Our last morning at the house Saturday Sept 5, then on to the ferry overnight
There are people coming after us but our friend has requested that we cover the furniture as we found it so that they know to do it when they leave as well. By the same token, I feel that we should turn off the electricity (plus what if they don't get here), and take in the gas can for the stove and then they will also know how to leave it. So we do that, close the blinds,clean everything, cover everything, vacuum, take all the trash to the bins, and pack the car.
Our plan is to visit Mont St. Michel. Of course we can’t get it to come up in the new Tom Tom so we look at the map and find a city that is close and put it into the map and we are off
. A lot of small roads still before we get on the freeway. Then we are almost there when I get an oil warning light on the car. Have never had an oil warning light before. My hubby looks it up in the book and we are probably OK. Still, it rather panics me and I am not sure I should be driving the car with this light.
The freeway says that Mont St Michel is straight ahead but our GPS is taking us off the freeway now and going small roads again. I pull over and make it find me a petrol station which is the Super U in St. James. So we go there and check the car. Doesn’t seem to be a problem but we buy oil and put some into the car anyway. Then we eat at their cafeteria because we had to use the toilet and both of us felt we should buy something and then we didn’t want to but couldn’t figure out how to sneak out since we’d already put bread on the tray so we both got some salad stuff and just had a small meal.
Back onto small roads and I am wondering why it didn’t keep us on the freeway when suddenly we are now following signs to Mont St.Michel. I see a "lookout" so we pull up this small street and park and see it in the distance. Then I follow the road until I realize that it is going to take me right across this bridge that they built and up to the front door
. So we turn around and go park in the hotel lot which some French people tell Hubby is OK to do. There is a shuttle just leaving and a bus of Japanese people waiting but we manage to get onto the next shuttle and are driven across the bridge to fairly close where nobody is sure we are supposed to get out or not. We get out and take photos then hop back on just as the bus driver realizes no one is getting off and shoes us all off the bus.
Mont St. Michel looks the same exactly. Except for this horrible bridge now that comes across. I thought the causeway was much more natural looking. And we could have parked at the front door if we had only wanted an hour. Will take us longer than that to hike to the top.
Again, the beginning is just a crowded meandering through the shops and the restaurants to climb higher and higher to get to the Abbey. We weren’t hungry and didn’t want to buy anything to have to carry uphill with us so we just climbed and rested and took photos and climbed. It is a loooonnnnngggg way to the top.
Finally we reach close to the top and there is a museum which my husband wants to visit
. It says it is a historical museum but as we are debating whether to go in or not, we kind of realize it is a wax museum or more of a tourist trap so we pass. The other museums are rather the same so no museums this time.
We find the ramparts and stop to take photos (actually did this first and then to the “historic” museum and then back entrance to the entrance) and then the entrance to the Abbey. OMG. So many more steps to get into the Abbey. I cannot imagine how the nuns did this every day. Another long climb and get our tickets. There is a long line now to get into the Abbey proper and my hubby thinks it might be a scanner but everybody has so much metal with cameras and such. Nope, was just a slow ticket taker.
We are in. We follow the signs that say the route of the visit. Mostly it is big vaulted rooms with maybe a cross at one end or another. Most rooms are chapels of some sort named after a saint or another. I remember distinctly that we wandered a lot more freely when we were here with our daughter way back when. And we also went to the base and walked probably a bit over ½ way around the whole Mont. Tide was out. And while they say there are quicksand spots, we didn’t find any. Now there didn’t seem to be anyway to get to the base plus they probably don’t let you do that anymore but also it just didn’t seem like you could go where you like. They have so many places blocked off now and I remember last time, we would just find a set of stairs, up or down, and decide to try it and see where it went. Not now. So while the Abbey is quite impressive, it is mostly for the views from the Abbey and for the views of the Abbey sitting on top of the rock that is what people come to see
. Not the inside of the Abbey itself.
There were two large silver reflective blow up balls there as well. One was in the courtyard outside the main Abbey chapel and the gift shop. The other was in a large room that might have passed for a ballroom except it being a religious place. Not sure the point of these balls. Also, as you come up to the ticket office,there was a gold covered “dragon claw” over one wall. If you didn’t look up, you’d miss it. And as you came up the steps after getting your ticket, to the first abbey and the information room, there was a large bird head sticking out of one of the windows. Also not sure of the point but interesting to be there and good for a photo opp.
So we wandered the entire Abbey as allowed. Didn’t take the audio tour which really sometimes disappoints hubby to miss it but they talk so slow on these and it takes so much longer to do it. I should let him do it and just sit and wait for him. It’s usually way too much information as well but he’d remember a bunch of it. Next time, next place.
Finally, we get to the exit which leads you through the gardens to the back of the Abbey with views out to sea. Water is in the areas around some of the Mont but not all. So not really sure if the tide is coming or going. We’ve now been here twice and haven’t seen it totally surrounded by water like they have in so many of the photos. I’m not sure that the water does surround it like that anymore. Maybe the people that stay overnight in the hotels inside the gates can see the water come in like that
. It also looks like they have dredged and channeled a lot of the waterways. And there wasn’t a single sheep grassing on the salt grass anywhere close to Mont St Michel. We did remember that it was Easter weekend that we were here last time and on Good Friday which is why our daughter had school vacation and why there wasn’t any mutton being served that Friday.
We stopped a few places looking for some souvenirs and finally got a nice tile, a Bernaurand porcelain tea light holder, and a cookie tin. We also have a couple of bowls from Brittany. But a very light trip shopping wise and certainly not for lack of looking for shops.
We get some soft serve ice cream and eat it then hit the restroom which is the first one we’ve come across where we had to pay. Used to have to pay in most French restrooms. Probably still do at the rail stations.
Then to the car or rather to the very large group of people waiting a few hundred yards up the bridge for the shuttle. We were able to get onto the third shuttle that came by. Seemed like a very long way to get to where we got off and then we weren’t sure and almost didn’t get off. Had to push and shove our way off the shuttle. Into the car and off to Ouistreham to the ferry.
Our friend had recommended eating at a small hotel in St. James but we are pretty much in St. James now and not hungry and also it’s about 5p.m. so we think we’ll find something in Caen or Ouistreham to eat and not worry about it now
. We find our way back to the freeway and haven't’t been driving too long before it begins to rain so I have to use our lights and hope our Eurovision blinders have been put on correctly.
It’s seeming like a long drive. We are getting close to Ouistreham and see a MacDonald’s and figure we’ll just eat there. We pull into the area which includes a Carrefour, a French market like Tesco or Target. We also see a bar/eating place so stop and walk in there. The back of my left leg cramps up as soon as I get out of the car. Yikes. It takes it awhile to uncramp.
The bar isn’t serving food and he tells us to go to Carrefour or McDonald’s so we walk around and hit the McDonald’s. when you don’t make a habit of eating McDonald’s, they aren’t so bad to just have once in awhile but I’m not able to finish mine. Of course, I’ll want more later but oh well.
