Friday
We left Plymouth at 8.00am; MeWally, Gerry and me.
In the UK, 2 months of glorious, arid, weather was about to come to a thunderous end. We thought France might present us with a sunny, long weekend.
The day was monochrome!
Turneresque, tho not as colourful as his work.
Plymouth breakwater - watches us sternly (!) as we head south and escape the impending storms.
We booked into this perfectly French hotel; small, chic, friendly and right on the sea front.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
By 4.00pm we were looking at this view from our hotel room,
MeWally spent a lot of the evening taking in that view.
Then Gerry joined him at the window.
Our hotel recommended tonights' restaurant as being one of the best in town.
As you can see, it's done well on the awards front over the years.
Highly recommend this one, really good food, and relaxed staff who can almost speak English as well as I speak French. I think I've made myself clear there then!
Saturday
This morning we woke to the tide coming in and a sunny day - perfection. By the time we were ready to leave the hotel it was almost high tide.
We headed to Morlaix.
A mish-mash of a town.
With crackers window displays - this one's a book shop.
You'd never have guessed!!
FABULOUS
: )
If you've never been, get yourself to this area.
Just do it!
Morlaix is taken over by a series of markets every Saturday morning.
Gerry took a break whilst MeWally and I queued for olives.
Every corner of the town throws up something
to catch the eye.
We took the lovely picnic we'd bought at the market and headed to Carentec.
By chance we stumbled upon this park,
despite finding it a couple of years ago,
I had forgotten how to get to it,
and HERE it was!
MeWally was driving to Carentec beach and, as I had in the past, he took a wrong turn and we found ourselves right here; a fascinating place that
abruptly opens from a tight and wild wood into this!
I want this sign - soooo pretty.
As you can see, I have it; well, its' image, at least.
The park runs down to the sea and an oyster farm.
So we all wander back up the hill, through the dream like park,
where folks those in the know come to contemplate
in the warm,
dappled light.
What a delightful, free, place of sublime beauty.
And so to lunch.
Local cake bought in Morlaix market a couple of hours ago,
and scoffalated here,
at the wonderful Carentec beach,
where the world stands still and simply breathes.
You may remember this cafe from previous blogs with me and my old dad.
This old Renault 4 (just like the one MeWally and I had back in the 70's = but without all that art-work)
caught my eye.
Clever to put on a blog address.
Shame it doesn't seem to exist!
One more look.
And Paradise Plage? It's the name of the cafe with the colourful chairs n tables.
We returned to our hotel to find the tide out, again.
Tonight's meal eaten here at Le Surcouf was great for seafood, but Gerrys' steak was inedible; too tough and gristly.
Roscoff church looked resplendent as we strolled back from our evening meal.
Sunday
A water colour morning greeted us today.
A mirror calm sea,
made everything slow down,
or perhaps it was because we were on a little holiday.
Local skiff rowers were up early and out zipping about the islands.
It looked like the perfect start to the day.
We went for a stroll around Roscoff.
There's no doubting the church spires are pretty .....mad around these parts.
: )
The long walkway .25 mile (?) allows folks to board the Isle De Batz ferry when the tide's right out, as far as we could tell.
It gave us great views of the town.
From the end of the walkway we're surrounded by water and rocks.
Such a beautiful place.
We saw this sign,as we strolled through Roscoff.
it was attached to this holiday property which is just across the road from a launch point, right in the centre of town.
Might look into hiring and taking a load of toys to play with.....
Ancient Roscoff, is one of those places where
every turn of the head
turns up something special.
The church is , like every building around here, made of dark granite which is set off by these little daisies.
A lot of boats have been randomly carved on the church.
Rather unusual.
I've often seen this Onion Johny, but never with the sun glancing off him, so I snapped a picture.
What a cutie he is. So d'you think he's based on a real Onion Johny?
I have to say that this made us laugh. Sorry if it offends the people living there, but all I can say is that, perhaps, it gains something in translation!
Roscoff has several sandy beaches. This one's the swimming one, with 2 pools (rather silted up) and a diving scaffold.
My new 'Brighton' shoes. Love them.
excellent.
All quite surreal.
Monday
We're due to hop on the ferry at 3.00pm today, so, true to tradition, we went to the Geant supermarket to stock up on wine for the next 6 months. Yep, I know that sounds a bit nuts, but we get through a couple of bottles a week (often less) and at about a third the price we'd pay in the UK, our three cases save us a lot of cash.
What's not to like?
With very little time left between the shopping and the ferry, I thought the men would like to stop in St Pol De Leon, a small cathedral town.
It's ancient looking with that mentalist church at one end of the main street
and this remarkable cathedral at the other.
We made for this entrance. Forced open the heavy doors, guarded by icons and stepped into the darkness.....
Inside, Men Of Harlech strikes up as visitors walk in, sung in a plain song style by , what sounds like a male voice choir.
Quite moving.
I was almost converted at the sight of this glorious window accompanied by the lilting music.
Almost,
I said,
ALMOST!
This cathedral had been founded by a Welsh Bishop in the 1100's and it has clearly been wealthy.
No area is unadorned, ceilings, walls, floors, seats.
You don't have to be god fearing to fill with wonder as you enter this perfect space.
I'll be back.
And so to the ferry....
and there's just time to start a snack before we board and spend a pleasant 5 hours sailing home in comfort.
What a relaxing weekend.
Thank you MeWally and my lovely Gerry.
A nice time was had by all.
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