Map of Brittany, France

A high level map from Multimap showing the places we stayed on our holiday. (Mouse over image to see notes)

Mont-St-Michel Pitch

Our pitch at

Close Proximity

Just as we finished setting up, I heard someone calling my name. As luck would have it Ian and Judith had chosen the same site as us and their caravan pitch was very close to ours. Not planning what so ever.

St Malo

This is a pic of the old town part of St Malo taken across the car park.

Fort National at St Malo

One of the forts

St Malo From the Fort National

I took this from the Fort National.

Sign Language

They say a picture speaks a thousand words. You may not understand French, but the pic says it all.

St Malo Town Hall

The French has a lot of very old and shoddy looking buildings, however the best looking building of a town is ALWAYS the town hall.. also called the Mairie. It took Claire to tell me that Mairie actually means town hall and is not the name of some old Monarch as I originally thought.

Restuarants Opposite Town Hall

A little stretch of restuarants opposite the town hall in St Malo

Cobbled Road

A typical cobbled road in St Malo.

Playground

A picturesque playground in St Malo.

Fort Du Petite Be

A rather

Turquiose Channel

You'd think this was the lovely turquoise sea's of the Med of Caribbean and not the English Channel.

Hot

Colin Avec Beer

Aah, a refreshing cold beer.

Sunset on Mont-St-Michel

I thought an arty sort of sunset shot was due. Warning there are a few more of these to come.

Mont-St-Michel

Mont-St-Michel is a walled island town with a huge abbey right at the top. We arrived early evening for the sunset and to catch the abbey lit up.

Mont-St-Michel Gate

The old gate with draw bridge at the entrance to the Mont-St-Michel town.

Narrow Street

Mont-St-Michel has a lot of very narrow streets.

Steep Street

Not only are the streets narrow, they're pretty steep too. Not a place to take granny and her chariot.

View of the Bay

With the tide out, you can see all the sand banks that have built up in the bay round the one side of the island.

Another Sunset Shot

Taken from up on the island. Couldn't see round the folage, so I included it.

Reflection

I couldn't get my head through this for a good shot, but thought the reflection on the brickwork looked pretty cool.

The Abbey

A closer look of the Abbey on the Mont-St-Michel island.

Buildings

Abbey

Claire

A Mosque?

My feeble attempt to place the moon at the tip of the spire of one of the turrets in a

Doorway Sunset

We couldn't walk down this section as it wasn't safe, but the doorway provided a cool border for another arty shot.

Light the Abbey

As dusk fell, the lights of the Abbey were turned on.

Moon

Mont-St-Michel - the Final Shot

The last pic of Mont-St-Michel taken from the causeway as we returned to the car.

Kervel Pitch

Most of our stay was in Kervel at

Sea View

This is the view we got to see whenever we strolled to the beach.

Douarenez

The beach we obtained our tans on. It's across the bay from a town called Douranez - once, the largest tuna canning town in Europe.

Get Ready for the Burn

Claire prepping for a tanning session.

Locronan

The main drag into Locronan.

The Church in Locronan

Across the Square at Locronan

Pic of the main square in Locronan.

Locronan Square

Another view of the square at Locronan.

Bakery Scene

A cute little

Horse Drawn Cart

A very tired looking horse pulling a cart round Locronan. We didn't go for a trip as the poor horse looked really bored. The man, cart and horse a feature of Locronan appearing on many post cards.

Fancy a Tea Cup of Cider?

Claire and I ordered cider, expecting to get it in a glass or a cider mug, but nope - we got it in tea cups. I felt obliged to raise my pinky whilst drinking :-)

Stain Glass

One of the stain glass windows in the church in Locronan.

Concarneau

Concarneau town square over looking the walled fort town.

Concarneau Fort

Concarneau Fort entrance taken from the entrance bridge.

Concarneau Fort Gardens

The neat decorative garden just inside the fort walls.

Concarneau Street

Once again, the narrow streets characteristic of most fort towns in France. These are just wide enough for a car.

Me on the Well

Me on the well just inside the fort at Concarneau.

Me next to the Well

Just to show I'm not a complete pleb - one of me next to the well.

Wider Street in Concarneau fort.

A wider section of the main road through the fort.

Arty Porte de Vin

An arty shot of the Porte de Vin.

Porte de Vin

This door way on the fort has quite a bit of history but is called the Porte de Vin named after one of it's primary functions - it was once used to bring wine on to the fort.

Bretan Africa

The entrance to one of the shops we found in the Concarneau fort. Hmmm, how do you make African produce Bretan? This shop tries.

Man Vs Nature

Now something is wrong here - the sun dial is showing the wrong time, by well over 2 hours - the sun dial is reporting it's approx 9:00, whilst the actual time was 11:30. If we take into account the 1 hour for DST, what about the other 1h30m? Has the earth moved that much or has someone got the sun dial position a bit wrong?