Over to the Carrefour but can’t really find anything we need. Don’t need more cheese, don’t need wine. Seems a shame because there are plenty of Brits in here stocking up on things to take back to England with them
. They are getting things like spices and soups, and salad dressings and olive oil, plus the cheeses and sausages. Guess we don’t find them to be that good of a bargain or we don’t use the stuff that much. So back to the car and follow the signs to the ferry port and we are about the 7th car in line to enter the port and it is not even open yet.
We sit awhile and it opens fairly soon and we move up and get our cabin keys and our hanging sign for the car. Then we are put into line 5 and sit in front of the gate that is closed, in front of the customs. Sun goes down and we sit and sit and sit and nothing happens. We eventually can see cars coming off a ferry but still nothing. We don’t think the ferry will leave on time. Large trucks have been going through but not us.
Finally people come around and a man starts down our row to check passports. We get a stamp because of not being EU passports. The gates open finally and three rows of cars are funneled through the gate directly in front of us before we go through and then we are at the back of the third line to get onto the ferry. So we are sitting and sitting again. The first row loads and then the second row and then some trucks before we start loading. Can’t figure out where all the other rows of cars went that were outside the gate with us but some start coming in eventually and lining up next to us for row 4 and 5.
When we enter the ferry, we are on the bottom deck so maybe we will be first or last out. Our daughter has wanted to know when we will get home. We want to stop for breakfast so estimate our time at 9:30 or 10 or so
. She's anxious for us to get there and take over the saga of the boiler. The entire time we have been gone, our cat sitter and then our daughter have been wrestling with boiler issues and basically we have no heat at home and no boiler. She'd like to be able to have a late morning sleep in but hasn't been able to for all the repair people coming and going.
We have to climb up two flights of stairs to get to a place where we can find the elevator to the 9th deck where our room is. We now gain an hour in time as we go back to Britain time but the ferry still leaves, on time, at 11 p.m. French time. After a few announcements, it is quiet and we are able to go to sleep. Our Brittany vacation over.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Last day in the countryside
Today was Friday Sept 4
This is our last full day here at the house. We had already made arrangements to go back to the French friend of our friend for the Internet. Her husband, is home today so we park on the dead end. The dogs come to greet us, all three of them. I have bought snacks for the dogs but only Grommit likes them and takes them. The other dog takes one and goes and gives it to Grommit. How funny.
The French lady seems happy to see us and says to me, "May I kiss you?" and I agree so we do the double kiss on the cheeks, French style. Makes her happy. She tells us her hubby is asleep and asks us to whisper. Not a problem for me but husband has a deep booming voice is not much of a whisperer
. He has never been able to whisper much. We give her the rum travel cake we bought and she gives us coffee and cookies. Her husband wakes up and comes down with bed head but seems nice enough. So we're having good conversations while I am doing the Internet but not really a lot to do since our phones have been getting most of our mail, albeit slowly. And it's always fun trying to have a conversation when nobody really speaks the other's language very well. So we take our leave and head back to the house to drop off the computer. We plan to get to Saint Just today as our friend had a brochure on it that looked like it had great stuff.
Find our way to Saint Just and there are several locations. We had followed one the prior day and couldn’t find it really other than being in a forest. So we followed the other sign and found a parking lot. There was a path from the lot so followed it which crossed the road and eventually we found a long line of menhirs. Great! Yes, lots of menhirs. and what looked like a farmhouse with a windmill in the distance. Then we walked along the path for quite a ways but while there were possible remains of menhirs and stones, we couldn’t really find anything else except a few piles of stones so back to the car.
We decide to go fill up the car at Super U
. It is an odd gas pump where we have to pay by card and it says we have a limit of 180 euros. What that meant was it charged us the correct amount of what we spent but also put on hold the difference between what we spent and 180 euros. Supposedly it will clear off our account once they have the money for the gas. And luckily it did.
Went into the store to go to the bathroom and to get something. Can’t remember what. When we got back to the car, our GPS was dead, totally. Couldn’t get it to boot up at all. All week long it has been dropping off almost every day and we have to turn it back on and wait for it to reboot itself. So back into the store to see if we can buy a new Garmin. My hubby finally asks if they have a GPS because at this point, we don’t even know how to get back to the house where we are living!!! They carry TomTom’s so we buy it and have to get the display model. So we then sit in the car for about an hour getting it set and ready to go but as it comes with western Europe maps, at least we didn’t have to worry about downloading. I thought we would have to do that and go back to the French lady's house to do it. Now we have to get used to a different system. Our daughter originally had a TomTom and I liked it but then I got used to the Garmin. I also bought a map and have determined that I need to go with maps when I travel instead of depending so heavily on technology
.
So this was the lucky part of our trip. When I think of all the places we have been with all the tiny roads and single track roads and no name roads and all without a map, only the Sat Nav, OMG. we could have been lost in the backwoods of Brittany for weeks! Instead, our Sat Nav/GPS chooses to die on us in front of the one store in the area where we could get a replacement OR get a map. OMG indeed. How lucky was that!!!!!!We have finally found Monteneuf on the GPS as well. Couldn’t find it forever hardly but now it pops up so we go. We find the town but no signs for the monuments at all. There is a bakery open so I want to stop. We pull into the parking lot and a man unloading a truck comes and asks us to move. He is a traveling vegetable man and needs to use the spot where I just parked to put out his veggies.
Into the shop and they have a poster on the menhirs of Monteneuf. She doesn’t speak English but we manage to ask where the menhirs are and she directs us back towards Guer. So with our treats, we head towards Guer and we finally see signs that direct us to the Monteneuf site which is in a park and has the biggest parking lot of any of the megaliths we have visited
. Only two cars are there and when we walk up to the visitor’s center, it is already closed. But we walk down to the menhirs and see them and enjoy them. Funny, the site is right next to a busy road but it was so hard to find. Although we will probably never return, I put it in the GPS as a favorite just in case. How amazing that it is such a large site and such a large parking lot, complete with a visitors center and yet it doesn't show up on the maps nor on the Sat Nav's at all. just amazing that I wanted a pastry and we found it that way. Yep, our Lucky, Lucky day!
There was also an old long house recreation there and a small “village” of items like a plow and a traverse for carrying things. Good site.
Back to the house and now we start doing our packing and cleaning to get ready to leave tomorrow. Have all the rest of our meat that we can cook and anything that we cannot eat, pack up to leave. Still smelly from the manure so cannot be outside looking at stars.
This is our last full day here at the house. We had already made arrangements to go back to the French friend of our friend for the Internet. Her husband, is home today so we park on the dead end. The dogs come to greet us, all three of them. I have bought snacks for the dogs but only Grommit likes them and takes them. The other dog takes one and goes and gives it to Grommit. How funny.
The French lady seems happy to see us and says to me, "May I kiss you?" and I agree so we do the double kiss on the cheeks, French style. Makes her happy. She tells us her hubby is asleep and asks us to whisper. Not a problem for me but husband has a deep booming voice is not much of a whisperer
. He has never been able to whisper much. We give her the rum travel cake we bought and she gives us coffee and cookies. Her husband wakes up and comes down with bed head but seems nice enough. So we're having good conversations while I am doing the Internet but not really a lot to do since our phones have been getting most of our mail, albeit slowly. And it's always fun trying to have a conversation when nobody really speaks the other's language very well. So we take our leave and head back to the house to drop off the computer. We plan to get to Saint Just today as our friend had a brochure on it that looked like it had great stuff.
