Two Go to France (1 Viewer)

[DBK]

When we woke up this morning it was a bit cloudy and a might cold so we decided to move on and drove for about an hour eastwards through Lannion and stopped at Caping du Port at Landrellec, ACSI #1303. Our pitch could hardly be closer to the beach, there is about three feet of grass between us and the boulders above the sand.

After lunch, another bread-free salad with ham and cheese, low in carbs, high in fat but tasty, we went for a walk along the coastal footpath which literally started from the MH. We spent a couple of hours on a delightful walk in sunshine which was a contrast from the shower which was falling when we arrived.

The beaches here are stunning but it isn't sunbathing weather, which perhaps explains why they are deserted!

There are lots of boulders everywhere on the beaches and this got me wondering how they got here. There are no cliffs they have fallen off and I can only guess the underlying rock is itself shattered and as the sea has eroded away the soil the lumps of rock have been rounded by the action of waves. Or perhaps not, perhaps a glacier was involved. Any explanations gratefully received.

The usefulness of boulders has not been lost by the folk living in this region over the millennia. The dolmens we saw yesterday were made out of large flat rocks collected locally and there were signs everywhere of stone being collected from the beaches.

At the bottom of the picture above you might see a line of marks along the edge of a rock where wedges have been driven in to split off some stone. But the big boulder above it is interesting and it would be nice to think it shows evidence of some distant mason trying to make the flat stone for the roof of a dolmen, it is certainly big enough, but I suspect it may well be more recent. My attempts to find out more have so far been inconclusive.

We had a nice meal of moules and frittes in the campsite restaurant this evening - Mary's belated birthday thrash. €8.90 a plate plus wine and a very nice vanilla ice cream with real vanilla in it to follow at a table overlooking the sea. For a moment we both forgot all the suffering going on in other parts of Europe.

Tomorrow we will go on a longer walk and see if we can find more evidence of the early settlers here.

 

[Gin Palace]

Hello From Le Pouldu we had a good crossing too to Roscoff we treated ourselves to a little cabin for £35 extra they are lovely! ensuite shower tea coffee making and beds with tv on the Armorique.
We stopped at Er Kleguer camping in san pol de leon which is a lovely site overlooking the sea great facilities it is on the same road as the lovely Aire there. We are now staying at les Embruns in Le Pouldu another lovely acsi site lots of motorhomes recently arrrived very friendly then heading to Nantes Camping on 7th-10th. If anyone is nearby come and say hi!

 

[DBK]

Hello From Le Pouldu we had a good crossing too to Roscoff we treated ourselves to a little cabin for £35 extra they are lovely! ensuite shower tea coffee making and beds with tv on the Armorique.
We stopped at Er Kleguer camping in san pol de leon which is a lovely site overlooking the sea great facilities it is on the same road as the lovely Aire there. We are now staying at les Embruns in Le Pouldu another lovely acsi site lots of motorhomes recently arrrived very friendly then heading to Nantes Camping on 7th-10th. If anyone is nearby come and say hi!

Ar Kleguer is a nice site, I've stayed on it several times when cycling - there are some great little pitches at the top of the hill in the middle of the site for small tents. Very swish facilities too.

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[Gin Palace]

yes we saw the little tents at the top a lovely site. Enjoy your trip!

 

[DBK]

Sitting down now with slightly sore feet after a twelve mile walk today.

We headed first for a dolmen and Allée Couverte which turned out to be, were still covered in earth, a long barrow I think.

Inside, after a bit of crawling and getting muddy knees, you can see some carving. There was a notice on the road which said these represent breasts and the earth goddess. As the people who made them didn't leave any explanation this can only be a guess I suspect. The U shaped marks below them might represent the horns of a bull, which I have read elsewhere was perhaps another god. Alternatively, the folk buried here might have just enjoyed a good auroch steak and some hanky-panky afterwards. We will never know.

The dolmen, which I discovered is a Breton word for "stone roof" has been used as a house in relatively recent times. The ghosts of the occupants must be a little mischievous, they undid Mary's bootlaces while we were exploring it!

From here we walked north to the coast on a mixture of paths and quiet roads to Tregastal-Plage. The coastal footpath then took us to a headland on the edge of the town, the Île Renote which has some interesting big boulders.

This stone which was about twelve feet across had a hole through it.

We had lunch here, watched over by a hopeful Herring Gull.

