Two Return to France

[DBK]

We drove north for only an hour or so today, stopping at a basic aire without services. Number #15167 on CamperContact, which records it as being at Prefailles though it is nearer to La Plaine sur Mer. The data on CC is also out of date as the site is now part of the growing Camping Car Parks empire and the price is now an attention grabbing €8.50 a night, which is quite a lot for a bit of gravel. Cheekily, a notice at the entrance says the price includes use of the services in nearby Prefailles. Which is nice, given the services there are municipal owned I think and are free to anyone.
However, it is close to the coast and there are many cycleways and footpaths. The coast itself is mostly rocky.

In the distance of the image above are a couple of fishing "engines" of the type more usually seen in the creeks and estuaries around here.

You can also see a bit of sand below the rocks and at the right state of the tide there are a few little beaches along this stretch of coast. They are reached by steep paths descending the cliffs and from my explorations this afternoon are exclusively inhabited by naked men.
A bit of Googling yielded the information this is the most popular beach for the gay community of Nantes. Given the exposed nature of rocks some of the gentlemen were, er, exposing themselves on, it did make me wonder if the nets are ever used to recover any unfortunates swept into the sea.
We will leave this libertine spot tomorrow and strike directly north from here and head towards St Malo then begin to work westwards from there towards Roscoff, exploring the Emerald Coast, which will be a new part of Brittany for us. The weather forecast looks good too for next week, our last in France on this trip.

 

[DBK]

I don't know if we have any agronomists here on Fun but opposite the aire is a field with a curious crop growing in it.

I'm fairly sure it isn't wheat or barley and certainly not oats and my guess is it is spelt. The head with the young grain in is very long, 8" to 10".

@chaser is a son of the soil I think. Any help with identifying it would be most appreciated.

 

[chaser]

I don't know if we have any agronomists here on Fun but opposite the aire is a field with a curious crop growing in it.

View attachment 167441

I'm fairly sure it isn't wheat or barley and certainly not oats and my guess is it is spelt. The head with the young grain in is very long, 8" to 10".

View attachment 167443

@chaser is a son of the soil I think. Any help with identifying it would be most appreciated.

Looks like ryegrass to me.

 

[DBK]

Big drive today to the north coast and an ACSI site near St Malo, camping des Chevrets.

Typical Brittany scenery, lots of rocks and little islands on the coast and sheltered bays.

 

[DBK]

There is a very popular restaurant above the beach below the campsite, La Perle Noire, which on a sunny weekend like today you need to book a table which fortunately I managed to do, grabbing one of the last available I think.
It isn't cheap, €16 for moules is twice what you might pay elsewhere but then you don't get this sort of view.

The far end of the beach, after much squinting by me, I identified as the plage naturist either that or everyone was wearing skin coloured bathing costumes. It was some distance away and I had forgotten my binoculars.
With a large pichet of wine and a small bottle of water the bill was €48.50 but it was a very enjoyable lunch and improved by not seeing any pirates.
If you do order moules I recommend the Moules Perle Noire - lashings of garlic and black pepper and very creamy. Mrs DBK soon started dipping her frittes in my sauce as it was much tastier than the one which came with her conventional Moules Maranières.

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[Anthea M]

All looks delicious !!
You seemed to be attracted to nudist beaches or is that accidental again!'
Enjoy your trip northwards.

 

[DBK]

All looks delicious !!
You seemed to be attracted to nudist beaches or is that accidental again!'
Enjoy your trip northwards.

I think there are just a lot around France.

 

[Anthea M]

I think there are just a lot around France.

Well we've never encountered any!!!

 

[DBK]

Yesterday I walked around the rocky peninsular which juts out to the east of the campsite. It had some good views, including those of the Cherbourg peninsula further to the east. Sadly, no photographs as it started off as a short dog walk but turned into a mini-expedition! Charlie cooled off in a rock pool afterwards.
We went for a walk around the Île Besnard this morning, which is at the end of a sort of causeway to the west of the site. This time I remembered the camera. The promentory I walked around is in the background in the image below.