Find our way to Saint Just and there are several locations. We had followed one the prior day and couldn’t find it really other than being in a forest. So we followed the other sign and found a parking lot. There was a path from the lot so followed it which crossed the road and eventually we found a long line of menhirs. Great! Yes, lots of menhirs. and what looked like a farmhouse with a windmill in the distance. Then we walked along the path for quite a ways but while there were possible remains of menhirs and stones, we couldn’t really find anything else except a few piles of stones so back to the car.
We decide to go fill up the car at Super U
. It is an odd gas pump where we have to pay by card and it says we have a limit of 180 euros. What that meant was it charged us the correct amount of what we spent but also put on hold the difference between what we spent and 180 euros. Supposedly it will clear off our account once they have the money for the gas. And luckily it did.
Went into the store to go to the bathroom and to get something. Can’t remember what. When we got back to the car, our GPS was dead, totally. Couldn’t get it to boot up at all. All week long it has been dropping off almost every day and we have to turn it back on and wait for it to reboot itself. So back into the store to see if we can buy a new Garmin. My hubby finally asks if they have a GPS because at this point, we don’t even know how to get back to the house where we are living!!! They carry TomTom’s so we buy it and have to get the display model. So we then sit in the car for about an hour getting it set and ready to go but as it comes with western Europe maps, at least we didn’t have to worry about downloading. I thought we would have to do that and go back to the French lady's house to do it. Now we have to get used to a different system. Our daughter originally had a TomTom and I liked it but then I got used to the Garmin. I also bought a map and have determined that I need to go with maps when I travel instead of depending so heavily on technology
.
So this was the lucky part of our trip. When I think of all the places we have been with all the tiny roads and single track roads and no name roads and all without a map, only the Sat Nav, OMG. we could have been lost in the backwoods of Brittany for weeks! Instead, our Sat Nav/GPS chooses to die on us in front of the one store in the area where we could get a replacement OR get a map. OMG indeed. How lucky was that!!!!!!We have finally found Monteneuf on the GPS as well. Couldn’t find it forever hardly but now it pops up so we go. We find the town but no signs for the monuments at all. There is a bakery open so I want to stop. We pull into the parking lot and a man unloading a truck comes and asks us to move. He is a traveling vegetable man and needs to use the spot where I just parked to put out his veggies.
Into the shop and they have a poster on the menhirs of Monteneuf. She doesn’t speak English but we manage to ask where the menhirs are and she directs us back towards Guer. So with our treats, we head towards Guer and we finally see signs that direct us to the Monteneuf site which is in a park and has the biggest parking lot of any of the megaliths we have visited
. Only two cars are there and when we walk up to the visitor’s center, it is already closed. But we walk down to the menhirs and see them and enjoy them. Funny, the site is right next to a busy road but it was so hard to find. Although we will probably never return, I put it in the GPS as a favorite just in case. How amazing that it is such a large site and such a large parking lot, complete with a visitors center and yet it doesn't show up on the maps nor on the Sat Nav's at all. just amazing that I wanted a pastry and we found it that way. Yep, our Lucky, Lucky day!
There was also an old long house recreation there and a small “village” of items like a plow and a traverse for carrying things. Good site.
Back to the house and now we start doing our packing and cleaning to get ready to leave tomorrow. Have all the rest of our meat that we can cook and anything that we cannot eat, pack up to leave. Still smelly from the manure so cannot be outside looking at stars.
Friday, September 11, 2015
Rest Then Shop
Today was Thursday Sept 3. On Wednesday we didn't go anywhere. We sat outside for part of the day before it got too smelly. We did a bit of cleaning, and then we relaxed and I kept my foot elevated for some rest and knee pampering time.
We got up early today and just showered and no breakfast then off to the market at La Roche Bernard. my friend had said it was the best one. We planned to eat breakfast there. Found it OK and found a place to park. Surprisingly, everywhere has had free parking. I imagine it wouldn't be quite so easy to find a place during the high season but some days, it seems like we are almost the only people here in France.
The market was bigger and they had more than just shoes and cheese. Stopped at the first place that said they had crepes but they didn’t
. So Hubby walked down two doors to buy us donuts and then came back with them and we had coffee in that shop. The owner had suggested he do this. Hubby was uncomfortable eating donuts from another shop in this one but as he said it was OK, we did it.
Then we found a cheese store and got 31 euros worth of cheese. Luckily hubby also remembered that we were buying rose garlic for my friend whose house we are living and we found some in this cheese shop. Probably much more expensive than my friend wanted. And later we found the garlic man who was selling for less than ½ the price but his garlics weren’t as big.
Didn’t really find much else to buy there except a basket –yea. Love baskets. There were some sausages but they were much the same that I had bought in Provence so no need to get more. And we weren’t hungry now for a crepe when we finally found them. So we worked our way out of the market and stopped in the one antique store we found but it was all furniture so nothing there either. Have been real unlucky at finding antiques.
We drive to Rochefort en Terre next which has been described as really picturesque
. It truly was. Again, managed to find a parking place but a lot of guess work on which way to drive and where to park as a lot of one way and very narrow streets here. We parked right across from the old church so we went in there first and had a look around then we walked to the upper street. As it was just past noon, all the shops were closed. So we looked for a place to eat and actually found another semi antique shop. It looked like it might have been more of an interior decorator shop but it had some good stuff. Nothing I wanted though.
We ended up at La Lion du Tour for lunch and ate in the courtyard next to a spouting lion head fountain. Sun was shining into the courtyard and we expect that the back wall was a former city wall of the old chateau that was in the area, maybe. Lunch was good but we couldn’t drag it out long enough to wait for the shops to open again so we finally just finished and walked down to the end of the street and bought some caramel nuts. Carmel seems to be a big seller here as well. Then we walked down the street and into several of the shops but couldn’t really find anything.
Mitchell wanted to go up to the old chateau which won’t be open to guests until the end of the year but it was a very pretty site and a great huge old building and some good views over the city with its crooked chimneys
.
Back to the car and I wanted to go to La Gacilly which my friend had said had good shops. I think I should have specified the kind of shops I wanted - mainly antique things. I am looking for some distinctly Brittany things but haven’t been real impressed with anything I’ve found. My friend has nicer stuff in her house but I can’t find the same anywhere and of course antiques. Seems like any copper pan I buy is coming from France so you’d think I’d be able to find some here but no dice.
With a bit if difficulty, found our way to La Gacilly and parked without a clue where to go but there were a few signs and people sort of walking in one direction so we followed and did find the "art" street. But it wasn’t anything Brittany wise but just people doing sculptures and paintings and pottery, all nice, but not what we wanted.