Lunch was at the furtherest point of the walk so we returned westwards along the coast, passing some more interesting rocks, this one is called the Tas de crêpes or pile of pancakes in English.

And so footsore we arrived back and had a much appreciated cup of tea.

The weather hasn't been brilliant, clouds and a few sunny spells and we were caught in a shower towards the end of the walk but overall a good day. Tomorrow we plan to take thing easier.

 

[yodeli]

Love the pics ! I enjoy looking at Dolmens and Menhirs ... There's a special atmosphere around them. Well, that's my feeling anyway!
I would love to visit Brittany . I've been there when a child and only with a club so of course never saw what "I" wanted to look at.
Enjoy your travel and thanks for sharing your pics of those beautiful places.

Amicalement

Frankie

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[Judge Mental]

T shirt weather....I'm impressed! Or was that just for the photo

southern Brittany has some very impressive stones. Carnac one of our favorite spots

http://carnac.monuments-nationaux.fr/

 

[DBK]

T shirt weather....I'm impressed! Or was that just for the photo

southern Brittany has some very impressive stones. Carnac one of our favorite spots

http://carnac.monuments-nationaux.fr/

We will be going to the Carnac area soon. There is a burial site on an island which has lots of carvings, the Cairn de Gavrinis. There are organised tours by boat and we will try and get on one to visit it.

 

[DBK]

Love the pics ! I enjoy looking at Dolmens and Menhirs ... There's a special atmosphere around them. Well, that's my feeling anyway!
I would love to visit Brittany . I've been there when a child and only with a club so of course never saw what "I" wanted to look at.
Enjoy your travel and thanks for sharing your pics of those beautiful places.

Amicalement

Frankie

Brittany is a lovely place. Who wouldn't want to live here?

All it lacks is the sun and warmth of the south. But like the UK the sun does shine and it is warm sometimes and then it is perfect.

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[Wildbill]

When we woke up this morning it was a bit cloudy and a might cold so we decided to move on and drove for about an hour eastwards through Lannion and stopped at Caping du Port at Landrellec, ACSI #1303. Our pitch could hardly be closer to the beach, there is about three feet of grass between us and the boulders above the sand.

After lunch, another bread-free salad with ham and cheese, low in carbs, high in fat but tasty, we went for a walk along the coastal footpath which literally started from the MH. We spent a couple of hours on a delightful walk in sunshine which was a contrast from the shower which was falling when we arrived.

The beaches here are stunning but it isn't sunbathing weather, which perhaps explains why they are deserted!

View attachment 74696

There are lots of boulders everywhere on the beaches and this got me wondering how they got here. There are no cliffs they have fallen off and I can only guess the underlying rock is itself shattered and as the sea has eroded away the soil the lumps of rock have been rounded by the action of waves. Or perhaps not, perhaps a glacier was involved. Any explanations gratefully received.

View attachment 74701

The usefulness of boulders has not been lost by the folk living in this region over the millennia. The dolmens we saw yesterday were made out of large flat rocks collected locally and there were signs everywhere of stone being collected from the beaches.

View attachment 74698

At the bottom of the picture above you might see a line of marks along the edge of a rock where wedges have been driven in to split off some stone. But the big boulder above it is interesting and it would be nice to think it shows evidence of some distant mason trying to make the flat stone for the roof of a dolmen, it is certainly big enough, but I suspect it may well be more recent. My attempts to find out more have so far been inconclusive.

We had a nice meal of moules and frittes in the campsite restaurant this evening - Mary's belated birthday thrash. €8.90 a plate plus wine and a very nice vanilla ice cream with real vanilla in it to follow at a table overlooking the sea. For a moment we both forgot all the suffering going on in other parts of Europe.

Tomorrow we will go on a longer walk and see if we can find more evidence of the early settlers here.

could be volcanic in origin the photo above it resembles withered pillow lava but without some close up picks cant rely tell next to the construction there seems to be evidence of volcanic bombs the cracking in the rock is evidence of rapid cooling
The bech rocks are predominantly a hard light-coloured sandstone and quartzite withered out crop boulderd by ice age activity and the action of the sea over thousands of years
man has harvested rocks for millennia from locations like that
brings back memories of my field trip to Britany
most of the rock in Britany consists of lime stone in varying strengths in a colour range from white to black
bill

 

[mikebeaches]

Enjoying the blog and especially the stunning photos!! Really bring your reports to life.

Many thanks for posting.

Safe and happy travels.

