Here follows the next episode of our Brittany holiday. I thought I would include here an example of Breton folk music just so you can get an idea of the kind of music we heard when we arrived in Brittany. I also apologise for the grainy and blurred photos.
Sunday 22nd August
This is where we were staying. I believe the building was a converted barn and the house where the owners lived is the taller building with the chimneys at the back.
We decided that we would not do much today and just get used to being in our cottage in France. The weather was nice so we sat outside quite a lot.
View from the gîte.
Another view.
We drove into Le Faouët during the early evening and went to a Breton crêperie for tea. We all enjoyed our meal and decided we would return there sometime soon.
Richard didn’t feel too well during the evening and went to bed early. (Over-tired probably!).
Monday 23rd August
A foggy start to the day.
The day began well but we soon had our first accident with Alice breaking one of the plates as she was wiping up after we had washed the breakfast things. (We are an accident-prone family!). Richard took Elinor out to play on the swings but the swing broke and Richard badly burnt his arm on the rope as he tried to break his and Elinor’s fall. After patching up his arm and having a cup of tea we decided we would go for a scenic drive during the afternoon to the Étang du Bel Air and the Scorff valley. We cooked some soup for our lunch.
Alice and Elinor on the swing.
Everyone wanted a swing!
Shortly before setting off for our drive, Elinor fell down the steps from the sitting area onto the hard tiles in the dining area. We didn’t realise at the time but she had landed on her ear and badly bruised it.
We drove through Le Faouët and, via L’Abbaye Notre-Dame de Langonnet, on to Priziac which is next to L’Étang du Bel Air. We walked a little way round the lake until Elinor got tired and Alice began complaining of hunger and cold. We returned to the little beach near the car-park where a café was just opening and bought coffee and crisps and Alice bought an ice-cream. The ideal food to eat when you are cold!
The link below will lead you to some pictures of the lake courtesy of google maps and the photographers who have donated their photos to that site.
We then drove to Kernascléden via le Croisty and St-Caradec-Trégomel. We looked at the church which has medieval paintings in it and then went to the toy museum. (I looked on-line to see if the toy museum is still going and unfortunately I don’t believe it is. There are some images of the museum but I think they are old pictures.) We bought some postcards and groceries from a shop before driving off to the Scorff valley with its beautiful scenery. We stopped at a likely place by the R. Scorff and Richard and Alice got out of the car. A kingfisher flew past and they saw lots of pond skaters (insects) in the calmer parts of the river. Next, we drove to Plouay where I used a public toilet (most unpleasant!) and then travelled on to Les Roches du Diable and looked at the wonderful rock formations on the R. Ellé.The rocks are supposed to have been thrown by the devil at Saint Winwaloe who had set up home by the river but the saint outwitted and defeated the devil. The rocks show the devil’s claw marks on them.
We drove back to our cottage and Richard cooked us pasta and sauce for our evening meal followed by crêpes. The rain started as we got home and continued to fall very heavily almost all night long.
A Suffolk Lane 