For our last push of the day, drove on to Josslin which had a fortress and castle of the dukes but by the time we found our way there and found a place to park, we were on the canal and at the very back of the fortress with its high walls and no clue how to get around to the gate. Still, we gave it a try and walked into the walled city around the fortress and found that we didn’t have time to go inside. That was a disappointment. If I hadn’t been so “got to go to Gacilly” we would have made it in time and probably enjoyed it a lot more. Oh well. Still got some nice photos of the canal and reflections.
Then back to our smelly home for the evening and using up our supplies for dinner. Again, the fields are really ripe and tooooooo smelly to sit outside at the picnic table. Luckily, we have a fan in the bedroom and it blows out any smell and gives us a nice breeze to sleep.
We got up early today and just showered and no breakfast then off to the market at La Roche Bernard. my friend had said it was the best one. We planned to eat breakfast there. Found it OK and found a place to park. Surprisingly, everywhere has had free parking. I imagine it wouldn't be quite so easy to find a place during the high season but some days, it seems like we are almost the only people here in France.
The market was bigger and they had more than just shoes and cheese. Stopped at the first place that said they had crepes but they didn’t
. So Hubby walked down two doors to buy us donuts and then came back with them and we had coffee in that shop. The owner had suggested he do this. Hubby was uncomfortable eating donuts from another shop in this one but as he said it was OK, we did it.
Then we found a cheese store and got 31 euros worth of cheese. Luckily hubby also remembered that we were buying rose garlic for my friend whose house we are living and we found some in this cheese shop. Probably much more expensive than my friend wanted. And later we found the garlic man who was selling for less than ½ the price but his garlics weren’t as big.
Didn’t really find much else to buy there except a basket –yea. Love baskets. There were some sausages but they were much the same that I had bought in Provence so no need to get more. And we weren’t hungry now for a crepe when we finally found them. So we worked our way out of the market and stopped in the one antique store we found but it was all furniture so nothing there either. Have been real unlucky at finding antiques.
We drive to Rochefort en Terre next which has been described as really picturesque
. It truly was. Again, managed to find a parking place but a lot of guess work on which way to drive and where to park as a lot of one way and very narrow streets here. We parked right across from the old church so we went in there first and had a look around then we walked to the upper street. As it was just past noon, all the shops were closed. So we looked for a place to eat and actually found another semi antique shop. It looked like it might have been more of an interior decorator shop but it had some good stuff. Nothing I wanted though.
We ended up at La Lion du Tour for lunch and ate in the courtyard next to a spouting lion head fountain. Sun was shining into the courtyard and we expect that the back wall was a former city wall of the old chateau that was in the area, maybe. Lunch was good but we couldn’t drag it out long enough to wait for the shops to open again so we finally just finished and walked down to the end of the street and bought some caramel nuts. Carmel seems to be a big seller here as well. Then we walked down the street and into several of the shops but couldn’t really find anything.
Mitchell wanted to go up to the old chateau which won’t be open to guests until the end of the year but it was a very pretty site and a great huge old building and some good views over the city with its crooked chimneys
.
Back to the car and I wanted to go to La Gacilly which my friend had said had good shops. I think I should have specified the kind of shops I wanted - mainly antique things. I am looking for some distinctly Brittany things but haven’t been real impressed with anything I’ve found. My friend has nicer stuff in her house but I can’t find the same anywhere and of course antiques. Seems like any copper pan I buy is coming from France so you’d think I’d be able to find some here but no dice.
With a bit if difficulty, found our way to La Gacilly and parked without a clue where to go but there were a few signs and people sort of walking in one direction so we followed and did find the "art" street. But it wasn’t anything Brittany wise but just people doing sculptures and paintings and pottery, all nice, but not what we wanted.
For our last push of the day, drove on to Josslin which had a fortress and castle of the dukes but by the time we found our way there and found a place to park, we were on the canal and at the very back of the fortress with its high walls and no clue how to get around to the gate. Still, we gave it a try and walked into the walled city around the fortress and found that we didn’t have time to go inside. That was a disappointment. If I hadn’t been so “got to go to Gacilly” we would have made it in time and probably enjoyed it a lot more. Oh well. Still got some nice photos of the canal and reflections.
Then back to our smelly home for the evening and using up our supplies for dinner. Again, the fields are really ripe and tooooooo smelly to sit outside at the picnic table. Luckily, we have a fan in the bedroom and it blows out any smell and gives us a nice breeze to sleep.
Pwueeeeeewhwweeeeheeee
This was Tuesday Sept 1, 2015 - the Smelly part
The farms all around us have started spreading manure on the fields. The air is ripe with the smell and it waters the eyes sometimes and really twitches the old head to be driving along and suddenly smell one of the fields. OMG. We are passing many of the manure trucks as they move from field to field. OH, lucky us. All the fields are harvested now except the corn.
Off to Redon today to see the abbey. Find our way there by again putting in the tourist office address but as we drive into town, we see the abbey and find parking right off the street. We are across the train tracks from the abbey. Hop out and take a few photos and then to the tourist office which is closed for lunch
. Once again we have gotten here just at the magical closing hours of noon to 2 or later. The streets are pretty deserted.
Walk under the tracks and to the abbey and inside for a good look around by ourselves. Often we have been the only people in the churches or at the dolmens. It must still be vacation time for French people so they are all gone OR the kids are just back in school. At any rate, kind of eerie to be in small towns that look like they are totally deserted. We might see one or two people on the street and a few cars and that's about it.
We walk around to the back for a view of the flying buttresses and then walk into town to see if we can find a place to eat. We don’t. my gosh. There is a high street with everything closed. There are a couple of bars open but only serving sandwiches. We walk to the river or canal and it is quite pretty with a couple of locks off of it but nothing to eat. So I get irritated and we leave and drive to La Guerche de Bretagne.
Find a place to park. It was a market there this morning but the market is closing up and people leaving. There are a couple of restaurants open. One has a lot of people sitting at a table outside without food so we choose the one next to it. We are seating inside and the daily menu is buffet starter and then a main and then dessert. We skip the starter and both of us get pork chops which a man standing next to us at an open fire grill cooks our chops. It is quite good. I have the Brittany cake with prunes for dessert. I have two pieces so I take one home with us. We are there late enough that the staff goes to get their plates and are all sitting at a table eating when we pay and leave
. A French gentleman across from us has an aperitif which is a standard thing we have been offered but have turned down each time. It’s alcohol of some sort and is brought in a small wine glass with the alcohol to a line then the consumer fills up the glass from a carafe of water that comes with it.
Our lunch was at Les Merchands. Quite tasty.
There are some of the old timber houses in town. They are supposedly a big deal in Brittany. They are all old and not very straight anymore – leaning towards one side or the other.
We decide we can push on to Vitre which has an old castle/fortress. Vitre looks like it has other stuff of interest as well but we are lucky enough to find parking directly across from the castle – bet we can’t do that in high season. We’ve found parking everywhere we go so far. Am sure we wouldn’t be near so lucky in high season.
The chateau de Vitre has several tours and a small museum in the rooms and some ramparts and good views back towards the town and the church of Notre dame in the town
. Seems like a good many of these towns have churches or cathedrals de Notre dame in them.
