During a lull in the first year of the pandemic we managed to get our loft re-insulated.  We cleared the area of all our stored boxes and bags and also disposed of a large amount things we no longer needed as well as spare tiles and other decorating material left there by the previous owner. The firm we employed to do the insulation were extremely efficient, did the job quickly and neatly and cleared away all the old insulation material. We are very pleased with the results as it keeps the house cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

All the time we had lived in this house (we moved here in 2006) I had know that a number of boxes of mine were up in the loft but had never quite felt ready to get someone to help me bring them down so I could sort them out.  Therefore, I was very pleased to find my collection of knitting and sewing patterns and a few large cardboard boxes of papers, letters and other miscellaneous odds and ends.  I went through all of these things and disposed of what needed to go.  One or two plastic crates of papers went back up into the loft but all my knitting patterns stayed where I can find them and a couple of things that I thought might be useful were also kept down in the house.  One of those things was a paper bag containing short diaries from two holidays we had had in Brittany with a collection of maps and mementoes.  When I read much-missed Susan’s wonderful posts on her travels round Europe I began to think I ought to make a scrapbook of all my holiday memories.  Of course, I still haven’t got round to doing it but I also thought I might copy out my holiday diaries into this blog and scan some of the photos I took at the time.  The two holidays were in 1999 and 2002 when our daughters were very young and so were we (well, relatively young).

I will begin with our holiday in 1999 and present it in short(ish) installments.  I will also annotate it at times to make the meaning a little clearer.  Annotations are in brackets.  In late August 1999 I was nearly 41 years of age, Richard had just had his 46th birthday, Alice had had her 14th birthday in July and Elinor was 2 and a half years old.  At that time we were living in a cottage in Rumburgh just over two miles away from the house we are living in now.  Remember too, that in 1999 most people didn’t have mobile phones and digital cameras.  At the time, our cameras were the old-fashioned sort with film casettes/reels that needed to be developed by a professional. We didn’t take that many pictures!

                                                                o o O O o o

Friday 20th August 1999

Richard packed everything into the car, I took William (the cat) to the cattery and to our great surprise we managed to set off in good time in the middle of the afternoon.  We were off on our first ever holiday to Brittany and would be staying in a gîte, travelling by car and crossing the English Channel by ferry.

Thanks to atlasdigitalmaps.com. This map shows the south-east of England.  If you look at the top right of the map and you have excellent eyesight you’ll see the towns of Southwold on the coast and Halesworth a few miles inland. Rumburgh is about four miles north-west of Halesworth.  Portsmouth is at the bottom of the map, just left of centre and north of the Isle of Wight.

We had to travel a circuitous route to Portsmouth to avoid accidents and delays on the M25 (the infamous London orbital motorway).  (Going by the most direct route the distance to Portsmouth from home is about 200 miles and on a good day would take just under four hours).  We stopped in Surrey for tea (meal and drink) and then the last leg of the journey to Portsmouth was fairly short and trouble-free.  We found the ferry port easily and after an hour’s wait we boarded the ferry.  However, through not reading our ticket thoroughly enough and not knowing the layout of the ship we had clambered up to Deck 8 before realising our cabin was on Deck 2!  Richard and I left Alice with the six or seven bags on Deck 8 and went to find our cabin.  We had also realised we had left Elinor’s changing bag in the car and had to ask permission to go back to Deck 3 to fetch it.  We took Elinor with us as she cried loudly when left with Alice.  Eventually, everyone was together in our cabin with all our luggage and the ferry had set sail.  We went up to a self-service restaurant and we all had a drink.  Alice then decided she wanted to see a film so we left her at a cinema and Elinor and I went back to our cabin to get ready for bed.  Richard accompanied us there and then went off to have a drink in a bar.  Apparently, the bar was very lively with a band playing and then a magician.  Both Alice and Richard arrived back at the cabin within minutes of each other at about 11.30pm and were soon in bed.  The cabin was small but well laid out with a tiny WC and shower-room attached and we all had enough room.  It was an inside cabin, was air-conditioned and lit by electric light so one quickly lost perception of time.  I became a little claustrophobic and wheezy (I have asthma) and had some trouble getting comfortable.  However, being in a cabin was much better than having to get Elinor and Alice to sleep in one of the lounges as others had to do.  Elinor woke for about an hour during the night as her nose started running and she was sneezing.  (Elinor didn’t manage to sleep through the night until she was three years old.  The first time she did it and we had had our first undisturbed night in years we thought she had died!)  I woke again at 5.00am and got dressed at 5.30.  Richard woke and dressed at 6.00 and then we woke Alice and Elinor at about 6.30 as we were to dock at 7.00 am.  Elinor was a bit upset at being woken so early but soon calmed down when I gave her a Pingu comic.

