Bretagne (France)

Here I am on this dark, damp November evening and I am thinking back three months to August, when the sun was shining and the days were long. I am particularly remembering a really nice place in France where I stayed for two weeks.

Why France?

It was about this time last year that my friend and I were discussing where we would like to venture for our holiday 2004. It had been a little while since I had taken the offspring ...
...over the past few years, so was becoming a tad claustrophobic and landlocked. Our main difficulty was where to travel to. We both had some issues with this. I am the only driver in my group, and hadn't driven in Europe before. Also, in stressful conditions I tend to get blinding migraines which have me out of action for hours so pressure to reach destinations by certain times was to be considered. My friend's family includes a disabled teenager who ... more

Here I am on this dark, damp November evening and I am thinking back three months to August, when the sun was shining and the days were long. I am particularly remembering a really nice place in France where I stayed for two weeks.

Why France?

It was about this time last year that my friend and I were discussing where we would like to venture for our holiday 2004. It had been a little while since I had taken the offspring abroad, and had only had one weekend in France myself over the past few years, so was becoming a tad claustrophobic and landlocked. Our main difficulty was where to travel to. We both had some issues with this. I am the only driver in my group, and hadn't driven in Europe before. Also, in stressful conditions I tend to get blinding migraines which have me out of action for hours so pressure to reach destinations by certain times was to be considered. My friend's family includes a disabled teenager who can't tolerate high temperatures and who tires very easily. Also, her husband is clinically obese and gets very tired and will fall asleep easily at the wheel despite any noise going on in the car, and so my friend would have to take over the driving too. We decided that France was probably the best option!

We went onto the trusty internet and located a website 'French Country Holidays' and found some cottages in Brittany. Brittany is in the North West of France with coastlines on the English Channel to the north and the Atlantic to the West.
After much deliberation and scrutinising of maps and guide books, we settled upon Vannes, in the Morbihan area.

To get there from where I live, I drove down the M20 from Maidstone towards Folkestone, but just before at Cheriton I turned off the motorway and onto the entrance to the Channel Tunnel shuttle service. This offers a speedy and easy way to get across the Channel although it is not the cheapest route to take. After coming out of Calais, I followed the main route south of the coast, via Caen and on to Avranches. From there, I headed south to Vannes.

Why Vannes?

Vannes is a large medieval, stone town with Ramparts which provided protection in the past against invasion. The town has naturally spread and is very built up and quite industrial. However, the centre is very atmospheric and has a large boating community on the canal that brings the river right to the city entrance. There are activities for the more youthful in the party such as bowling and a nightclub, just on the outskirts of the town.

During our two weeks in August 2004, there was a large Celtic festival called the Fetes d'Arvor and this brought hundreds of visiting boats to the area. It is a very lively town but the visitor must be aware that this is major tourism so for people who like to find places off the beaten track, this will not be the ideal destination.

For me and mine, we like to see some activity and people. I like to visit quiet tranquil places too, but access by foot is always a bonus for me and I love looking at old buildings and exploring the nooks and crannies that old towns provide.

There is a large Cathedral in the centre of Vannes, and plenty of museums and an art galleries to cater for most tastes. I was quite taken with a local artist called Joseph Felix Bouchor who had paintings in the main gallery which were of a more typical Impressionist style, but strangely, other than one postcard of one of his paintings, I was not able to find any other prints of his work, anywhere - despite a major search though various bookshops and on the internet. Very vexing!
There were some galleries with more Artisan offerings.

Shopping is big business in Vannes and my 15 year old daughter and her best friend (also with us) found plenty to shop for there by way of clothes and jewellery. And ice cream and milkshakes. And sweets. And shoes. And bags. And more clothes and jewellery!!

We stayed in a house that was on the outskirts of the town, and very residential, but quiet and it took approximately half an hour to walk to the centre. This was not a big deal although it was a bit of a long climb back up the hill after several glasses of wine! The home was clean and very well stocked with games, bedding, crockery and there were all the appliances that we needed, plus a barbeque and unheated swimming pool. It wasn't cheap, and the two weeks for my part of the house cost me £1500, but this also included the channel tunnel crossing. (See property reference F56153 if you like the idea).

Where and what did we eat?