We pay to get in and we get a map in English which we are asked to return. We go up the first tower and stop in the rooms for a look at the bedroom and just items from the era. Up to the next floor and then across the ramparts to a chapel and to a guard tower in the middle. Back to the first tower and then up two more floors on a spiral staircase. More displays of the time and era but nothing spectacular. Good views out the windows though.
Back down to the courtyard. The house of the duke which was inside the fortress is gone. There is something on the far side called the Hotel de Vitre but we figure out that means it is like a city hall where you come for your wedding license and things such as that. We don’t go up the stairs there because have no reason to get anything like that.
Head out of town through some quite narrow streets and one ways and on to La Roche aux Fees which is supposedly a very large dolmen with 4chambered rooms.
Our GPS takes us into the town and around the church at the center and says we are there but we had seen a sign that said to La Roche aux Fees and had a brown historic symbol on it so we started following it instead and managed to find the dolmen
. It had a visitors building which was closed when we got there. Dang. Was worried that we missed it and the dolmen was inside but we went around the building and followed the path and found it.
It was quite large and long for a dolmen. We were the only ones there. Don’t know how they could tell it had 4 rooms because it’s just a long row of side stones on both sides covered with the top stones. Hubby ducked to go into the entrance but I went in on one of the sides where a stone was knocked over. Very nice. Walked back to the parking lot via the other path and there was a large stone sitting by a picnic table that had carvings on it similar to what we have seen in other dolmens.
Then to home. As we are driving down one of the smaller roads, really close to the house where the roads are very small, we are clipped on the left side and our mirror is left dangling in 3 pieces. I pull over and hubby gets out and bangs it back into shape. Nothing was broken mechanically as I could move it by the automatic mover from the driver’s side. The car that clunked us was sitting down the road and hubby waved to them and they went on. Had to have done the same to their mirror I would think. Hubby’s take is that I was over the line. My take is that I wasn’t and they were over the line as I have watched many of the cars come over the line while driving towards me. The times we have stopped to see where I am on the road, I am inside my lane. But this is where we always disagree. And now at last, he might have ammunition on his side. Oh well. I'll never be convinced I was over the line. When we get home, we look at the mirror again and it isn’t quite put together so I hit it and that seems to knock it back in place. And the turn signal on it is still working.
We try to look at stars but it is now too smelly and chilly to be outside for long and also can’t see too many. Going to end up being another holiday where the star gazing should be terrific but won't be for one reason or another.
The farms all around us have started spreading manure on the fields. The air is ripe with the smell and it waters the eyes sometimes and really twitches the old head to be driving along and suddenly smell one of the fields. OMG. We are passing many of the manure trucks as they move from field to field. OH, lucky us. All the fields are harvested now except the corn.
Off to Redon today to see the abbey. Find our way there by again putting in the tourist office address but as we drive into town, we see the abbey and find parking right off the street. We are across the train tracks from the abbey. Hop out and take a few photos and then to the tourist office which is closed for lunch
. Once again we have gotten here just at the magical closing hours of noon to 2 or later. The streets are pretty deserted.
Walk under the tracks and to the abbey and inside for a good look around by ourselves. Often we have been the only people in the churches or at the dolmens. It must still be vacation time for French people so they are all gone OR the kids are just back in school. At any rate, kind of eerie to be in small towns that look like they are totally deserted. We might see one or two people on the street and a few cars and that's about it.
We walk around to the back for a view of the flying buttresses and then walk into town to see if we can find a place to eat. We don’t. my gosh. There is a high street with everything closed. There are a couple of bars open but only serving sandwiches. We walk to the river or canal and it is quite pretty with a couple of locks off of it but nothing to eat. So I get irritated and we leave and drive to La Guerche de Bretagne.
Find a place to park. It was a market there this morning but the market is closing up and people leaving. There are a couple of restaurants open. One has a lot of people sitting at a table outside without food so we choose the one next to it. We are seating inside and the daily menu is buffet starter and then a main and then dessert. We skip the starter and both of us get pork chops which a man standing next to us at an open fire grill cooks our chops. It is quite good. I have the Brittany cake with prunes for dessert. I have two pieces so I take one home with us. We are there late enough that the staff goes to get their plates and are all sitting at a table eating when we pay and leave
. A French gentleman across from us has an aperitif which is a standard thing we have been offered but have turned down each time. It’s alcohol of some sort and is brought in a small wine glass with the alcohol to a line then the consumer fills up the glass from a carafe of water that comes with it.
Our lunch was at Les Merchands. Quite tasty.
There are some of the old timber houses in town. They are supposedly a big deal in Brittany. They are all old and not very straight anymore – leaning towards one side or the other.
We decide we can push on to Vitre which has an old castle/fortress. Vitre looks like it has other stuff of interest as well but we are lucky enough to find parking directly across from the castle – bet we can’t do that in high season. We’ve found parking everywhere we go so far. Am sure we wouldn’t be near so lucky in high season.
The chateau de Vitre has several tours and a small museum in the rooms and some ramparts and good views back towards the town and the church of Notre dame in the town
. Seems like a good many of these towns have churches or cathedrals de Notre dame in them.
We pay to get in and we get a map in English which we are asked to return. We go up the first tower and stop in the rooms for a look at the bedroom and just items from the era. Up to the next floor and then across the ramparts to a chapel and to a guard tower in the middle. Back to the first tower and then up two more floors on a spiral staircase. More displays of the time and era but nothing spectacular. Good views out the windows though.
Back down to the courtyard. The house of the duke which was inside the fortress is gone. There is something on the far side called the Hotel de Vitre but we figure out that means it is like a city hall where you come for your wedding license and things such as that. We don’t go up the stairs there because have no reason to get anything like that.
Head out of town through some quite narrow streets and one ways and on to La Roche aux Fees which is supposedly a very large dolmen with 4chambered rooms.
Our GPS takes us into the town and around the church at the center and says we are there but we had seen a sign that said to La Roche aux Fees and had a brown historic symbol on it so we started following it instead and managed to find the dolmen
. It had a visitors building which was closed when we got there. Dang. Was worried that we missed it and the dolmen was inside but we went around the building and followed the path and found it.
It was quite large and long for a dolmen. We were the only ones there. Don’t know how they could tell it had 4 rooms because it’s just a long row of side stones on both sides covered with the top stones. Hubby ducked to go into the entrance but I went in on one of the sides where a stone was knocked over. Very nice. Walked back to the parking lot via the other path and there was a large stone sitting by a picnic table that had carvings on it similar to what we have seen in other dolmens.
Then to home. As we are driving down one of the smaller roads, really close to the house where the roads are very small, we are clipped on the left side and our mirror is left dangling in 3 pieces. I pull over and hubby gets out and bangs it back into shape. Nothing was broken mechanically as I could move it by the automatic mover from the driver’s side. The car that clunked us was sitting down the road and hubby waved to them and they went on. Had to have done the same to their mirror I would think. Hubby’s take is that I was over the line. My take is that I wasn’t and they were over the line as I have watched many of the cars come over the line while driving towards me. The times we have stopped to see where I am on the road, I am inside my lane. But this is where we always disagree. And now at last, he might have ammunition on his side. Oh well. I'll never be convinced I was over the line. When we get home, we look at the mirror again and it isn’t quite put together so I hit it and that seems to knock it back in place. And the turn signal on it is still working.
