Motorhome ‘aires’ for overnight stops tend to be functional rather than scenic in themselves, but they’re practical in high season and, if you do some research, they are often extremely well located for visiting local points of interest. This has certainly been the case as we’ve travelled northwards into Brittany. And you immediately know you’re in Brittany with road signs in both French, the official language, and in Breton with its strong roots in Celtic language.
Our first stop was in the Morbihan department in the south of Brittany, just on the edge of Vannes at the Île de Conleau overlooking the Gulf of Morbihan. Joe has stayed in Vannes previously on a motorcycling holiday with friend Andy so knew a little of the area. A short cycle ride from our base took us around the Pointe des Emigrés, a protected area of coastal forest, and along the port and marina area into the centre of the walled town of Vannes with its lovely cobbled streets and painted timbered houses. With the marina area directly outside the town walls, it almost has the feeling of a seaside town with its gentle climate.
The market on Saturdays draws in the visitors and is certainly one of the biggest and most varied that we’ve seen on our travels with stalls packed in along all of the narrow streets up to the cathedral. The colours of the summer produce on the stalls is beautiful against the backdrop of the old town. Some of the streets of the old town are so narrow that the upper levels houses on corners are only inches apart.
The town is also an excellent base for boat trips in the sheltered Gulf of Morbihan and we took a trip with our bicycles to Île d’Arz and explored from one end of the island to the other on a very windy day. There whole area is very reminiscent of Cornwall, but without the crowds and with wider roads, and this island felt very similar to the Isles of Scilly with small stone cottages and gardens of agapanthus and hollyhocks. The vegetation in this area also features the beautiful pink silk trees or mimosas, with their profusion feathery pink flowers. The area near to our base also had the feel of Cornwall with its small beaches and creeks and a small bar at the water’s edge.
From Vannes we travelled on to the citadel town of Port Louis which lies on the eastern side of the Lorient harbour basin. Our base in the town was inside the city walls, a short walk to the town, citadel and harbour. The citadel was built by the Spanish at the end of the 16th century to protect the harbour and was developed further by the French in the 17th century when the French East India Company was based at the port town. Just outside the walls of the citadel there is a memorial to 69 patriots, discovered in 1945 in a mass grave at the site, having been executed by the Germans in 1944. It’s possible to walk around the stone ramparts of the town although I rather terrified myself when the unprotected pathway got higher and higher from the ground below the further we went.
A foot passenger boat shuttle service or ‘Bateau-Bus’ runs between the pier at Port Louis and the fishing port of Lorient on the opposite side of the harbour. From the pier we could see the former submarine pens of the Lorient naval base, once a major base for the Germans and now a museum. Joe has already visited the museum – from the inside -so we took the opportunity to take the boat and view the pens from a different vantage point. It’s interesting to see the different uses these submarine pens are being put to after seeing the immersive exhibition at the pens in Bordeaux.
We happened upon this town on a good day as there was an evening market taking place with lots of stalls, food stands and music and it certainly seemed popular, drawing in locals and visitors. The church in the centre of the town has striking modern stained glass windows and the sun shining through them casts beautiful coloured patterns on the floor and walls.
Brittany is well known for its food specialities including cider and the previously mentioned galettes/crêpes, sweet and savoury, and in Vannes a featured speciality at the bakers is the Kouign-amman, a bun type cake made with bread dough, layered with butter, sugar and, sometimes, apple. Not entirely unlike the specialities of other regions that all feature pastry, butter and sugar in some form or another, but it would be rude not to sample them once!
It’s already clear to us that you could spend a very long time exploring all the nooks and crannies of Brittany, especially when the weather is as nice as we have experienced so far, so we’re having to pick and choose where we stop. More to come…..
Cannot tell you how pleased I am that there will be ‘more to come’
Yes we’ve seen loads already and hardly scratched the surface. Love to you both xx