We were loving Brittany

Morgat - Tuesday 1st April

A good journey up the coast, nothing much more to say about it!

We crossed the Aulne River on the Pont de Terenez, a fascinating bridge built in 2011. The first bridge was built between 1913 and 1925. This bridge was destroyed in August 1944 by the German army, in order to delay the advance of the Allied troops. The next bridge was opened in 1952 but it contracted concrete cancer and was replaced by the present bridge. Before there was a bridge, the river was crossed by ferries to ensure the continuity of the main road. Accidents were very common, due to the use of a flat-bottomed, unwieldy ferry. One was swept away by the tidal current and capsized, swallowing up men, horses, and goods.

We arrived in the seaside town of Morgat which is in the north west of the Baie de Douarnenez.

Our aire was about a 3 minute walk from the the beach, but we were greeted with a large no dogs sign. I had checked online and it had said it was dog friendly. Richard spotted a notice with a dog on it which said it was no dogs from June to the end of September. Rio was straining on his lead so it was just as well he could go on it. He did his usual of running round in circles until he found a dried up starfish which he started crunching 😝 I managed to grab a leg, starfish that is, but he ran off with the rest. The leg was really sharp but he gave it a good go! The beach is really big with quite a bit of fresh water running across it.

We had taken some treats for Rio and kept calling him back, giving him a treat then letting him go again. He was very good.

We walked a little way through the town, it did remind us of the West Country.

The origins of Morgat date back to the Roman occupation of Armorica. It is a former small fishing village which became a sardine port, then a major tuna port in the 1960s and 1970s, before the decline of sardines, then tuna. It gradually became a seaside resort, from the end of the 19th century.

This lovely house on the top of the cliff is Le Manoir Rulianec which was built in 1928. The manor was occupied during World War II by a German general in the Air Force. A VF 2d bunker was built during the war which sheltered twelve German soldiers and communications equipment and was hit by an American bomb a few days before the liberation of the peninsula. It is now an “Airbnb” and can take up to 15 people. Le Manoir Rulienec

133 miles

Morgat - the link is for Searchforsites but we booked with CampingCar Park.

Trevou Treguignec - Wednesday 2nd April

We left lovely Morgat, we will be back.

Today we were only on a dual carriageway for a few kilometres, the rest of the time it was normal two way roads. It was harder for Richard but we saw some lovely scenery and villages.

We drove through the pretty town of Le Faou which is situated at the top of one of the estuaries of Brest Harbour. Le Faou goes back to the 11th Century with quite a few 16th Century houses still standing. This is definitely a town to be visited properly.

We stopped just outside St Michel en Greve on a beach car park. We had a coffee and gave Rio a bonus walk on the beach.

Our aire, the last of the CampingCar Park ones, was at Trevor-Treguignec, not the best by any means but close to the beach.

The beach, Plage de Trestel, was humungous and Rio couldn’t believe his luck. It was certainly a lovely beach with rocks at both ends and lots of rocky outcrops off the beach. Rio found a Pointer to play chase with - large dog versus small dog. The winner was? They were equal

85 miles

Trevou Treguignec - the link is for Searchforsites but we booked with CampingCar Park.

Mont St Michel - Thursday 3rd April

The Trestel beach wasn’t as big this morning - the tide was in!

The day started off OK, but the sky got greyer and greyer, until the rain came in. We knew from the weather forecast that it was on its way in, so we weren't too surprised, but after all the lovely weather we have had recently, it was rather depressing.

While Richard was walking Rio this morning, he was told by a Frenchman that Rio was “magnifique”. Honestly, that dog’s head is getting bigger and bigger by the day!

We found a Carrefour supermarket outside St. Brieuc. It was the third one I had been into but this one won on size, hands down! It took me ages to find everything.

Our drive over to Mont St. Michel was wet and grey, but on the bright side it was going to be lovely the next day.

We found our aire for the night. It is a private aire, and has a lovely view of Mont St. Michel. Madame is extremely nice and when I asked her if there was somewhere locally that I could do my washing, she offered her washing machine! I took her up on this but then realised there was no tumble drier so, bearing in mind the weather, Kiwi was draped in washing!

The reason that we were at Mont St. Michel is that we were joining a small group of motorhomers to do a short Normandy Beaches tour. We were first to arrive - the others were catching the overnight ferry and due to arrive the next day. I joined Wandering Bird last year and Kat has been so helpful with her travel and road trips. She organises a couple of tours each year and the Normandy Beaches was definitely on our bucket list. It will make a change to chat to English people again!

After a wet and grey day there was a stunning sunset.