We try to look at stars but it is now too smelly and chilly to be outside for long and also can’t see too many. Going to end up being another holiday where the star gazing should be terrific but won't be for one reason or another.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
The Internet and Old Car Day
This was Monday Aug 31, 2015
Our friend's French friend and "next door hamlet" neighbor has invited us to come to use the Internet. We are so rural that we have little connections at any time and as we were in the process of selling a house in the States, we needed a bit of Internet time. We realized that we didn't know where she lives so we thought to be calling her back but it rang to our friend in England. She gave us directions to the Internet house and it is only a short walk and a shorter drive but since my knee isn't’t happy, we drove. We brought her some Fortnum and Mason’s Diamond Jubilee Tea from 2012. She seemed to like it.When we got there, weren’t sure we had the right place but she came out to greet us right away and she had two dogs just going crazy to see us, one named Grommit. A mix with shepherd of some kind and lab. The other was a big golden lab,rather old
. She also had a cat and another dog but we didn’t see them.
The Internet lady's English isn’t great but we managed to get onto the Internet and take care of business and a bit of pleasure. She really wanted to give us coffee and then scurried around until she found some cake to give us as well. I know she was enjoying the company and the dogs were cute and funny as well, albeit smelly. Her house was lovely. Very old but had a spiral staircase in the middle of the room. Tons of stuff all over the place, like an old antique shop almost. I would have loved to explore. But I don't know the culture well enough to ask to look around. It's probably not like Korea when my friends would come in and open all the closets and cupboards to see what was there. As we were closing up to leave, she ran outside and got us a marrow – a zucchini – of tremendous proportions. She was going to give us some beans too but we declined. She had about a dozen marrows out there. We made arrangements to come again on Friday
Back to the house to drop off our marrow and then
We drove to Leheoc to go to the car museum. Found it just outside of town but went into town to the Pile ou Face, a place recommended by the Internet lady for eating crepes but it was closed
. Walked into the bar next door but they no longer had the open kitchen but they went into their attached store and brought out a baguette and offered us ham and cheese sandwich so did that. Have had ham and cheese every day for lunch since we got here. Shades of visits to France past. We are learning that lunch is from noon to about 2 p.m. and very few places serve outside of that time. Also, during that time, the shops are closed as well.
Then to the car museum just up the road. There is going to be a rally on Sat and Sun and the cars were already coming in to prepare. Looks like a really big deal. We will have to check and see if it will adversely affect us trying to get out of here.
The car museum is huge. It has over 300 automobiles. Mostly European models but also some Fords including a Model T and some Cadillacs but not a mustang or a T bird. Haven’t even heard of a lot of the older European models. The early Jaguars and Porsches weren’t anything gorgeous but kind of clunky. Don’t know how they became such expensive sports cars.
Also had an extensive room of model cars. Many sections on racing cars
. We sat and watched a video of some racing. Amazing how the people stand right by the track and just back up when a car comes. Once the car plowed into the people.
The museum seemed to go on and on and finally I was really tired of seeing cars and of being in the museum. Even my husband got tired of it and he rarely tires of a museum. By the time we went upstairs, we were both tired but upstairs they had old buildings and businesses and it was far more interesting than just row after row of cars but we were too tired to enjoy that and just walked through the interesting stuff quickly.
Out of the museum and back to the house. Since we had spent most of the morning on the Internet and didn't get out of the house until later and to the museum until even later, this is going to be the extent of our day. Back at the house, it is a bit smelly. We have seen a manure spreading truck or two. Maybe it won't be so bad.
Our friend's French friend and "next door hamlet" neighbor has invited us to come to use the Internet. We are so rural that we have little connections at any time and as we were in the process of selling a house in the States, we needed a bit of Internet time. We realized that we didn't know where she lives so we thought to be calling her back but it rang to our friend in England. She gave us directions to the Internet house and it is only a short walk and a shorter drive but since my knee isn't’t happy, we drove. We brought her some Fortnum and Mason’s Diamond Jubilee Tea from 2012. She seemed to like it.When we got there, weren’t sure we had the right place but she came out to greet us right away and she had two dogs just going crazy to see us, one named Grommit. A mix with shepherd of some kind and lab. The other was a big golden lab,rather old
. She also had a cat and another dog but we didn’t see them.
The Internet lady's English isn’t great but we managed to get onto the Internet and take care of business and a bit of pleasure. She really wanted to give us coffee and then scurried around until she found some cake to give us as well. I know she was enjoying the company and the dogs were cute and funny as well, albeit smelly. Her house was lovely. Very old but had a spiral staircase in the middle of the room. Tons of stuff all over the place, like an old antique shop almost. I would have loved to explore. But I don't know the culture well enough to ask to look around. It's probably not like Korea when my friends would come in and open all the closets and cupboards to see what was there. As we were closing up to leave, she ran outside and got us a marrow – a zucchini – of tremendous proportions. She was going to give us some beans too but we declined. She had about a dozen marrows out there. We made arrangements to come again on Friday
Back to the house to drop off our marrow and then
We drove to Leheoc to go to the car museum. Found it just outside of town but went into town to the Pile ou Face, a place recommended by the Internet lady for eating crepes but it was closed
. Walked into the bar next door but they no longer had the open kitchen but they went into their attached store and brought out a baguette and offered us ham and cheese sandwich so did that. Have had ham and cheese every day for lunch since we got here. Shades of visits to France past. We are learning that lunch is from noon to about 2 p.m. and very few places serve outside of that time. Also, during that time, the shops are closed as well.
Then to the car museum just up the road. There is going to be a rally on Sat and Sun and the cars were already coming in to prepare. Looks like a really big deal. We will have to check and see if it will adversely affect us trying to get out of here.
The car museum is huge. It has over 300 automobiles. Mostly European models but also some Fords including a Model T and some Cadillacs but not a mustang or a T bird. Haven’t even heard of a lot of the older European models. The early Jaguars and Porsches weren’t anything gorgeous but kind of clunky. Don’t know how they became such expensive sports cars.
Also had an extensive room of model cars. Many sections on racing cars
. We sat and watched a video of some racing. Amazing how the people stand right by the track and just back up when a car comes. Once the car plowed into the people.
The museum seemed to go on and on and finally I was really tired of seeing cars and of being in the museum. Even my husband got tired of it and he rarely tires of a museum. By the time we went upstairs, we were both tired but upstairs they had old buildings and businesses and it was far more interesting than just row after row of cars but we were too tired to enjoy that and just walked through the interesting stuff quickly.
Out of the museum and back to the house. Since we had spent most of the morning on the Internet and didn't get out of the house until later and to the museum until even later, this is going to be the extent of our day. Back at the house, it is a bit smelly. We have seen a manure spreading truck or two. Maybe it won't be so bad.
To the Beach
This day was Sunday August 30, 2015
No alarm has been set and we actually don't get up until 8:30 which seems really late for us but that’s still about 7:30 UK time so about normal. Today is supposed to be hot and dry and the only one we might have so we are headed for the beach. Our friend has recommended Carnac as it has lots of standing stones and dolmens as well.