Mike

 

[DBK]

could be volcanic in origin the photo above it resembles withered pillow lava but without some close up picks cant rely tell next to the construction there seems to be evidence of volcanic bombs the cracking in the rock is evidence of rapid cooling
The bech rocks are predominantly a hard light-coloured sandstone and quartzite withered out crop boulderd by ice age activity and the action of the sea over thousands of years
man has harvested rocks for millennia from locations like that
brings back memories of my field trip to Britany
most of the rock in Britany consists of lime stone in varying strengths in a colour range from white to black
bill

This is a close up of the rock. As I understand it granite is cooled magma and this stuff is very coarse, which suggests it was not fully melted. But geology is a very complicated subject and I know very little about it. But I wish I did as it is a fascinating subject.

Afternote: This website has a bit more background. http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/...ast?guid=1b469674-bc98-455b-bb20-3baae9053932

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[laird of Dunstan]

excellent posts TBK , I share your enthusiasim for the old Neolithic stones etc and I too wish I had a greater knowledge of Geology. There is a series of novels by Diana Gabaldon about people time travelling through the old standing stones , its called outlander , you may enjoy them as a read

 

[Wildbill]

This is a close up of the rock. As I understand it granite is cooled magma and this stuff is very coarse, which suggests it was not fully melted. But geology is a very complicated subject and I know very little about it. But I wish I did as it is a fascinating subject.

Afternote: This website has a bit more background. http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/...ast?guid=1b469674-bc98-455b-bb20-3baae9053932

View attachment 74831

looks like a well cemented strong quarts sand stone
bill

 

[vwalan]

its very similar to granite but a weaker form . there are very big china clay mines in brittany etc . they got bigger several years ago. i,m told its not as good quality as the cornish china clay ,but i imagine thats down to the different slightly rock.
i shall try and see if i can find out a bit more about the difference . although its almost finished here now .
have a good one keep up the education tour . you deserve a medal.

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[DBK]

After a lazy day on Sunday we headed south on Monday but only as far as St Aignan, a little village beside Mur de Bretagne. There is a aire in the village but it was packed solid. CamperContact says it has room for five but French motorhomes must be smaller as there were eight of them! However all was not lost as the Commune de Sainte Aignan have set up a seasonal aire with seventy places on the sports field on the edge of the village. This proved very peaceful, grass under foot and a drive over waste point. Only down side was there was only one fresh water tap and that was over the cassette emptying point which itself was of such a narrow bore your offerings to it are reluctant to descend. I was about to call Mary and ask if she could find a stick when I noticied others had had the same problems and a couple of well worn sticks were lying by my foot. With these I was able to encourage things to follow the hint from gravity and seek the nearest sewage treatment plant.

All of which is getting ahead of matters because after we arrived the previous day we went for a walk on the marked footpath to the Lac de Guerlédan, which was ultimately unsuccessful as the Lac had vanished!

A bit of history. Before Napoleon learned his place he started the building of a canal from Nantes to Brest so goods could be moved from Nantes to the major naval port of Brest inland and away from the marauding British. The canal had only a brief life like those in the UK but the towpath now makes a fine cycle route and I cycled the full length of it a couple of years ago.

Except for the bit at the Lac de Guerlédan because this reservoir, opened in 1930, flooded a section of the canal and many locks so now cyclists have to turn off the towpath and pass through Mur de Bretagne, which I now know as Murder Bretagne as the hill you are forced up is evily steep. My brother managed to cycle up it but I had to get off and walk!

This is the end of the Nantes-Brest canal below the dam (barrage).

The abandoned house is the éclusiers or lockeeper's cottage. On other stretches of the canal these are often holiday gîtes decorated with flowers.

The dam from below looks as expected.

But after a steep walk through the woods we got above the dam and found it was doing a better impersonation of a wall rather than a dam as there was no water behind it. The path was fenced off and visibility poor and this was the best view I could get of the upper side of the dam.

Signs of fresh concrete suggest the dam has lasted less time than the canal. From what I could see of the lake it has been drained for a couple of years and I suspect it could take the same time to fill. It used to be popular for watersports but not any more and this may explain why St Aignan was a ghost town with closed shops. Even the bar was closed but that might have been because it was a Monday. Perhaps.