In Vannes itself, there were ample restaurants and snack bars. The main menu item seemed to be Omelettes - in a variety of forms!! If you don't eat eggs, forget it. I am vegetarian and so I am usually fairly limited as to what to eat when I visit France. What they lack in fresh fruit and vegetables on the menu, they usually make up for with a wide range of offal and meat. This area was a nice surprise though, and there was plenty of egg or cheese based meals on the menu. There were also some fairly modern places that seemed to cater for the ecologically minded finicky eater (such as me) and provided some organic meals too. Galettes were thin, savoury omelettes made from buckwheat which were filled with veggies, particularly mushrooms and tomatoes with cheese melted in too. The meat varieties had a range of hams and other meats (sorry I didn't take too much notice) and these were considered yummy by all who ate them also. Puds were always on the menu and the sweet crepes (pancakes) were very filling!

We never had a problem just walking down to the town centre and finding somewhere to eat, even on the day of the festival during a driving rain storm, the same one that caused so much damage in Cornwall the day after.

My two favourite restaurants were: no.1 - for the ecologically minded 'La Maison de la Galette' at 21, Rue de la Fontaine, 56000Vannes Tel 01 97 54 19 64 (just in case you need it!!) and no.2 - for a very bizarre experience sitting in what looks like a toy makers workshop 'Chez la Mere 6 Sous' at 11, Rue de Closmadeuc, 56000 Vannes Tel 02 97 01 93 67.

Where did we visit?

Outside of Vannes, there are so many beautiful places to see, it would take too much space to list it all here. I used the AA Explorer Guide to Brittany to locate pretty places, and it also provided a very good map for using while driving, although a little too large. A smaller one would be more practical (and safer) for reading in the front of a car.

My nearest little beach was more like a cove looking out at the Gulf Du Morbihan and was called Conleau. Not much there, but there was a nice walk through a woodland and then a small beach area with a café and safe area for small children to paddle and swim.

From here or from Vannes itself, visitors could also take one of many boat excursions around the Gulf to view all the islands.

Another place that was one of my particular favourites was Josselin, an historic but smaller town which has a huge castle on the banks of the river, and the town itself is dominated by a large cathedral. Nice restaurants, and walks around the town itself found a game of Boule going on which just gives such an air of French life.

La Roche Bernard was very pretty and could be reached via a suspension bridge ( I love bridges). Auray, and the little island of Saint Goustan was touristy, but also worth a visit. Carnac had standing stones from the Metholithic period and looked very eerie - always begs the question 'Why??' . Lovely beach again, with lifeguards watching over us.

Onto beaches, and one word of warning - it is incredibly windy when that wind doth blow!! My chips blew out of their paper it was that bad and I couldn't catch my breath! When the wind drops though, the beaches are lovely and clean. Some beaches which are sheltered are good for batheing in, but some beaches are best for surfing.

Another word of warning - Quiberon was very over-rated and if you are choosing between a place and Quiberon, choose the other place. Quiberon is on a peninsula and there is one long road to get there and back. This was just at a standstill for hours, and apparently this is the case throughout the summer. Maybe I just missed the point of the place but apart from a sandy beach, forget it.

Some local legends.

Brittany, as I said, is a very Celtic area, and where there are Celts, there are legends! Legends abound about Elves and Goblins who dance to traditional Brittany music, which is played on Bagpipes and drums. There are mysterious Washer Women who beat their linen on rocks with wooden pallets that resound through the valley to frighten the sleepless.

There are stories of elves who tangle the names of horses (apparently!) or give all the fodder in the stable to a favourite and let the rest starve. There are many stories relating to death, and a grim reaper type character called 'Ankou' and he pervades many of the tales around death and the Celtic religion. I have a book of legends so may one day do a review on this, so pop back in the future if you are interested!

In addition to the stories, are the national costume. During the stay and the festival, there was a street procession and all the local villages sent reps to Vannes for the procession and dancing. The flags were mainly black and white (similar to Kernod / Cornwall flag) and the costumes were mainly black with white lace. Bizarre head dresses were worn by the women and in particular in the Vannes women with a very high lace hat going up like a cylinder from the crown - not very practical in a windy region! Beautifully made though, and the various designs showed whether the women were married or not. The men wore costume too and danced Celtic dances, but also banged large drums and played flutes and bagpipes. All very holidayish to watch, particularly cute were the small children dressed in the national costume with the proud parents and grandparents smiling on.

Would I go there again?

Yes, most definitely. We were only able to explore a small section of Brittany because of the physical limitations of my travelling companions. From the drive through the countryside to get to the destination, it all looked beautiful and clean. The French people were very friendly and were very patient with my typical 'British' attempts at speaking French. Luckily I use my hands a good deal when I speak and could get by, practising my charades!

If I have left any details that you would like to know more about, let me know and I will add them in.

Thanks for reading this far!

Orlando 2004
 

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