the Mairie wearing the tricolour sash and with Mr Macron looking down on proceedings.

After the service we headed out to some pretty gardens for some group pictures, and then headed back to the restaurant while the Bride and Groom had their individual shots. The restaurant was the same place we enjoyed our meal back last summer for the Tour de France. The meal was superb, a starter of scallops, followed by chicken and then the most stunning strawberry pud I've ever eaten. All wash down with bubbles and wine - super. We also sat with Steve, Isabelle and Luke who we'd met back at the Tour. A great laugh - not least for the Anglo/French quiz!

The day was rounded off with a great trip to local Simon's microbrewery - a real treat this one and a lovely way to finish the day.

Sunday morning and a beautiful start to the day. We joined the newlyweds and family for a brunch before packing up and heading north. As our journey took us right past Nantes airport we were able to repay some of the fab hospitality by giving Claire's brother Fred a lift back. It wasn't without incident though as we ended up in the height barrier car park queue! Fortunately with a French speaker on board, Fred was able to get us back out again, after moving one or two (read 4 or 5!) bollards....!

On onward journey took us to a free Aire at Fay-de-Bretagne in the southern part of Brittany. With lovely weather we had a nice wander around the village and lakes.

Monday morning and first a pit stop at Lidl - the French prices are definitely a bit of a shock, but hey ho, this is balanced out by having many free spots to overnight really. Our spot for the night was a great one from Park4Night right on the side of the estuary with stunning sea views at Sarzeau. A lovely afternoon beachside.

Tuesday morning and suddenly we had a bit of a pressing issue. In checking the van around, Jase spotted that one of the rear tyres was badly out of shape. They'd all been fine when we serviced back in December, but we've done quite a lot of miles since then, so cue a bit of hasty research and finding another Feu Vert (same place where we replaced the battery) in nearby Vannes. We rolled up as early as possible, and fair play to Jase, he managed to explain what we needed and got the van booked in, both rears replaced in about 2 hrs. Of course this was a bit of an unexpected expense, but as my dad said, it's all part of the running costs on the road.

Once the van was sorted, we'd promised ourselves a stay in a campsite in Brittany. Apart from a couple of nights in the Rioja region, we'd been on the road pretty much since we left Didota back on the 18th March. It seems mad, but we both feel you need a break from the break! Being on the road is great fun, but it does come with it's challenges. We'd picked an ACSI campsite in La-Trinite-sur-Mer, near the Brittany coast. On pulling in we were able to pick our spot - great, except any kind of number system had eluded reception! We parked up and took a deep breath. Not a bad days work in all!

And here we've been ever since! The area is stunning. We've done a plenty of bike riding and walking around the local area. The coast path is stunning and takes you along the oyster beds and all the way to Carnac (a 12.2mile walk in total).

Our site is situated just 5km from an exceptional Neolithic 6,000 year old site which includes a collection of over 3,000 standing stones - the accompanying museum told us that there are a further 10,000 under the sea!

We've also ridden a lovely 50km loop to the Cote Savage - very similar to Land's End, without the tack!

We've also taken the van out for the day to visit nearby Lorient. This was the base for the U-boats maintenance during WW2. in later days it's been used for as a submarine base for the French Navy - this visit included a tour of a sub too.

Plus of course, the weather has been great and the site has good washing machines plus both an indoor and outdoor pool with slides - it's all we needed to keep us in place!

The plan from here is stay for a few more days, and then have a bit of a tour around Brittany before we push south for the bike races in early June.

By the way, the signal is pretty dire here (I've had to relocate to the standing stones to publish this!) hence the delay! The next one might be similarly late...!

Til next time, stay safe all
J&J x