Breizh - Bretagne - Brittany

After five wonderful days in Jersey, it was time to pack the boat and sail back to France!

Actually, we boarded a large ferry last Saturday morning with the car (Gerald and Anne’s ageing but majestic Jag!) loaded for a week of wandering in Brittany (‘Bretagne’ in French, ‘Breizh’ in Breton). We’ve been struck by the use of bilingual French and Breton signage in this area. 

Our first destination was Hilguy (a revived manor house with surrounding cottages, set deep in the western Brittany countryside amid forests of oak and chestnut). It’s now used as a hotel and gives access to many different villages and towns on the nearby coast - a delightful, peaceful place. Here’s a shot of us enjoying a lovely seafood lunch at Concarneau, an old walled town surrounded by water.

The main centre in this area is Quimper (‘Kemper’ in Breton), and here we are enjoying a coffee in the city square beside the enormous cathedral. This whole region, the most westerly edge of France, is called Finistere (meaning ‘end of land’, ‘end of the earth’!). 

A feature of our time here has been stopping to picnic along the way. We pick up a couple of baguettes, some incredible cheese and pate de compagne, and have ourselves a feast! Note the table cloth - with Annie’s touch, everything is done with style!!

Of course, all these fine ‘touches’ require a bit of space, and with four of us in the car, things have been a little squeezy!

In these last couple of days before we depart, we are staying in a converted farm house not far from the river Rance estuary, about 20kms from St Malo. 

We are surrounded by fields and corpses of trees. 

On our walking explorations, we came across this beautiful pond.





The track then led into a wood, carpeted with flowers.

And down to the estuary.



Yesterday, we went to Concale - the oyster capital of France.



The At low tide, the oyster beds are uncovered and tractors go constantly to and fro towing trailers loaded with oysters. In the distance, you can see the famous Le Mont St Michel, an abbey perched atop a tiny island of rock off the coast of Normandy. 

Annie sampled the oysters at lunch and they arrived served on a bed of vigorous seaweed.

Out time here is nearly over. Tomorrow we catch the train to Poitiers to spend our final two days at Bonnevaux, the international centre for the World Community for Christian Meditation. We are so grateful to Annie and Gerald for their kindness and generosity in giving us such a memorable experience in Brittany. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed sharing our time with them in this wonderful region. 

Buen Camino,

Neil and Sarah