Showing posts with label quiberon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quiberon. Show all posts

Thursday, 14 September 2023

Sea, sand and jazz in Brittany - summer's still here!

Thursday 14 September 2023

Nido's parked up on an aire in Kerhillio at the northern end of the Quiberon peninsula.  We're on a grass pitch under the shade of a small tree.  There are about thirty pitches, although a few are still empty.  It's €15.30 per night, including services and electric hook up - that's about £13. The aire is just outside a huge municipal campsite, where vans, caravans and tents are spread all over the sandy areas, separated from the huge beach and sea by dunes. Just outside the aire is a square comprising surf shops, artist galleries and a couple of hipster-like cafe bars; it's a lovely, laid back place.  Right now Le Coota bar's playing some live music, it sounds like laid-back jazz with guitar and cello.  Its wooden decking is lit by coloured lights and there's a friendly buzz of chat over the music, with children laughing as they ride their bikes around the square.  We like it here.


We left La Pommeraie-sur-Sevre yesterday for a long haul towards the coast.  This included an unplanned tour of the docks area around St-Nazaire.  For a number of years I've used a Garmin satnav in the van.  Over time I've loaded it up with a number of Points of Interest - aires, campsites, wild swimming spots.  But I've never really used these.  The Garmin is OK, but it's constantly trying to shave off a couple of metres or minutes from the journey.  As a consequence we often follow it to turn off down narrow roads to cut off a corner, only to rejoin the decent road we were on before.  Yesterday it directed us down past the Airbus factory and towards the cruise liner berths and the docks, down to a dead end!  I now remember it did the same last year, when we were heading south. So this time we plugged our destination coordinates into Google Maps on my phone and ran this in parallel.  We ignored the Garmin's plea to turn off down single lanes and rat-runs and instead followed the sensible route of Google Maps, which was more direct and actually shorter.

We arrived at the Camping Car Park aire at La Turballe.  It's actually in the Loire region, but it feels like Brittany.  It was busy; with the recent heatwave, clear blue skies and warm sunshine; summer was still here and people were naturally making the most of it.  We took one of the three remaining pitches, right next to a road which, although busy, did quieten down at night.  The first thing was to take a walk to the beach for a long awaited walk on the sands and a paddle.  But no - it was not to be.   Approaching the beach we came up with the 'les chiens interdit' signs, even when on a lead.  Salty was not a happy hound!  He could smell the sea, he could hear the sea, he could almost see the sea.  But he was not allowed to go there.  I'd not done my research and with a bit of googling soon realised that Brittany beaches are - in the main - dog unfriendly.  I get it, they want to keep their beaches clean and pristine and people want to be able to enjoy their time on the coast without dogs running around and doing what dogs do.  But it seems a bit strange that dogs are so unwelcome in a country that has one of the highest percentages of dog ownership.  But we're responsible owners and follow the rules, so we just walked along the sandy path that runs parallel to the beach before returning to the aire.  



I'd looked at a few places to stay on the southern and western Bretagne coast, but last night was spent replanning, looking for the few dog-friendly beaches so we could at least walk him in some nice places.  As much as we love having a dog in our lives, it has changed how and where we travel.  Now we have to think about where he's allowed to go.  We have to ensure the pitch is cool and shaded if we want to leave him in the van for any period of time.  It's just a different way of travelling.  I found a few places online where dogs can still go on the beach (albeit on a lead, which is fine), mainly in the far west and north, so our travel plans have been adjusted accordingly.

This morning we stopped off at the Super U supermarket in La Turballe for a top up.  I like this brand of supermarket; it's reasonably priced and the quality of the produce is very good.  In the Auvergne, it was mostly Auchan supermarkets, but Super U reign supreme here. The fish counter was excellent, with some of the freshest seafood I've seen anywhere. The mackerel were stiff-fresh and the brown shrimps I bought (look away now if you're squeamish) were still wriggling, the bouchot moules (our favourite) were glistening and the whole squid white and opaque.  Our drive (thanks to our recent conversion to Google Maps (sorry Garmin lady!)) was easy and enjoyable, with a mix of A roads and drives through small Bretagne villages lined with thatched houses with white lime-wash walls and sea-blue shutters.

Once we'd paid and pitched, we had a tasty lunch sat in the shade of the adjacent tree before packing a rucksack and walking through the municipal campsite to the beach - Plage de Kerhillio. It's a huge sandy beach.  The southern end - towards the tip of the Quiberon peninsula - is mainly used by the kite surfers and the naturists.  Dogs are 'interdit' on that side, so we were glad of a reason to avoid it! Salty had a lovely splash around, a few zoomies and a drink of the very salty water; he always does it and always gets told off for doing it!  Once he settled down lying on the sand watching the world go by, we took it in turns to swim in the exceptionally clear and warm sea.  It was idyllic and we made the most of our first sea swim of this trip.  



Back at the van, showered and changed, Cathy sat in the sunshine listening to an audio book and I prepared the seafood paella (the shrimps had stopped wriggling!), which we ate sat watching the sun set over the dunes.  We've decided to stay another day here.  It's quiet, with a laid back atmosphere that reminds us of Tarifa in southern Spain, with weather to match.  We'll definitely enjoy some more beach and swimming time tomorrow.