By the time we cook breakfast and head out to the car, it is almost 10:30 or so or even later but what the heck. Vacation. We now find out that the GPS will not allow us to go without entering something besides just a city. Wants street too. I finally figure out to put in the street of the tourist office. And we're’re away
.
Finally into Carnac and My hero has been studying some of the map around the area and sees that there are many stones and areas of interest. As we are driving through the city, we spot a market so we find a place to park, luckily, moving into the parking lot just as someone was leaving. Doesn’t seem to be anywhere to pay and as we are following people to the market, we pass a cop and hubby asks if there is a fee. He doesn’t understand but manages to tell us it is free but cannot park in the blue areas because those are handicapped. Good to know. We have also learned some of the road signs. Apparently, once upon a time, anyone coming from the right had the right of way even if you were on a more major street and speeding along. So now I am creeped out at all these little roads moving into mine but we do learn to watch the signs and see which ones have been moved to stopping and which ones we still have to watch out for.
The market was good, busy. Lots of shoes and purses and clothes. I find a new purse as the one I just bought at Tesco has already ripped on the pull. Luckily I find one I like for only 69 euros. Ha. Don’t really see anything else that is wonderful and not really any crafts at all besides some of the Africans coming up from Morocco to sell their jewellery and their backpacks
.
We move into the city and there is traffic and can’t quite tell where to go but still following the GPS and pull up, finally, to the tourist office and can actually find a place to park at the front door practically. The reason for this good luck is because it is closed on Sundays. Wow, not your most friendly of tourist offices. All signs on the door are in French too so not very helpful.
Across the street is a small pastry and coffee shop so we go over there to get a sandwich and pastry and then figure we’ll go to the beach for a picnic and then go find standing stones. Of course, the only sandwiches they have are ham and cheese or odd tuna or odd curry so it’s ham and cheese again. At least we have now seen that they have more than just ham and cheese sandwiches. Maybe it is just always the lesser or evils in the sandwich world which is why we end up with ham and cheese.
There’s a place to park at the beach as well so we’we're golden. Walk down to the beach which is not terribly crowded but does have plenty of people including a bunch who are swimming. Yikes. There are small open tents but they look to be private or rented or something as there are chairs in a few but they are locked up with bicycle chains
. A lady sits in one we pass and glares at us so it’s sitting in the sand time.
We find a place in the sun and sit and eat our sandwich and eat our pastries. Then it’s walk on the beach time and find some shells. We find some razor clam shells which I never have before and wouldn’t even know what they were except for one of the cooking shows. So television can be educational. HA. don’t gather too many because I am having to put them in our sandwich bag which is getting soggy and wet and in danger of tearing but we have some nice shells and different ones from England beaches.
Back to the car with a stop at a toilet. There is a large sand sculpture with an elephant and people and a seal but it seems to be rather old and parts of it have been wreaked already. Next to it are some smaller sculptures that are not near as detailed or good.
Trying to find some way on the GPS to tell us how to get to the standing stones. We try different ways to type in the requests and finally find Les Megalithes and hit it and away we go. We pass a small dolmen at the corner of a busy road and no way to stop so we just have to pass it
. We turn down a road and find that Las Megalithes is a camping site. But it stands to reason that there must be some close by so we try "attractions" under the GPS heading and find one less than a mile away. So close that the GPS invites us to walk. Nope. That’s not happening.
So a few hundreds of meters, we come upon the Alignements de Kerzerho. Parking is available and there are not many people there. An older man is sitting at a table just as you walk into the site. Wasn’t sure if he was a fee taker or not but he was selling books and all in French so we walked past him.
The Alignements are just that. Rows and rows of standing stones. Brilliantly flawless rows or probably were when they were first installed. Now many of the stones are leaning or fallen but it was still impressive. It is also surrounded by a cornfield. We walked all through the rows and into the cornfield to see if it led anywhere else but it was just a cornfield.
Back to the car and it is sprinkling on us! What happened to our good day of weather? We have the method now. Look up attractions and look for anything with alignements or dolmens or tumulus. There is another dolmen a little ways away so we pick it and away we go. As usual, I turn the wrong way but the GPS picks it up quickly and gives me a good direction to go.
The next dolmen was just dolmen. It was in somebody’s field just right off the road and a lot of parked cars around it but it was also at a junction of driveways and appeared to be a party at the house at the bottom of the hill also with a pool and all
. We had to 4wheel it up a small hill with stumps to park and then walked around the dolmen for photos and we are off to the next one. This poor dolmen was lovely but didn't even rate a name. Just "dolmen" on the GPS. No signs once there either.
Next ones are Dolmens de Mane Kerioned and they are nice. There are several there, One was a walk through. One was underground and that one was the best. We walked into the darkness and used our cell phones to light the way. There were several carvings on the stones under there. We weren’t sure if they were ancient or graffiti from more modern times. on another day, we see others and do some reading up on some of it, and we have decided they are ancient. So it was good to spend a bit of time there.
Now it is getting hard to tell where we have been. I am trying to find attractions on the GPS and Mitchell is looking at the book and map. He says pick this one and we drive to it and dang if it wasn’t the Alignements de Kerzerho again. There were a lot more people here now. We just pulled in to pick our next place. we are off to Locmariaquer which has three sites in it including a menhir (giant standing stone) and one of the best dolmens and a burial cairn that you cannot get into but is supposedly quite large. Wasn’t too terribly hard to find. This place was a pay place and also had a video to go with it but the wait for the video was 12 minutes. Thought we would do it on our way out.
Walked around to the large cairn first. Was interesting but just basically a large pile of rocks in some kind of formation. At one point in time there had been a row of menhirs along the burial sites but they have long since been taken and now just the cairn
.
As we are walking to the dolmen, we pass a man who has just grabbed a cat off the ground and says to us, in English surprisingly, that it was his cat that had been missing for three days. Such a naughty cat, and now he has to go home to |Paris but he had stayed looking for his cat. Cat did not want to get close to us at all.
When we got to the dolmen, there was a door in the structure and I thought it wasn’t open which would have been disappointing because it was supposed to be and also said it was one of the best which is why we came to this one. But the sign said a tour was in progress. It was a private tour which was obvious when the door opened because it was three people. A couple had come up while we were waiting as well and walked right in ahead of us when the door opened. We followed them into the chamber which has huge stone at the back wall with carvings on it. They have rather odd lighting inside so the stone always looked like it had almost a red glow in the right hand corner. There were also carvings in the ceiling which some were similar to the carvings at another dolmen.
Back to the house for dinner and watching another video. Bourne Identity. Always a good one. Not getting any stars yet. Still cloudy - hmm. hope it clears as when we were in the Isles of Scilly a couple of weeks ago, we never saw but one star the entire time we were there. And that was supposed to be a great place for stars. hope we are not starless again.
By now we have been driving a lot and still have probably couple of hours drive to get home so we head out and back to Our friend’s.