This morning, after wrestling with the black waste point as described in unnecessary detail earlier we drove down to the Morbihan and we have stopped at Larmor Baden which is a lovely little village and port. The reason for coming here is the Cairn de Gavrinis, a neolithic burial mound which has carvings inside it. At the time it was built the sea was considerably lower than it is today and now you can only reach it by boat. We have booked our tickets for tomorrow afternoon!

 

[DBK]

After a circular walk this morning along the coastal footpath then returning by an inland path we visited the Cairn de Gavrinis this afternoon which is a neolithic monument on a little island about a ten minute chug from Lamor Baden on this boat.

The cairn is very like the one we visited earlier in being built of stone, but it only has a single passage ending in a chamber.

You might just be able to see the entrance to the left of the notice boards in the picture above.

The special attraction of this place is virtually all the slabs of stone either side of the forty five foot passage and the walls of the chamber it leads to are decorated.

You are not allowed to take cameras inside so I stole this picture off the internet.

The carvings mostly look like fingerprints and no one has a clue if they have any meaning and if they do what the meaning is.

You go on a guided tour, which was led by a knowledgeable lady if the amount she spoke was any indication of her knowledge. Unfortunately, what she said was largely lost on us as it was all in rapid French.

The age of the cairn is unknown but it was abandoned around 3,000 BC when it was sealed up and covered in sand. The builders were the neolithic people, who topically arrived from places like Syria, assimilating throughout western Europe including the UK the hunter-gathers who were here originally with the exception of the Basque region where it seems the original peoples remained isolated. Which is not to say we are related to the people now living in the near east as other folk arrived and took over there.

When we left on the boat the tour guide took us to look at a very small island nearby called Er Lannic which has half a stone circle on it, the other half being lost under the sea where there is a second stone circle to be found if you are a diver.

The half circle can be seen in the picture above and behind it on a different island is the Cairn de Gavrinis.

A good day but spoiled by what has come to be our favourite bar running out of Grimbergen beer when we called in there after the boat trip. We had been looking forwards to Grimbergen which we have developed a taste for but they did have a nice French blonde beer which was almost as good!

 

[Bertie Bassett]

Brilliant thread as usual DBK, butjust to lower the tone somewhat, here in Arles it's currently cooled to 18° having been 27° all afternoon. So happiness is: - a few bottlesof Chimay Rouge and a lit mossie candle

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[DBK]

Brilliant thread as usual DBK, butjust to lower the tone somewhat, here in Arles it's currently cooled to 18° having been 27° all afternoon. So happiness is: - a few bottlesof Chimay Rouge and a lit mossie candle
View attachment 75154

A few mozzies around here this evening, drove us inside after a while. There has been a bit of a breeze on other nights but very still tonight which might explain it.

But some of the French bottled beers are nice, make a change from supermarket tins!

 

[Bertie Bassett]

It looks as if you've had good weather too... It's the rice festival here at the weekend which means gastronomy, much vin, and bull fighting????? Won't be attending but the street market on saturday is spectacular and we will be there.
Re bottled..agree. The better one likes champers though....the prices in the local Geant highlight 'rip orf Blighty'. Off into the Camargue again and the Pont du Gard on Friday, we've been many times but it's one of those places you have to return too. More dolmens please and sorry for swerving the thread.

 

[DBK]

Another day of walking, eating and getting to grips with the French language.

The walking was easy, turn right onto the coastal footpath, which is marked with the red and white GR stripes, and keep going until you think it is time to head home. There is a footpath which runs right round the coast of the Morbihan so almost anywhere you stop near the sea has walking.

There is a lot of shellfish farming done here. Oysters seem to be the favourite with what I would call oyster bars quite common and sometimes combined with the shellfish farm operation. Mussels I am less sure about as they have suffered from a disease in France which has wiped out a number of farms to the extent some Scottish mussel farms have been bought by French mussel farmers as growing them at home was no longer possible in some places.

We saw these baskets from our walk, oysters or mussels they don't look too healthy to my eye but I'm no expert.

There was a lot of bird life around and we had a good view of three Great White Egrets which are very similar to the Little Egret now seen in the UK, but much bigger, being only slightly smaller than a Grey Heron.

The Little Egret has yellow feet but the Great's are greenish-black as can be seen above.

One being buzzed by another here.

The end of our planned walk today was a tidal mill or moulin à marée which unfortunately seemed to be a private house and it wasn't possible to get close to it.

The sluice gate on the left was pouring out water (it was low tide) which I would have thought could be better used for generating power in the mill.

