2019 Tour of Brittany (France) Part 10 - St. Pol-de-Leon - Poulennou near Port Neuf

Monday 5th, Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 7th August 2019 ⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅
Mileage 10 from St Pol-de-Leon to a lovely place in the middle of nowhere near Port Neuf
Parking Co-ordinates 48.69127, -4.1193

If you read our previous blog you'd know that last night we were parked up right on the sea front at St Pol-de-Leon and that we were awaiting a 30 foot Spring tide.  In that blog I also said that 'muddy estuaries didn't quite float our boat', but what a difference a few hours made!

Before the tide came in

And the view from our windscreen just before it was at it's highest!

As we sat and watched we could actually see the water rushing up the beach, and the time that it took to cover the sand completely needed to be measured in minutes rather than the usual hours.  And I think it's fair to say that at that stage 'our boat was almost literally floated' because we're parked within spitting distance of the sea and it came to within about 2 feet of the top of the wall which separates us from it!

Additionally, watching the deepening water was almost mesmerising and nothing else was needed (except a bottle of red vino🍷🍷)  for our evenings entertainment, and with it came a contentment that this is absolutely the way we want to keep living our lives for as long as we possibly can!!

By Monday morning, as we were getting ready to leave, another tidal cycle had almost been completed so we were lucky enough to have the above views while consuming our breakfast.   However, we did eventually tear ourselves away and head off for a few short miles down the road to a wild and windy Camping Car Park Aire in the tiny settlement of Poulennou that's going to be home for the next 3 nights.   The  rest of Monday was taken up with getting our chores done, but in the latish afternoon we nipped out for just a short walk along another stunning section of coast with more rock formations and also some lovely white sand beaches.

A small sluice gate had been added so that this natural pool to make safe bathing for kids, but
even with that the water was refreshed twice daily with the tides

'Corps de Garde des Amiets'
This guardhouse was built in 1744 as a relay for messages between the guardhouses of Lavillo to the west
and Theven Bras to the east.  There job was to raise the alarm if enemy ships were sighted. 

On Tuesday we decided we'd tackle our cycle trip into Roscoff, but although it provided us with lovely 28 mile round trip through lots of sandy agricultural land, we weren't overly impressed with the Port town itself!  The old town seemed to consist of little more that a single street that ran along behind the bay, but as we traversed along that it was impossible not to be captivated by The Notre Dame de Kroaz Batz which  has a phenomenally intricate belfry.  The exterior is carved with galleons and cannons and when the bells actually ring they're quite deafening if your nearby!

But after that, other than the usual tat shops and eateries there wasn't much else that caught our interest until after we'd left Roscoff and found ourselves on the Perharidy Peninsula.  From there we had magnificent distant views of Roscoff in one direction and the Ile de Batz in the other, and as there was a very convenient bench we claimed it for sipping our coffee and munching our cake!

It was a bit windy and this was the first time we've needed to put on a jacket since we've been in France!

On Wednesday we did a few more chores before heading out in the afternoon for another there and back coastal path walk to Port Nerf and a bit beyond (about 6ish miles).  Once again the magnificent rock formations caught our eye and I'll just add a few so that you get an impression of what we saw!

A bird pecking for seed or worms!

Maybe a Squirrel

A Monkey

A another fabulous beach. 

And it was just after this that we had a bit of trouble with our parking space!!  As we neared what was to be the end of our walk we spied a bench overlooking the sea that should have had our names on it!  However, as we neared it another couple perched on it and we were forced to rest on a rock😡.  But not much time passed by before they moved 😀😀  - but then 'bugger', another couple beat us to it so we grumpily backtracked to our rock again to munch our apples😡😡!  Then, low and behold, they didn't stop long either and therefore very swift action was required - John says I moved so fast that he thought my a__e was on fire - but no I was just after bagging 'our' bench!

And the other funny thing for this outing concerned a new garment that I'd decided to wear today!

When John saw my latest bit of handiwork he thought I'd crocheted a pair of pants!!!

But NOOOOO, it was my creation to keep control of my flyaway hair on windy days 🤣😂🤣😂🤣

And that's all folks!  See you next time 😗😗

Click here to see our French camping spots (there are 120 of them but not all from this trip!)