No alarm has been set and we actually don't get up until 8:30 which seems really late for us but that’s still about 7:30 UK time so about normal. Today is supposed to be hot and dry and the only one we might have so we are headed for the beach. Our friend has recommended Carnac as it has lots of standing stones and dolmens as well.
By the time we cook breakfast and head out to the car, it is almost 10:30 or so or even later but what the heck. Vacation. We now find out that the GPS will not allow us to go without entering something besides just a city. Wants street too. I finally figure out to put in the street of the tourist office. And we're’re away
.
Finally into Carnac and My hero has been studying some of the map around the area and sees that there are many stones and areas of interest. As we are driving through the city, we spot a market so we find a place to park, luckily, moving into the parking lot just as someone was leaving. Doesn’t seem to be anywhere to pay and as we are following people to the market, we pass a cop and hubby asks if there is a fee. He doesn’t understand but manages to tell us it is free but cannot park in the blue areas because those are handicapped. Good to know. We have also learned some of the road signs. Apparently, once upon a time, anyone coming from the right had the right of way even if you were on a more major street and speeding along. So now I am creeped out at all these little roads moving into mine but we do learn to watch the signs and see which ones have been moved to stopping and which ones we still have to watch out for.
The market was good, busy. Lots of shoes and purses and clothes. I find a new purse as the one I just bought at Tesco has already ripped on the pull. Luckily I find one I like for only 69 euros. Ha. Don’t really see anything else that is wonderful and not really any crafts at all besides some of the Africans coming up from Morocco to sell their jewellery and their backpacks
.
We move into the city and there is traffic and can’t quite tell where to go but still following the GPS and pull up, finally, to the tourist office and can actually find a place to park at the front door practically. The reason for this good luck is because it is closed on Sundays. Wow, not your most friendly of tourist offices. All signs on the door are in French too so not very helpful.
Across the street is a small pastry and coffee shop so we go over there to get a sandwich and pastry and then figure we’ll go to the beach for a picnic and then go find standing stones. Of course, the only sandwiches they have are ham and cheese or odd tuna or odd curry so it’s ham and cheese again. At least we have now seen that they have more than just ham and cheese sandwiches. Maybe it is just always the lesser or evils in the sandwich world which is why we end up with ham and cheese.
There’s a place to park at the beach as well so we’we're golden. Walk down to the beach which is not terribly crowded but does have plenty of people including a bunch who are swimming. Yikes. There are small open tents but they look to be private or rented or something as there are chairs in a few but they are locked up with bicycle chains
. A lady sits in one we pass and glares at us so it’s sitting in the sand time.
We find a place in the sun and sit and eat our sandwich and eat our pastries. Then it’s walk on the beach time and find some shells. We find some razor clam shells which I never have before and wouldn’t even know what they were except for one of the cooking shows. So television can be educational. HA. don’t gather too many because I am having to put them in our sandwich bag which is getting soggy and wet and in danger of tearing but we have some nice shells and different ones from England beaches.
Back to the car with a stop at a toilet. There is a large sand sculpture with an elephant and people and a seal but it seems to be rather old and parts of it have been wreaked already. Next to it are some smaller sculptures that are not near as detailed or good.
Trying to find some way on the GPS to tell us how to get to the standing stones. We try different ways to type in the requests and finally find Les Megalithes and hit it and away we go. We pass a small dolmen at the corner of a busy road and no way to stop so we just have to pass it
. We turn down a road and find that Las Megalithes is a camping site. But it stands to reason that there must be some close by so we try "attractions" under the GPS heading and find one less than a mile away. So close that the GPS invites us to walk. Nope. That’s not happening.
So a few hundreds of meters, we come upon the Alignements de Kerzerho. Parking is available and there are not many people there. An older man is sitting at a table just as you walk into the site. Wasn’t sure if he was a fee taker or not but he was selling books and all in French so we walked past him.
The Alignements are just that. Rows and rows of standing stones. Brilliantly flawless rows or probably were when they were first installed. Now many of the stones are leaning or fallen but it was still impressive. It is also surrounded by a cornfield. We walked all through the rows and into the cornfield to see if it led anywhere else but it was just a cornfield.
Back to the car and it is sprinkling on us! What happened to our good day of weather? We have the method now. Look up attractions and look for anything with alignements or dolmens or tumulus. There is another dolmen a little ways away so we pick it and away we go. As usual, I turn the wrong way but the GPS picks it up quickly and gives me a good direction to go.
The next dolmen was just dolmen. It was in somebody’s field just right off the road and a lot of parked cars around it but it was also at a junction of driveways and appeared to be a party at the house at the bottom of the hill also with a pool and all
. We had to 4wheel it up a small hill with stumps to park and then walked around the dolmen for photos and we are off to the next one. This poor dolmen was lovely but didn't even rate a name. Just "dolmen" on the GPS. No signs once there either.
Next ones are Dolmens de Mane Kerioned and they are nice. There are several there, One was a walk through. One was underground and that one was the best. We walked into the darkness and used our cell phones to light the way. There were several carvings on the stones under there. We weren’t sure if they were ancient or graffiti from more modern times. on another day, we see others and do some reading up on some of it, and we have decided they are ancient. So it was good to spend a bit of time there.
Now it is getting hard to tell where we have been. I am trying to find attractions on the GPS and Mitchell is looking at the book and map. He says pick this one and we drive to it and dang if it wasn’t the Alignements de Kerzerho again. There were a lot more people here now. We just pulled in to pick our next place. we are off to Locmariaquer which has three sites in it including a menhir (giant standing stone) and one of the best dolmens and a burial cairn that you cannot get into but is supposedly quite large. Wasn’t too terribly hard to find. This place was a pay place and also had a video to go with it but the wait for the video was 12 minutes. Thought we would do it on our way out.
Walked around to the large cairn first. Was interesting but just basically a large pile of rocks in some kind of formation. At one point in time there had been a row of menhirs along the burial sites but they have long since been taken and now just the cairn
.
As we are walking to the dolmen, we pass a man who has just grabbed a cat off the ground and says to us, in English surprisingly, that it was his cat that had been missing for three days. Such a naughty cat, and now he has to go home to |Paris but he had stayed looking for his cat. Cat did not want to get close to us at all.
When we got to the dolmen, there was a door in the structure and I thought it wasn’t open which would have been disappointing because it was supposed to be and also said it was one of the best which is why we came to this one. But the sign said a tour was in progress. It was a private tour which was obvious when the door opened because it was three people. A couple had come up while we were waiting as well and walked right in ahead of us when the door opened. We followed them into the chamber which has huge stone at the back wall with carvings on it. They have rather odd lighting inside so the stone always looked like it had almost a red glow in the right hand corner. There were also carvings in the ceiling which some were similar to the carvings at another dolmen.
Back to the house for dinner and watching another video. Bourne Identity. Always a good one. Not getting any stars yet. Still cloudy - hmm. hope it clears as when we were in the Isles of Scilly a couple of weeks ago, we never saw but one star the entire time we were there. And that was supposed to be a great place for stars. hope we are not starless again.
By now we have been driving a lot and still have probably couple of hours drive to get home so we head out and back to Our friend’s.
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