Old Church Remains.

The remains of the old church in the main part of Concarneau town.

New Church Mosaic

The new church (of a modern design) next to the remains of the old church sport this pretty amazing mosaic.

Restuarant Kan Ar Moor

The quant little French restuarant in Concarneau that we had lunch at.

Kervel Campsite Entrance (1)

The main entrance to the campsite at Kervel we stayed at - Camping International Kervel. This shows the main reception and the little shop. The pool is to the right.

Kervel Campite Entrance (2)

The entrance from a different angle showing the bar and games room.

Inside Camp Site

Inside the camp site, all the roads and pitches are seperated by loads of trees and hedges.

Site Main Road

A shot along the main road through the site.

French Signage

I love the kind souls who help translate signs into English.

Odd Shop Decorations

Skulls certainly provide for a slightly different shop decor. This was the

Beer

The same shop sold loads of different beers too.

Creperie

This rustic little creperie served Claire and I a lovely lunch in Locronan.

Claire and the Well

Claire's parents have two pics of Claire standing in front of this well holding bread in Locronan. One of Claire at about 5 and another of her at 13. So we took one of Claire at 25.

Claire and the Well - the Other Way

We couldn't remember which way the other pics we taken, so we took one from both sides.

Plomvez-Porzay

The little town up the road from the campsite was called Plomvez-Porzay. There isn't much to this town that isn't captured in this picture :-)

Bretan March Past (1)

One evening a Bretan folk band marched through the campsite playing a traditional celtic tune using drums and bagpipes.

Bretan March Past (2)

A shot of the flag and the front row of the band. Unfortunately, the flag is written in Bretan so I can't translate it.

Bretan March Past (3)

Some of the drummers and flautists.

Bretan March Past (4)

Traditional Bretan dress

South African?

Could be - Claire in a rugby jersey cooking dinner on the skottel.

Ruins at Montreuil-Bellay

Some ruins in Montreuil-Bellay.

Chateau At Montreuil-Bellay

The Chateau at Montreuil-Bellay.

Door Way to the Town

One of the routes in to Montreuil-Bellay takes you through several very narrow door ways literally a car's width.

Steps to the Montreuil-Bellay Town

The campsite is set next to the Thouet river which feeds into the Loire. These are the stairs up to the town from the campsite road.

Montreuil-Bellay Chateau from the Town

The Chateau from one of the roads in the town.

Front Gate of the Chateau

The front entrance to the Chateau.

Entrance to the old Kitchen

The entrance to the old kitchen of the Montreuil-Bellay Chateau.

Chateau from the Bar

We stopped for a drink over the road from the chateau. I just turned around to take this pic.

South African Recognition in France

I spotted this in Montreuil-Bellay. A Promenade dedicated to JRR Tolkien (born in Bloemfontain, South Africa).

Tolkien's Promenade

However, the promenade isn't particularily spectacular.

Montreuil-Bellay Pitch

Our pitch alongside the Thouet river in Montreuil-Bellay.

Hotel in Saumur

How's this for an elaborate hotel? It's in what appears to be one of the original buildings in Saumur.

Placè de le Bilanga in Saumur

A very French looking placè/square/plaza in Saumur.

Building in Saumur

A very old building in Saumur, now with a mobile (cell) phone shop and sports shop in it.

Red Cross In Saumur

This is the Saumur office of the Red Cross. It's quite fitting that such an old aid organisation is housed in such an old building.

Placè Saint-Pierre

Placè Saint-Pierre in Saumur is just next to the main church and has loads of very decrative buildings made of wood and brick.

Wood and Plaster House

One of the small alley ways branching off the Placè Saint-Pierre.

Saumur Chateau

A view of the Chateau at Saumur from the side we walked up.

Resting in the Gardens

Me having a little break after a huge lunch. This is in the gardens on the way to the Chateau in Saumur.

Saumur Chateau

The chateau at Saumur - it looks a bit like the castles used in kids TV and movies.

Vineyards and the Loire

Vineyards next to Saumur chateau over looking the Loire river.

The Loire River

The Loire from the hill the chateau is on in Saumur.

River side view of the Loire

One of the fuller sections of the Loire River. Over all it's a bit of an empty river this time of year.

Pebble Beach

The pebble beach at Dieppe.

Mower Man

Back at the house, we all dig in an help Ian out with the chores... it's my turn at mowing the orchard.

Memories

Takes me back to the days of pushing the electric mower round the garden as a child.

Mower Lady

Claire's turn next on the mower.

Into the Rough

And she takes to mowing like a fish to water.

European Look

My Italian look - a nice linen shirt and linen shorts. Hmmm, short longs or long shorts.

European Look a bit Closer.

Just the upper body.

The Europeans

With Claire too.