As threatened in my last post, here is the continuation of the diary of our holiday in Brittany.

See earlier Brittany posts :

Holiday in Brittany: August 1999

Holiday in Brittany – August 1999. Part 2.

Holiday in Brittany: August 1999. Part 3

ooo000ooo

Friday 27th August

Richard did not sleep well last night and was therefore quite tired today.  He heard Elinor wake up and went to get her milk and our cups of tea.  We went downstairs for breakfast and only when we had finished eating, Elinor and I were dressed and Richard in the bath did Alice get up.  I ironed some shirts of Richard’s that we had washed yesterday then Richard packed the car and at 12.30pm we set off for the beach.  We went to Kerfany les Pins via St. Thurien, Bannalec, Riec-sur-Bélon and passed near Moëlan-sur Mer.  We drove alongside the Bélon estuary which was mudflats as the tide was out.  We parked opposite a crêperie where we had lunch and then walked to the beach which was in a little cove.  It was a lovely beach; very sandy with lots of shells and pine-covered rocks all around.  Some very attractive houses were built on the top of the cliffs with their own steps down to the beach carved out of the rock.  The beach was not at all crowded when we got there as it was still lunchtime and even later in the afternoon when it was busier it never got so crowded we felt uncomfortable.

Elinor loved it there and played with the sand and paddled and sat in the sea.  We left at about 4.00pm when some darker clouds came over and as we set off home it started to rain.  As we got nearer the gîte we noticed it had been raining very heavily.  It continued to rain until about 8.30pm by which time Elinor had been in bed half-an-hour.

Saturday 28th August

We went into Le Faouët before midday in the hope of finding a bank open.  We didn’t, so Richard got some money out of a cash machine.  We took Alice’s film in to be developed and bought some bread and croissants.  We then went to the Scorff Valley and the Forêt de Pont Calleck for a picnic.  On the way we encountered lots of cyclists and realised they were taking part in a road race.  We drove past another wedding with all the guests standing outside the church for photos and cyclists whizzing past.  The race course went along the road we were heading for and when we had parked near a picnic spot Richard was able to film the cyclists.  A couple (not cyclists!) were already having their lunch at one of the tables when we arrived and called out “Bonjour!” to us and smiled and waved. They left soon afterwards.  Their picnic was grander than ours as they had a wonderfully well stocked hamper and glasses of wine.  We just had food in paper bags, a fidgetty toddler and a grouchy teenager.  No wonder they left pretty sharpish!  Before we had finished, a group of four adults and six children arrived for their picnic birthday party but apart from that it was very quiet.  Alice ate a lot of pâté and Elinor played with the new bucket and spade set her Daddy had bought for her in Le Faouët.  We put our picnic things back in the car and went for a walk along the river.  The large family group took over the table we had used as it was in the shade and still in one piece.  We were still watching cyclists going past on the road on the other side of the river and were surprised and amused to see a group of nuns and young girls on bikes come racing down the hill.  The nuns habits were billowing out behind them and they were shouting to each other.  There were lots of damselflies flying about; beautiful blue and turquoise ones.  Elinor insisted we take the bucket on the walk with us and also the starfish mould which sadly, we dropped on the way.  We got to a muddy puddle on the path which Elinor wanted to play in and when we said no she started to shout.  She then wouldn’t walk back and cried very loudly even after I had given in and started to carry her.

We drove to a large clothing store at Bayé just outside Quimperlé but found nothing we needed there.  We then went to a hypermarket to buy food and Alice bought two bags for school.  We drove home and relaxed for a while before cooking tea.  While I was sweeping up some gravel Elinor had brought in,  Annie the gîte owner called round with a tourist passport (discounts on tariffs for boat trips and museum entrances) and a bottle of home-made cider. She explained how to dispose of the rubbish, too.  Elinor went to bed with her bucket and Alice made us laugh when she misheard Richard talking about Oates’ gesture, thinking that he said that Oates was a jester.

Sunday 29th August

Richard did not feel very well this morning so we stayed at the gîte and read books etc.

After lunch Richard, Elinor and I went to visit the Chapel of St. Barbe while Alice stayed behind to wash her hair and have some time to herself.  The chapel is not far from Le Faouët and Le Grand Pont which is where we parked. We decided to walk to the chapel – the sign said it was 0.5km away.  However, we walked the longer way round via the Fountain (which we never saw!) and had to carry Elinor a good two-thirds of the way as it was uphill and very rocky.  The wood we walked through was really lovely and in places smelt very fungus-y and autumnal.  As we neared the top there were a number of cave-like crevices at the side of the path.  Steps had been hewn into the rockface or made out of stone and Elinor was able to walk the last bit up to the chapel.

This was an amazing building as it looked as if it too, had been hewn out of the rock as well as the steps up to it.  There were stairs and arches and a bridge and everything seemed very tall.  We entered the chapel and had just begun admiring the ancient interior when we found we were shut in and had been included in a guided tour.  The female guide spoke very quickly in a monotone which we found almost impossible to follow.  Elinor soon got bored and began stamping and hooting but fortunately Richard managed to escape outside with her, along with another man.  I had to wait for quite a while longer before I could get out to join them.  I loved the carved angels who looked as if they had large earphones and the stained glass was beautiful.  There was a separate belfry for pilgrims to send their prayers to heaven.  We drank an orange juice and then went back down to the car via a different path. This was much narrower and steeper than the one we had climbed up by so poor Richard had to carry Elinor all the way down.  We were very tired when we got back to the car.

After a rest at home and a drink we all got ready to go out for dinner.  We went to Querrien to see if the restaurant there was open – it wasn’t.  We then drove to Le Faouët and went to a crêperie/pizzaria and had a lovely meal.  Elinor made a bit of a fuss at first because she was hungry and I had to take her back to the car early as she was getting bored and tired.  Driving back to the gîte, Richard put the car lights on for the first time this holiday.  He found a toad on the doorstep when we got back.

To be continued….