Friday, 10 October 2014

Day 8 - Josselin to Quiberon

Friday 10 October 2014

It was a quiet night at the Aire in the town, just the sound of the owls at night and birdsong in the morning. I heard the church bells of St Martin strike eight and got up half an hour later. I switched on the hot water for Cathy and walked out into a cold but clear morning, with blue sky and the sun about to rise over the rooftops.  Considering this is a town, it was fairly quiet as people made their way to work or opened shops. I walked down towards the main square looking for somewhere to buy salad, but couldn't find one. But I did go into the boucherie to buy lamb chops and some local sausages, then walked back up to buy a baguette and a croissant.  I fancied a coffee and found a bar that was open and quite busy.  I walked in, offered the usual 'Bonjour' to everyone and stood at the bar to order un crème. Here it comes with the hot milk in a separate jug.  I stood and took my time over my coffee, listening to the conversations and trying to pick out words and phrases.  I managed to pick up the odd word here and there, such as asking how much for two coffees and an orange juice.  When it was time to pay I asked how much and the bar owner replied in fast French; I picked up the 'trente' at the end, so guessed the rest and gave him €2.50.  He returned €1.20, so I missed the beginning but at least I know a coffee should be under €2.  Back at the van Cathy was showered, had tidied up and had the kettle on. After breakfast and with everything stowed away, we moved across to the service point to drop waste and headed off for our next stop - Carnac and the menhirs or alignments of stones.

There was an Aire in the town so we planned to stay there if we liked it.  It was only an hour's ride and we passed the stones on the outskirts of the town. We found the Aire but it was mainly just a car park in town and it didn't feel a nice place to stay overnight, so we decided we'd visit the alignments and find somewhere else to stay.  The alignments we wanted to visit were only a short 10 minute walk away.

Carnac is the most important prehistoric site in Europe - in fact this spot is thought to have been continuously inhabited longer than anywhere else in the world. Its alignments of over two thousand menhirs (standing stones) stretch over 4km, with great burial tumuli dotted amid them. In use since at least 5700 BC, the site long pre-dates Knossos, the Pyramids, Stonehenge and the great Egyptian temples of the same name, Karnak.  Unfortunately they're fenced off so we couldn't walk amid them, but we did walk around a section, with a view of the long straight lines of stones as far as the eye can see.  We also managed to touch some of them - surreal as we thought about their age, history, use and reason to be there. We both have an affinity with this spiritual aspect of life more than any formal religion; the power of the earth and physical energy.  Hopefully being at this spot will bring us some good health and luck.  On the way back we stopped at Lidl and bought a few goodies, including 2 litres of rosé for less than €4 - the expensive stuff as Ian described it in a text!  I dialled in the coordinates for an Aire on the outskirts of Quiberon, which was only 25 minutes away, and headed off in warm sunshine.

The drive along the Quiberon peninsular was lovely - wide sweeping roads with the sea pounding on the rocky shore to our right.  The coast here has two quite distinct characters.  The Côte Sauvage, facing the Atlantic to the west, is a bleak rocky heathland, lashed by heavy seas. The sheltered eastern side, however, the Baie de Quiberon, contains safe sandy beaches, as well as the many Thalassotherapy Institutes that line the Breton coast. The Aire was quite empty and I picked a spot with a view of the sea and the main door facing west.  Out came 'our' outdoor table and we enjoyed a tasty lunch sat in the sunshine, with a couple of glasses of the 'expensive' rosé! All cleared away and, with the sun shining, we locked up and crossed the road to join the coastal path heading towards Quiberon town. We passed a restaurant and a small 'Le Moutiere', a possible lunch stop tomorrow for (finally!) some Moules frîtes. We carried on along the coast, enjoying the warm breeze and sunshine, and surprising quite a few small geckos as they dozed on the sun-warmed rocks. The town of Quiberon is quite touristy, but with a working fishing port and plenty of good places to eat.  Cathy had a paddle while I went to buy her some patisserie. We wondered around the town but were soon heading back along the coastal path.

Back at the van, we sat outside with a wet and the cakes - almond & pistachio gateaux - a bit heavy according to C.  After that we sat with an Apero watching the sea, before I lit the BBQ.  Dinner tonight was lamb leg chops with lamb's lettuce, tabbouleh and toasted bread rubbed with garlic and olive oil, all enjoyed with some more of the Lidl rosé.  It was a lovely evening and I sat on the step watching the sunset as the chops cooked, flavoured with the wild fennel stalks Cathy had picked, thrown on the coals. Washed up and squared away, it was time to chill out and enjoy a quiet night by the sea.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll get out for a bike ride in the morning before we head off along the coast, moving in to the  Pays de Loire region.

Aire at Josselin
Carnac stones
Soaking up the magic of the stones!
Carnac stones
Carnac stones
Carnac stones
Alignment of Carnac stones
Cathy's ideal bike!
Preparing dinner
Apero time
Aire outside Quiberon with great sea view
Salut!