On the way back we found the Dolmen de Toulvain which was somewhat collapsed but you could see the entrance passage and where the chamber had been, although the roof was missing.

We have also seen a few of these in this area.

It stumped me but the answer is obvious, when you know it, "Half Turn Difficult" means turning around difficult. In other words, dead end road with no turning place at the end. For once the French say it with fewer words than us!

On a slightly difficult subject, I have heard quite a lot of complaints in the UK about new regulations on bathing water purity. Some of the complaints were the usual moans about "EU Laws" with the inference no one else would obey them except us. Not true here, as I came across this sign.

It may be hard to make out but where it shows red the e. coli count was over a thousand and where it is green it is a fraction of that. My guess would be heavy rain was the cause as it is often the case in the UK. The results are of course posted after the event but you can't say they are hiding them.

Tonight I was on cooking duties and I turned a kilo of mussels from the local shop.

Into the classic moules mariniers eaten with crusty bread, also locally sourced. And very nice they were.

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[vwalan]

hi. not been good down here for mussels . my neighbour works on a local mussel farm . they have been shut down most of the summer.
but enjoy yours they look scrumptious .

 

[DBK]

hi. not been good down here for mussels . my neighbour works on a local mussel farm . they have been shut down most of the summer.
but enjoy yours they look scrumptious .

They seemed very quick to shut down operations all over the south west. Have they admitted they made a mistake yet?

 

[vwalan]

havent seem him for awhile . but did have a bag of mackeral on the door handle last week so i imagine they are back out at sea . they use ropes that the mussels grow on . but he chucks a line out when out there . mind theres been very little fish this year so i,m told .

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[2657]

Definitely huitres in the bags, moules are usually grown on ropes or poles 'bouchot' and are harvested mechanichally witha big hydraulic 'thingy' on a flat bottomed boat.

The French are very particular about the quality of the seawater in areas of shellfish production.

I am very partial to shellfish , oysters, mussels and cockles particularly, all these can be harvested from the beaches and rocks near to our static on the Presquile de Guerande but quite often 'coquillage interdit' because of the water quality.

 

[DBK]

Definitely huitres in the bags, moules are usually grown on ropes or poles 'bouchot' and are harvested mechanichally witha big hydraulic 'thingy' on a flat bottomed boat.

The French are very particular about the quality of the seawater in areas of shellfish production.

I am very partial to shellfish , oysters, mussels and cockles particularly, all these can be harvested from the beaches and rocks near to our static on the Presquile de Guerande but quite often 'coquillage interdit' because of the water quality.

That's a good point. The water quality is more about the shellfish than the bathers. And rightly so, I can't eat raw oysters now after a bad experience in Brittany many years ago. But I intend to try some cooked ones, just need to find the right recipe.

 

[vwalan]

have seen the sea around st pol de leon very red . that was in the 90,s i think . shellfishing was banned totally. they even stopped swimmers .
yes they are always monitering the water . they do down here as well.
there is much more to it than many realise.

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[2657]

I love oysters but only half a dozen at a time and have never tried a cooked one, it seems a waste to me but I can understand the reluctance to eat them raw, not the most aesthetically pleasing of dishes, especially after a bad experience.

If on your tour of Brittany you get to the Guerande area I can recommend the oysters from that area and from Kercabellec especially. This is at Mesquer/Quimiac and we have happily consumed their products for many years without adverse reactions(up to now)

We are back in the area for a week from the 14th before heading south for the winter quarters,if you are in the area PM me and we could possibly meet up for some huitres and muscadet sur lie

 

[DBK]

I love oysters but only half a dozen at a time and have never tried a cooked one, it seems a waste to me but I can understand the reluctance to eat them raw, not the most aesthetically pleasing of dishes, especially after a bad experience.

If on your tour of Brittany you get to the Guerande area I can recommend the oysters from that area and from Kercabellec especially. This is at Mesquer/Quimiac and we have happily consumed their products for many years without adverse reactions(up to now)

We are back in the area for a week from the 14th before heading south for the winter quarters,if you are in the area PM me and we could possibly meet up for some huitres and muscadet sur lie

I think that might be a very good idea! We are going to stay around here over the weekend to see a few more old stones then I think we need to shuffle south a bit anyway as the forecast is not looking brilliant.
Will send you a PM in a day or so when we have looked at the long range weather forecast.

 

[Wildbill]

well love this thread grate account of your trip so far but I have to singe off no up for work at 4am enjoy your trip green with envy
bill

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