Just beyond the little islands and the promentory in the middle distance in this photo is St Malo. One of the little islands is a fort - but probably hard to see in the image.

This is the entrance to the sheltered bay in which the paddle boarders were in one of the earlier photographs above. The village is Rotheneuf which anywhere else might be a major port given how sheltered this bay is - except the tidal range here is so large the bay virtually empties on low tides.

 

[DBK]

A longish drive today, bringing us much closer to Roscoff for the ferry on Sunday. We are at another ACSI site, Camping les Sept Îles near Trélévern on the Rose Granite coast.

€15 a night with this view through the windscreen.

The site has its own little restaurant which we will patronise tomorrow as it is closed on Mondays - today.
I know a few Funsters shun campsites but I can't see why, other than cost, not to come here. From a distance, as you look down the row of MHs facing the sea it even looks like an aire.

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[DBK]

The Sept Îles are a nature reserve and a sort of French Farne Islands. We can't see them all from here as inconveniently there is another island much closer to the shore in the way. But we can get a good view of Rouzic Island which appears white in the sun.

They are gannets of course and Rouzic is apparently the most southerly gannet colony in Europe. Puffins and Manx Shearwaters also breed on the islands. The latter, curiously, are called the Puffin des Anglais in French.

We walked a little way east along the coastal footpath this morning and met someone coming the other way who had a scallop shell dangling from his rucksack. I only spotted this as he drew level and my French wasn't up to wishing him a bonne pèlerinage on the spur of the moment. I had to do a bit of Googling after we got back to discover he probably wasn't lost. Brittany was historically an important starting point for pilgrims from Ireland and southern England. There are several recognised starting points on the coast here and given the direction he had come from he may well have started from Mont St Michel. The routes generally join around Brest I think and then pass south through Nantes and on over the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela. He looked several years older than me and had a long way to go. Bonne pèlerinage indeed.

The beaches here are very attractive.

The coast path ran through a wood at one point where we spotted an impressive stinkhorn fungus.

Being a mature sort of person not prone to making schoolboy jokes I will refrain from any remarks about the shape of this thing and restrict myself to something factual: the scientific name for this fungi is Phallus impudicus. The young ones are edible should you feel peckish.

Continuing the serious note, if you are wondering what happened to the Wooden Tops - they moved to Brittany.

Finally, this is a good spot for sunsets but last night there wasn't a cloud in the sky and this was the best I could do. I will try again this evening.

 

[vwalan]

hi . we used to enjoy it a bit west from where you are over at trebeurden. was good beach parking several years ago. might have changed . but the coast around there anywhere in brittany as lots of little places to lose yourself for a night or two.
keep up the good pics . brings back lovely memories. have lots fun .

 

[DBK]

hi . we used to enjoy it a bit west from where you are over at trebeurden. was good beach parking several years ago. might have changed . but the coast around there anywhere in brittany as lots of little places to lose yourself for a night or two.
keep up the good pics . brings back lovely memories. have lots fun .

There are still a few places to wild camp I think but a lot of car parks behind the beaches have signs saying no overnight parking. But then there are signs saying no cycling on the coastal footpath either but people do.

 

[Deleted member 43219]

The latter, curiously, are called the Puffin des Anglais in French.

The French name is a reference to the Manx shearwater's Latin name, Puffinus puffinus. The Anglais descriptor is probably because 90% of the bird's world population nests in Britain and Ireland. The bird with the English name Puffin doesn't look much like a shearwater at all but the word "puff" means swollen and probably refers to the fluffy puffed-up appearance of the young of both species.

 

[DBK]

Took a slightly better sunset shot on our last night at the Sept Îles.

We moved a short way to Camping du Port at Landrellac about 30 km or so west of our last place. We have been here a couple times before and with good reason.

