After nearly a year of not posting anything on my blog I have decided, at last, that I ought to do something about it.  It has been a difficult year in many ways but especially because my siblings, my husband, daughters and I have been dealing with my mother’s death and the associated tasks of sorting out all her belongings and trying to sell her house.  I may go into that in more detail in another post.  As going out and taking photos has not been a priority recently I haven’t many adventures to relate so I have decided to carry on with my record of our holiday in Brittany when our daughters were very much younger than they are now.  Please see here https://asuffolklane.com/2024/03/12/holiday-in-brittany-august-1999/ and here https://asuffolklane.com/2024/03/24/holiday-in-brittany-august-1999-part-2/ to remind yourselves of the holiday so far.

ooOOoo

Tuesday 24th August

When we woke the rain had stopped but everything was very wet.  Richard drove to Lanvénégen and bought croissants, pains aux chocolat and two long, thin pains aux campagne for our breakfast.

We had an early lunch at Le Grand Pont on the R. Ellé outside Le Faouët.  The inn is next to the chapel of Ste Barbe and became quite busy just after we arrived.  Alice had wanted to visit the Witchcraft Museum (I don’t believe this exists any more) but as the key had to be obtained from the staff in the inn and they were so busy we didn’t go in, to Alice’s disappointment.

We then drove to Pont Scorff Zoo which Elinor really enjoyed.  We all got very hot and tired as we were not expecting the zoo to be so large or for the weather to get so warm.

We returned to the gîte via Les Roche du Diable so that Alice could take photos for her school art-work.  Elinor fell off the low garden wall when we got back.  We then ate our evening meal of ham and cheese and finished the bread.

We all admired the beautiful full moon Richard pointed out to us before going to bed.

Wednesday 25th August

Richard went out to get croissants and bread for us again this morning.  It really is so pleasant eating breakfast all together – and such a nice breakfast too!  We didn’t want to do much today as we had been in the car such a lot over the past few days.  We sat in the sun and read and then Richard took Elinor for a walk to see the geese and the horses.  We ate bread and paté for lunch and Breton Cake for pudding.

At about 3.30pm we went into Le Faouët to do a supermarket shop and to get more postcards.  Richard cooked us risotto for tea.  The owls were very noisy after dark.  Alice drank a couple of small glasses of red wine tonight and got a bit merry.  She swung on the swing and lay on the grass outside for a while.  She then came back into the house, did some wiping up while I washed the dishes and then went off to listen to her music in her room.  When Richard and I decided to go to bed about 11.30pm we realised we hadn’t seen or heard Alice for some time. She had fallen asleep in her clothes and needed a bit of help in finding her pyjamas and getting comfortable.  No more wine for Alice for a while !

Thursday 26th August

We all woke later than usual this morning so we decided to bath Elinor and wash her hair after breakfast.  Unfortunately, the bathroom stool broke decanting Richard onto the floor – more bruises added to the earlier ones!  Wood glue added to shopping list.

We set off for Quimperlé just after midday and drove along a winding hilly road through little villages.  We parked the car near the river in the centre of the town and went to the tourist office to get a town plan.  As we were all hungry (when weren’t we hungry on this holiday?!) and as restaurants and cafés in Brittany only serve food between 12.00 midday and 2.00pm we went off in search of somewhere to eat.  We decided on a pizzeria; its entrance was a covered bridge over the river.  The food was very good but Elinor didn’t eat much.

After lunch we walked round the town going first to the Haute-Ville.  On the way, Alice went into a shop to buy post cards and a diary.  The shop keeper gave her two chewy sweets!  We found a large, well laid-out square, Place St Michel, where Richard posted my postcards for me. We visited L’Église Notre-Dame-de-L’Assomption which had a charcuterie stuck onto the east wall!

We then walked down the hill to the river again and the Bas-Ville.  We crossed the river by the Pont Fleurie, a very pretty ancient bridge.  We saw a tiled fish hall and then went to a park on the banks of the Ellé for a rest.  Alice’s feet were suffering as she was wearing high heels.  We walked back to the car via the Rue Dom-Maurice which has beautiful 16th century half-timbered houses.

We drove back to the gite via Querrien, a pretty village we had driven through on Tuesday.  We parked in the square by the church and Richard and I got out to look around.  This was a very well-kept village with a mayor’s office, a small supermarket and a number of other little shops  – two boulangeries! – and a library.  We looked at a restaurant but they hadn’t put up their menu or price-list yet and then went to buy bread and pastries.  We decided that if we lived in France this is where we’d live.

We had another bread and cheese tea which we all enjoy and Elinor went happily to bed at about 9.00pm.  Richard told me what a lovely, still evening it was so we went out for ten minutes or so listening to the owls, the crickets and the horses.  When the farm dog barked we noticed what a wonderful echo there was.

 

More next time!