DBK
LIFE MEMBER
This trip was originally going to be called Two Go to Corsica and Sardinia. Yet as I read up on what we might find on the islands it became clear we couldn't do much more than sprint round the coastlines in the time available so we are going to Corsica only and Sardinia will have to wait. Barring some sort of Pompeii-like volcanic cataclysm I am sure it will still be there waiting for us. 
This is the planned route. First we cross France from Roscoff, entering Italy over the Montgenèvre pass.
Then down to Livorno for the ferry to Corsica. This bit might be subject to change. The reason for the Livorno sailing is it is the shortest at around 4 hours and the dog can stay in the van. And the reason for going via Parma is to avoid the busy coast. We might also look out for some Parma ham.
We came over from Plymouth last night on a very smooth crossing marred only by a shortage of sleep. Brittany Ferries have revised their timetable to put on extra Brexit sailings so we boarded at 23:00 last night and drove off at 06:00 this morning - a schedule granting us barely five hours slumber.
We usually shop at the Super U in Pol de Léon just outside Roscoff but we we so early even the pigeons in the town square were still asleep.
So we drove on, shopping at an Intermarché on the way later in the morning to collect the wine and some foodie bits which Mrs DBK insists we buy as she doesn't think wine on its own is enough to live on.
We have stopped at the free aire in Beignon where we have stayed before. (CC19710)
This is on the edge of the Fôret de Paimpont which is a place linked with Arthurian legends. You can visit Merlin's tomb and a Fountain of Youth amongst other attractions if you want. We drove through the town of Paimpont, in the centre of the forest on the way here. It is an attractive but touristy place and has an aire but it isn't free to park there (€4) and water needs a trip to the Tourist Office for a €3.50 jeton. We gave it a miss but I'm sure we will visit someday.
More info can be found here: https://tourisme-broceliande.bzh/en/la-foret/
To stop us falling asleep after lunch we went for a walk into the forest from the Beignon aire. My geocaching app is good for finding paths but sadly our geocache locating performance this afternoon was dismal. We only found one cache out of six possibles! My excuses include the more than a little cryptic clues and some of the caches were themselves classed as hard with one 3.5 and another 4.0. I expect the clues to be in French but what to make of:
"Petite bebete à l'abri du soleil"
And:
"Un lacet à refaire peut être ?"
The first means (I think) "Little baby at the foot of the sun" and the second "A lace to be redone can be? ". When there is no baby, sun or pair of shoes to be seen we were stumped though on reflection I think the lace thing probably meant kneeling down - as if tying a shoelace, suggesting the cache was low down and underneath something.
The hint for the only one we got was "1m above the ground" which was easy enough when the coordinates take you to a tree.
We did a circular walk which included the valley of the l'Aff river. And a pleasant woodland ramble it turned out to be.
We soon spotted some curious purple plants.
It is Purple Toothwort (Lathrea clandestina) a member of the broomrape family. It is parasitic on the roots of a wide range of deciduous trees. The main part of the plant is underground and can weigh several kilograms. A new one for me.
We will push on south east tomorrow.
And here we are parked outside another French cemetery. We have heard distant gunfire all afternoon. We are very close to the military academy of St Cyr which is the French equivalent of Sandhurst though graduates from it also join the Gendarmes and I remember being told years ago it was only the very best joined the Gendarmerie. The rest join the French Army!
Did I mention the aire was free?
This is the planned route. First we cross France from Roscoff, entering Italy over the Montgenèvre pass.
Then down to Livorno for the ferry to Corsica. This bit might be subject to change.
The reason for the Livorno sailing is it is the shortest at around 4 hours and the dog can stay in the van. And the reason for going via Parma is to avoid the busy coast. We might also look out for some Parma ham. We came over from Plymouth last night on a very smooth crossing marred only by a shortage of sleep. Brittany Ferries have revised their timetable to put on extra Brexit sailings so we boarded at 23:00 last night and drove off at 06:00 this morning - a schedule granting us barely five hours slumber.
We usually shop at the Super U in Pol de Léon just outside Roscoff but we we so early even the pigeons in the town square were still asleep.
So we drove on, shopping at an Intermarché on the way later in the morning to collect the wine and some foodie bits which Mrs DBK insists we buy as she doesn't think wine on its own is enough to live on.
We have stopped at the free aire in Beignon where we have stayed before. (CC19710)
This is on the edge of the Fôret de Paimpont which is a place linked with Arthurian legends. You can visit Merlin's tomb and a Fountain of Youth amongst other attractions if you want. We drove through the town of Paimpont, in the centre of the forest on the way here. It is an attractive but touristy place and has an aire but it isn't free to park there (€4) and water needs a trip to the Tourist Office for a €3.50 jeton. We gave it a miss but I'm sure we will visit someday.
More info can be found here: https://tourisme-broceliande.bzh/en/la-foret/
To stop us falling asleep after lunch we went for a walk into the forest from the Beignon aire. My geocaching app is good for finding paths but sadly our geocache locating performance this afternoon was dismal. We only found one cache out of six possibles! My excuses include the more than a little cryptic clues and some of the caches were themselves classed as hard with one 3.5 and another 4.0. I expect the clues to be in French but what to make of:
"Petite bebete à l'abri du soleil"
And:
"Un lacet à refaire peut être ?"
The first means (I think
) "Little baby at the foot of the sun" and the second "A lace to be redone can be? ". When there is no baby, sun or pair of shoes to be seen we were stumped though on reflection I think the lace thing probably meant kneeling down - as if tying a shoelace, suggesting the cache was low down and underneath something.The hint for the only one we got was "1m above the ground" which was easy enough when the coordinates take you to a tree.
We did a circular walk which included the valley of the l'Aff river. And a pleasant woodland ramble it turned out to be.
We soon spotted some curious purple plants.
It is Purple Toothwort (Lathrea clandestina) a member of the broomrape family. It is parasitic on the roots of a wide range of deciduous trees. The main part of the plant is underground and can weigh several kilograms. A new one for me.
We will push on south east tomorrow.
And here we are parked outside another French cemetery. We have heard distant gunfire all afternoon. We are very close to the military academy of St Cyr which is the French equivalent of Sandhurst though graduates from it also join the Gendarmes and I remember being told years ago it was only the very best joined the Gendarmerie. The rest join the French Army!
Did I mention the aire was free?
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