Mileage 18 from Mouesterlin to Concarneau
Parking Co-ordinates 47.87922, -3.92064
Today's destination was to be the town of Concarneau which was initially built as a fortified town on a small island way back in the 11th century. However, over time it's grown to include a huge port area and an extended urban area that is filled with all sorts of exclusive shops, eateries and homes. Throughout it's history the fishing industry has been one of it's mainstays and in times gone by sardines and whale used to be the main catch, but it seems today tuna figures highly and we learnt that over 100,000 tons of it are caught each year by Concarneau based boats, so next time you tuck into some it just might come from here!
 |
| The fortified town of Concarneau that sits on a small island. |
But as we went we came across a couple of interesting features, the first being La Chapelle de L'Hopital which was a 20 bedded 2 warded 16th century hospital that was run by nuns and where the beds looked directly into the chapel so that patients could pray while resting! And also the pretty La Porte aux Vins - The Wine Gate which was the only access into the town from the sea and this was where the important cargoes of wine (amongst other things) were landed.We also popped up onto the ramparts and there we were offered spectacular views over the sea and across the harbour towards another Aire were we planned to spend our night.
We finished our tour by leaving the ramparts behind and finding a quite corner for lunch beside Concarneau's Marinarium which in 1859 was the world's first marine laboratory and one that is still investigating all things fishy today!
 |
| Someone trying to catch his lunch |
 |
| An old trawler that's now part of the Musee de la Peche |
Monday 2nd September 2019 ⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅
Mileage 16 from Concarneau to Pont Aven
Parking Co-ordinates 47.85353, -3.74173
This morning it was forwards and onwards to Pont-Aven which is probably best known for it's association with the painter Paul Gauguin and for it's flour mills. The town is named after the river that runs though it, and in times gone by the mills driven by the river were an important part of it's economy.
 |
| It seems that this waterwheel (that is attached to a hotel) is the only one still working these days! |
The town is beautiful (even with the tide out) and filled with quaint walkways, flowers, art galleries and lots of artisan shops - and as everybody seemed to be carrying a carrier bag from one or another of them we joined in and treated ourselves today!
We brought Bisque de Langoustine which is full of protein and has very few calories, and also some Breton whiskey - which is full of calories and may make us fall over 😂😂😂.
It seems that the artist's arrived here in force in the mid to late 1800's and now nearly every other building is a gallery but as we have nowhere to hang a painting (cos T4rdis2's walls aren't big enough😂) there didn't seem much point in browsing. However, we couldn't fail to be impressed by our lovely walk along Promenade Xavier Grall which is named after a famous writer and which runs alongside the river and is lined with beautiful plants, shrubs and other adornments!
 |
| The Tin Man was there but we couldn't find the Lion, the Scarecrow or Dorothy! |
 |
| A very cute public convenience |
Tuesday 3rd September 2019 ⛅⛅⛅🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🔥
About 9 👣👣 Miles
Today T4rdis2 stayed put on our Aire above Pont Aven while we toddled out for a walk which would take us along the Promenade des Moulins which is a trail around the remains of the village's 15 watermills. It seems that the mills were all concentrated in one area because the Aven's natural barrages (in the form of huge granite boulders) made the flow of water easier to control, but to be honest there really wasn't much of them left to see. However, what was worth seeing was the very quaint little Chapelle de Tremalo which sits in a dappled wooded grade and has lopsided eaves that nearly touch the ground and stone steps on it's roof that lead up to it's bell tower.
The Church had obviously had a lot of renovation work done to make it safe, and inside the wooden roof was propped up with buttresses but the old beams look original and they were decorated with curious looking vicious beasts !
From there our walk took us mainly through woodland where not a picnic bench could be found so in the end we opted for a very late lunch sitting once again beside the River Aven!
And just to round off today's story I'll just mention the 🦐Langoustine Soup🦐 and the Whiskey again! The former was 😝bloody horrible 😝 although John very quickly lapped mine up as well! But the whiskey was quite delicious, and the info on the box tells how it comes from a pioneer distillery which is located in the village of Plomelin which lies in the heart of Brittany. It seems that since 1921 the Le Lay family have become masters in the art of distillation, but in 2002 they made a daring move and launched a whisky unique to the world because it was the first to be made from buckwheat instead of the usual barley.When we sampled a 'wee dram' I said to John 'do you like it?' and he replied 'Ed Du'😂😂! He even liked it enough to have seconds of that as well.
Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th September 2019 ⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅
Mileage 26 from Pont Aven to Guidel Plarge
Parking Co-ordinates 47.75634, -3.51541
Today we left Pont Aven behind and moved on to the wild windswept beaches of Guidel Plarges which lie on the Southwest coast of Brittany, and where along the length of the beaches there are 3 Aires that all only allow a 24 hour stay😡, However, we wanted to stay for 2 nights so we made ourselves at home in one of them on Wednesday and then moved 3 miles up the road to another for Thursday night😀!
 |
| T4rdis 2 is slap bang in the middle of the pic! |
So on Wednesday we walked in warm sunshine for about 6 miles in the park and explored both the Petite and Grand Lochs, along with walkways over swampy areas and past orchards full of apples and fields of sunflowers that were waiting to be gathered in for their seeds.
On Thursday (after we'd moved 3 miles up the road) we choose the coastal path for our exercise, and as we toddled along the sandy path above the beach we found quite a lot of detritus left over from World War 2 in the form of bunkers and gun emplacements, and we also came across The Block Fort.
 |
| The sea was full of black blobs which looked likes seals basking in the sunshine but that illusion was shattered when the surfers bobbed up on boards! |
It seems that way back in the 17th Century France was facing threats from the English maritime forces so they decided to improve the defence of this shoreline. Along with forts in other places it was decided to build a new cannon battery on the tiny island of Keragan, and it was erected in a horseshoe shape that opened out to ocean. In later years it was regularly improved to maintain it's role, but it's walls didn't fair well in the harshness of Atlantic storms so in 1871 it was disarmed and the open side was 'Blocked Up' and thus it claimed the nickname 'Fort Bloque'. And I suppose it was due to it's delicate condition and exposure that it never played any part in World War 2 although that had been our first impression of it's function.
Anyway, changing the subject completely I'm going to break the habit of the entirety of this blog and talk about the current happenings in 'Crazy Brexit Land' (as our European neighbours are calling it). Usually I don't pay much attention to the news and mostly I rely on John to read it (which he does several times a day) and tell me if anything interesting is happening. However, the events of the last few days have been rather intriguing because they are likely to have a direct impact on if we freeze this winter or not!
Out usual habit in November is to nip over to Spain and spend Blighty's cold months in their much more civilised climate, and we've already made our booking (along with lots of other English snow birds) for 8 weeks over the Christmas period at the Majal Costa Blanca Campsite. However, if we leave the European Union, either with a Deal or a No Deal, we're not likely to be able to stay much longer than that because the Schengen Agreement will restrict us to just 90 days in any 180 day period. On the other hand, if another extension is arranged we'll more or less be able to travel home on a later date of our choosing because the present rules will still be in place!
So, as you'd imagine we'll be 'WATCHING THIS SPACE' with great interest and we wont be booking any ferry tickets until we know what's happening!
Anyway, rant over and that's all for now!
Cheerio till next time 😗😗
Click here to see all 134 of our French Camping Spots
No comments:
Post a Comment