Mileage 18 from Lampaul Plouarzel to Plougonvelin
Parking Co-ordinates 48.33779, -4.70712
On Monday we turned a corner and left Brittany's north coast and stared to creep down the west one but we're still within Finistere. We've landed on another beautiful coastal Aire in the settlement of Plougonvelin and this definitely, seems a home for very big motorhomes - when we arrived we had a lovely view but then a very big bus came and parked across the way from us and partially blocked it 😡 - you wouldn't park many of them in Lidl's car park!
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| The shadow is ours! |
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| Fort de Bertheaume - Connected to the mainland by a zip line and a foot bridge! |
On Tuesday we set out to walk the 8 miles there and back to Pointe de St Mathieu - the site of a Lighthouse, an Abbey and a Memorial that pays tribute to French sailors killed in the Great War.
Our way was rough and quite challenging as we trekked up and down several steep slopes, we both commented that it put us very much in mind of the many Cornish Coastal Paths we've followed, but Cornwall often has even deeper peaks and troughs!
Just beyond where this prominentary juts out into the open ocean is one of the busiest maritime crossroads in the world, and all ships moving between Northern and Mediterranean Europe need to pass through it. During the age of sail the prevailing winds and currents along the coast often prevented ships from passing both headlands of Raz and St Mathieu in one go and they therefore had to moor for a few hours or even days to await favourable seas. More recently the number of ships passing through the Ouessant shipping lane - a 40 kilometre wide maritime equivalent of a motorway - has reached about 50,000 per year but because this dangerous route is today marked out by a large number of lighthouses it's now much safer than it used to be!
A Benedictine monastery was founded here in the 6th century and this is where (allegedly) St Mathieu's remains were brought from Ethiopia. The story goes that on the way a great storm blew up and the sailors feared they would be shipwrecked but when they held up the apostle's head the waves subsided and the boat sailed safely ashore. Today the abbey is roofless but for it's age, and bearing in mind that it stands on a windswept headland, it's still in good nick and once inside it was very atmospheric!
Down on the dark rocks below the abbey a memorial that was built back in 1927 pays tribute to French sailors killed in the Great War, and after we'd cast our gaze on that our main mission was to find somewhere to gobble our picnic before we backtracked in a homeward direction!
We opted for a seat outside the very ornate gateway to the 14th century Notre Dame de Grace, and as we settled it was quite peaceful in the medieval cobbled square but just as we started to nibble our well earned sarnies a chap turned up in a funny hat and pulled his lute like Gittern out of his bag and started to warble songs from a bygone age! To say the least he wasn't tuneful and we didn't add to his collection plate!
Therefore, we gobbled our lunch quickly, and afterwards John tried to obtain a drop of 'frogs wine' from a nearly ancient well but he didn't have much luck so we just made do with coffee instead😂😂!After that it was time to make our return journey, and as usual, even though we were traversing along the same path that we'd already trod we didn't get bored because the Atlantic was at a completely different phase from earlier, and many of our views were therefore entirely new
Wednesday 14th August 2019 ⛆⛆☂⛆⛆☂⛅⛅
Mileage 70 from Plougonvelin to Camaret on the Crozon Peninsula.
Parking Co-ordinates Plougonvelin
Well what a day! We've most spent it toing and froing and not getting very far even though we've travelled 70 miles - but what else would we have done on what was a very wet and windy day until about 5pm! Even the lighthouses had their foghorns sounding!
Our next planned destination was Brest, and because the weather was grim we thought we might visit Oceanopolis which is not only the biggest aquarium in Europe but also a research centre that tells about all things to do with the ocean and how we treat it! Additionally, the online info told us that they provide free overnight motorhome parking, so although the admission price was a bit steep it would have been off set and therefore it seemed like a perfect thing to do on a wet day! However, several thousand other people had obviously thought the same thing because as we got near it seemed just like Alton Towers on a Bank Holiday and the section for Motorhome parking was full!
Plan 'B' was therefore to escape as quickly as possible because there was no way we were going to pay good money to shuffle round amongst a huge crowd that contained lots of fractious kids. Oceanopolis will just have to be saved for another time when preferably we can visit out of season!
So off we went in the opposite direction to the very long lines of traffic to another ragged Finistere peninsula, however, once we arrived on the rather bleak tip of Plougastel Daoulas it was only to find a rather large muddy sandpit as the designated motorhome parking area! Oh dear, maybe Plan 'C' was needed!And plan 'C' was to drive into the Armorique National Park and onto the Crozon peninsula that is likened to the profile of a mad dog! Now we're here we're going to stay for several days because John's got a couple of bike rides planned, there's more coastal walking and there's also the possibility that rain will stop play on Saturday.
But whatever, I'll tell you how we get on next time!
Bye for now 😗😗
Click here to see all 124 of our French camping spots
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