Beach Time in Brittany

Monday 29 June 2015

We're on an aire at St Gildas du Rhuys on the southern Brittany coast.  It's very peaceful - grass pitches surrounded by pines and on a cliff top overlooking the sea.  There's about 15 vans here; it says there's room for 80 but I think it would be very cramped. As it is, we have plenty of room to put the awning, table and chairs out.

Cathy went for a beach and dunes walk early this morning at Hauteville, while I snoozed in bed - I didn't sleep well last night.  We had breakfast sat outside, before driving off, stopping off in Granville for fuel.  The journey was about 3.5 hours and, although we started in cloud, by the time we arrived here it was 25'C and clear blue skies.  We pitched up, had some lunch, changed and made the short walk down to the beach.  It's a long curved beach, backed by dunes with rocks at our end and what looked like a village at the other.  The sand was soft, white and very clean; it has a very Mediterranean feel. Chairs and blanket out, we had our first swim of the day.  The sea felt cooler than yesterday, surprising given we were much further south, but the deeper Atlantic waters clearly have an effect.  The afternoon was spent swimming, sunbathing, snoozing and reading - perfect.  

We returned to the van at about 1800 and showered, then had a brew.  Dinner tonight was pork loin chops with a Greek salad, some beer for me and rosé wine for Cathy.  Washed and tidied up, by now it was gone 2100 but still warm and sunny, so we walked along the dunes to watch the sunset and take some photos.  It was indeed a lovely sunset over the village at the far end of the bay, cloudless and clear.  We walked back along the water's edge with the tide out and are now ready to sleep.  It's completely silent and still outside, I can just here the surf.  All the skylights are wide open and the quilt has been stowed under the bench, swapped for a single sheet.  Hopefully we'll have more days and nights like this.

Today I noticed the gas exhaust from the fridge has melted the plastic grill panel, perhaps from when the sliding door is open and airflow restricted.  So, with the water leak when filling the fresh water tank, Nido will need to go back into A&E for repairs when we get back.  But apart from that we're enjoying the van and getting used to the space and storage.  Tomorrow looks like another long drive to Ile d'Oleron, but then we should be static for a week, perhaps on two sites, so will have a chance to make camp and really relax......and I can get out on the bike!