Brits in Brittany

Friday morning saw us staying put on site near Le Mont Saint-Michel. We did some laundry and housework then found out how to use the “service pour Camping Cars” (the filling and emptying station). Around 2pm, when the washing was just about dry, we set off south west to Brittany. We had a night on the side of the road overlooking the Atlantic at the end of the Quiberon peninsula.

We loved Quiberon; another “almost” island joined to mainland France by a road and railway line on a strip of sand.  On Saturday morning it was alive with a massive street market; all the things you’ve ever seen in a French market and at least two stalls of each. Huge pans of paella, 8’ high chicken rotisseries and mountains of glistening olives jostling for space between beautiful handmade shoes, lace & jewellery. Quiberon itself is our idea of the perfect seaside town. It’s just touristy enough to be fun without being tacky, in fact some of the clothes shops were very up market indeed.
After lunch we drove back to the mainland and round the corner to Auray which we’d heard good things about. On the edge of town we stopped at McDonalds and checked out McFlurries and WIFI. Verdict; Pretty Dammed Good. We parked in the rather unremarkable newer part of town and walked down towards the river. Auray changes quite suddenly and, almost like walking onto a film set, we found ourselves down by the river in the old part. We sat in the sun drinking coffee and lemonade surrounded by moored yachts, timber framed buildings and a beautiful 17th century stone bridge.

We walked along the river for a while before climbing back up the hill and realising that neither of us could remember exactly where we’d parked the van. We managed to find it after a small detour; we like to keep a low profile and had tucked it away in the corner of a car park. As it was quiet and level we decided to stay the night.When we packed up in the morning we couldn’t find our step. A quick re-trace turned it up. It was neatly placed on the grass outside McDonald’s, just where we’d left it.