Mileage only about 8 from Pointe du Grouin to Les Ilots near St Malo
Parking Co-ordinates 48.6808, -1.962932019
Today we did one our shortest moves to date - only about 8 miles down the road which we thought we'd achieve quite quickly, but another Route Barree resulted in it taking 10 mins longer than planned😂😂! For this stage we'd picked out a huge coastal Aire (Les Ilots) very close to St Malo because our initial plan had been to cycle into the city, but as we later learnt that the bus stop was right outside the Aire we decided to utilise that mode of transport instead! However, we were in no rush so we put our city visit off until tomorrow, and for today we satisfied our exploration habit with a walk along the coastal path which took in 'Les Sculptures'.
It seems that an elderly partly paralysed priest - Abbe Foure - spent more than 25 years at the end of the 19th century creating a wonder world of over 300 monsters and grotesque figures all carved out of the rock that makes up the coastal cliffs in this area. Over time the elements have worn away some of the finer details, and I suppose at some stage in the future they will become completely eroded and unrecognisable, but for today they were quite fascinating to see, especially with the backdrop of the sapphire sea to add to our pleasure.
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| One of the old relics looks a bit newer than the other 😂😂 |
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| Our view out into the English Channel from the Sculpture site |
Monday 22nd July 2019 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🔥
8 miles on a 🚌 + a few walking miles!
This morning we caught the bus into St Malo - but that turned out to be a bit of a challenge because it was hot and packed, and as we went more folk got on thus turning it into a game that much resembled sardines! However it achieved the objective and dropped us off right outside the old citadel walls on the Marina side of the city which was just where we wanted to be.
We'd read that St Malo is the most attractive of all the Channel ports and has the most visitors but that the most interesting parts were 'intra muros' - within and on the old walls themselves so that was the bit we were going to concentrate on! Therefore we started our tour by entering through the main Porte St-Vincent (there entrance doors/gates on all 4 sides of the citadel) from where we climbed up on the ramparts and made a complete circuit for magnificent coastal, port and city views.
Unlike much of the rest of St Malo the walls are genuinely old having survived the extensive bombings of World War II.
History tells how St Malo was occupied by the Germans and was heavily bombed by the Allies in August 1944. At that time much of the town was destroyed but after the war it was painstakingly rebuilt but in a rather austere and very uniform style. However as we strolled the vistas easily distracted us from this and with lots of info boards there was plenty to see and learn about the towns history.
And one of those things was about the Corsairs (or maybe they should have been called Swashbuckling Pirates with Privileges)! The Corsairs were often high ranking military or naval officers who were awarded 'letters of marque' signed by the king which empowered them to seize merchant or warships. If said ships refused to stop and disclose their identity their vessels would be impounded and the goods shared between the Crown and Corsair! But worse still it seems that a good many of the seized vessels were simply scuttled at sea so that sharing the spoils could be avoided!Once our circumnavigation was complete we descended back to ground level to find a local watering hole for lunch, and there was plenty of choice! I fancied Moules but that wasn't going to be John's choice so we needed somewhere that would please us both!
And after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing we found what turned out to be just about perfect because the place we picked had a set 3 course menu (€18) that provided both steak and moules, and our starters (pate and fish soup) and desserts were delicious as well, but the only thing that was a bit extortionate was our beer at €7.50 a pop!
After lunch we did a bit more strolling through the narrow cobbled streets that were lined with small shops and packed cafes, and we took the time to visit the cool interior of Cathedral St Vincent which although beautiful was much like many other cathedral's we've visited on our travels. However, by late afternoon it was getting too hot for comfortable exploring so we decided we'd seen enough of city life and hopped on the even more tightly packed bus that whisked us home!
Tuesday 23rd July 2019 🌞🌞🌞🌞🔥🔥🔥 - very hot 😎
Today the weather forecast has predicted temperatures of up to or maybe over 35 degrees, so as we've got a bit of shade and electric to help our fridge keep it's cool we've decided to stay put at Aire Les Ilots for another day and hope that the sun will be a tad less fierce tomorrow. Therefore, we've not got anything of interest to tell you so this seems a good point at which to close and get on with 'enjoying' the sunshine!!!
But just before I go I've got a message for Wednesday 24th 2019
Happy Birthday Val 🎂🎁🎉🍸Hope both you and John have a really good day and that everything goes well xxx
We'll be thinking of you
Bye for now 😙😙
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