It has a little restaurant actually open and with a stirring view from the terrace.

The menu wasn't complicated. What would you have had?

The fruits de mer need to be ordered in advance but we did see someone tuck into the plateau which consisted of numerous shellfish including langoustines and a partly dismembered spider crab. We must return here and order this dish if only for the honoury NVQ gained in marine creature anatomy earned if you manage to eat it.

Creatures of habit ourselves we had the moules but being slightly adventurous plumped for the moules roquefort.

Which was very tasty. Afterwards we had a tarte tatin with ice cream which was also nice, as you might be able to tell from the bites taken out of it before I remembered to take a photograph.

I foraged for a few cockles this afternoon then steamed them in half a glass of rosé wine which was to hand.

They tasted just like mussels and we must remember to pack a rake next time.
What did pique my curiosity was this thing sitting on the shell of one of the cockles.

The shell is hinged and flexes like a woodlouse but underneath it has a single foot like a limpet. I haven't so far been able to identify it but I did cook it!

There are some good coastal walking from here and if you go inland several prehistoric sites as well.

This looks like a wild camping spot to die for but it is a campsite, sadly a private one belonging to a group of universities.

Charlie goes to the vet tomorrow for his worming then we go to Pol De Leon to wait for the ferry on Sunday.
It has been a great trip.

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[Anthea M]

Took a slightly better sunset shot on our last night at the Sept Îles.

View attachment 168823

We moved a short way to Camping du Port at Landrellac about 30 km or so west of our last place. We have been here a couple times before and with good reason.

View attachment 168819

It has a little restaurant actually open and with a stirring view from the terrace.

View attachment 168807

The menu wasn't complicated. What would you have had?

View attachment 168808

The fruits de mer need to be ordered in advance but we did see someone tuck into the plateau which consisted of numerous shellfish including langoustines and a partly dismembered spider crab. We must return here and order this dish if only for the honoury NVQ gained in marine creature anatomy earned if you manage to eat it.

Creatures of habit ourselves we had the moules but being slightly adventurous plumped for the moules roquefort.

View attachment 168815

Which was very tasty. Afterwards we had a tarte tatin with ice cream which was also nice, as you might be able to tell from the bites taken out of it before I remembered to take a photograph.

View attachment 168816

I foraged for a few cockles this afternoon then steamed them in half a glass of rosé wine which was to hand.

View attachment 168820

They tasted just like mussels and we must remember to pack a rake next time.
What did pique my curiosity was this thing sitting on the shell of one of the cockles.

View attachment 168821

The shell is hinged and flexes like a woodlouse but underneath it has a single foot like a limpet. I haven't so far been able to identify it but I did cook it!

There are some good coastal walking from here and if you go inland several prehistoric sites as well.

View attachment 168817

This looks like a wild camping spot to die for but it is a campsite, sadly a private one belonging to a group of universities.

View attachment 168818

Charlie goes to the vet tomorrow for his worming then we go to Pol De Leon to wait for the ferry on Sunday.
It has been a great trip.

We have enjoyed it ! Thanks for sharing ! ( will there be a book?)

 

[scousebird]

Loved your pics and descriptions - safe journey home

 

[Robert Clark]

Great pics
Thank very much for sharing

 

[Fenman]

Lovely thread. Great pics and info. Many thanks. Have a safe journey home.

 

[Floydster]

Very enjoyable, thanks for sharing.

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[Oscar]

Really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing

 

[DBK]

We had our final meal out today, at the restaurant on the sea front at St Pol de Léon with the slightly odd name of Mary Stuart.
I had a huge artichoke stuffed with mussels and a type of scallop called pétoncles. It was a lot more filling than I expected!

Mrs DBK had moules chorizo. The moules in both dishes were very plump and tasty.

Despite full stomachs we managed to find room for some ice cream afterwards!

 

[bellabee]

A great thread!
Really enjoyed reading it.