Saturday 21st August 1999

We found the car and packed everyone and everything into it quickly and waited for permission to leave the boat.  It was wonderful to see the bright sunlight flooding into the car deck as the doors were opened.

Thanks to orangesmile.com for the map. This is a map of Brittany and St Malo is at the top right of the map. Le Faouët is at D5.

We eventually drove out onto St. Malo docks and then followed the ‘tout directions’ sign posts out of the town.  Somewhere near Dinan Richard stopped for more diesel and we then continued past Lamballe, St. Brieuc, Quintin, Corlay and Rostrenen.  By 10.30 we had arrived at the small town of Glomel, all very hungry and needing a break.  We parked the car and were getting Elinor out and into her pushchair when we realised that a wedding was about to take place.  Cars arrived with little pale blue net bows tied to their aerials or windscreen wipers.  Guests were walking about in their best clothes and with blue ribbon corsages on their lapels.  We walked up through the town to a café where we ordered drinks; orange juice for Alice and coffees for Richard and me.  Elinor had her own drink with her.  We heard car horns hooting and looked down the road to see the bride arriving in an old Citroën.  We heard bagpipe and reed pipe music playing as she was led into a building for the civil ceremony.  Richard went off to a boulangerie and bought pains aux raisins and pains aux chocolat which we were able to eat outside the café (which wasn’t serving food at that moment).  We were sitting opposite the church and we saw more guests beginning to arrive.  A large 4×4 Mitsubishi pulled up with two besom broomsticks tied to the back and a grotesque blow-up woman sitting in a pushchair tied to the roof.   When the civil ceremony finished the bride, groom and wedding party were led up the main street in a procession to the church by two men, one playing a talabard (the reedpipe) and the other playing the bagpipes (a binioù).  We left after they had entered the church at 11.00.  (I wish that one of us had taken a photo or two but our cameras were packed away in the car and those of you who have had children know how preoccupied with them one can be especially when they are away from home).  As we drove out Richard pointed out the large stand for photographs which had been erected outside the church.

Map of Le Faouët in the Morbihan district of Bretagne Sud (south Brittany). This map shows the town and it’s surrounding villages.

Street map of the town. The tourist office kindly marked the route we needed to take.

A postcard picture of the Halle.

We arrived in Le Fauoët about half an hour later and parked in the main square.  The large 16th century Halle had a market in it but we didn’t go in. We went to a café and had more drinks and then walked round the town and looked for somewhere to eat.  However, everywhere was very full so we decided we’d go to the supermarket and buy everything we’d need for the next few days and go on to Lanvénégen where we would be staying and try to eat at the café there.  We called in at the tourist office and got a lot of local information and the directions out of the town to Lanvénégen. 

Unfortunately, the café in Lanvénégen was closed until the 5th September so we drove on to St. Thurien, noting where the gîte was, and then on to Bannalec not finding anywhere open for lunch.  We had yet more drinks in Bannalec and then agreed to go to the gîte and risk arriving too early.  In fact it was gone 3.45 pm by the time we arrived at the Manoir des Lescreant.  Annie and Erick were very welcoming and we met their little daughter Emma too.  We unpacked the car and ate some bread and cheese.  We discovered that we had bought fermented milk by mistake – this is a very runny, cheesey, live yogurt – no good for Elinor or cups of coffee or tea!  Richard and I went back to the supermarket and got some sterilised milk (no fresh milk available in Brittany’s shops at that time) and more food for the evening meal.

At last, we settled down for the evening, the only excitement being the horses escaping from their field and finding their way onto the field outside our gîte.  Elinor settled down for the night surprisingly quickly and we all slept quite well.

More next time….!