{"id":538,"date":"2018-10-11T17:55:40","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T17:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=538"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:44:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:44:39","slug":"euro-travellers-2018-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=538","title":{"rendered":"EURO-TRAVELLERS 2018. 16"},"content":{"rendered":"

16\u00a0 RETURNING TO BRITTANY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just shows how many of you are keeping up with my messages!\u00a0 Did anyone notice that part 14 was missing?\u00a0 No one told me that they’d missed an important section of the story!<\/p>\n

Well well…<\/p>\n

It’s now Friday 6 July.\u00a0 Three more days to go – not four as we thought a few minutes ago.\u00a0 We temporarily lost the plot calendar-wise.\u00a0 We had sudden recollections of our journey into Brittany last year on the first Saturday of the French holidays.\u00a0 So we decided to get our skates on and head north.\u00a0 This year there was the added distraction of the Tour de France which is passing our last camp site near Coulon tomorrow.\u00a0 As we travelled we saw signs of disruption being planned for the next four days.\u00a0 The further north we went, the Tour fell progressively further into the distance.<\/p>\n

Arriving in Sarzeau we discovered that our only escape road from the peninsula was to be closed for long enough on Tuesday for us to miss our ferry.\u00a0 Except we are due to sail on Monday.\u00a0 So if the cyclists make us miss the ferry, we’ve already missed it.\u00a0 I don’t want to sound paranoid, but missing the ferry one year makes me more cautious the next.\u00a0 Actually, to be honest, Glenda makes me more cautious all by herself!<\/p>\n

We were warned before we set off that Sarzeau is hosting the French BMX National Championships this weekend.\u00a0 It’s going to be busy!\u00a0 We saw large temporary campsites on the outskirts of the town as we drove in.\u00a0 Hopefully, they will keep themselves to themselves and not clog up the roads.<\/p>\n

Glenda has been really unwell today.\u00a0 We have no idea why.\u00a0 Bad backs, bugs in ears and snake bites have all been ruled out.\u00a0 There is a small matter of “pie of pecheurs” which contained bits of shells – but that was two days ago (and I’ll get back to our time in Coulon in a minute!).\u00a0 The only other thing that could be implicated was the half bottle of gin she consumed last night.\u00a0 But surely not!<\/p>\n

Last Tuesday (having decided to delay one more day on our peaceful site at Rauzan) we went for a drive through the country a little to the south.\u00a0 There are ruined abbeys in the middle of nowhere and lots of little bastide towns to explore.\u00a0 Like Blasimon and Sauveterre de Guyenne.\u00a0 The former so small the exploration only took minutes and the latter had diesel – excellent.\u00a0 Beautiful rolling vine-covered countryside round here – all very peaceful.\u00a0 Very relaxing.<\/p>\n

At 11.55 am we rolled into a deserted restaurant – L’Auberge de Saint Jean Baptiste.\u00a0 “Can we have coffee at this hour?”\u00a0 “Of course!” said our ever-smiling waiter.\u00a0 So we did.\u00a0 But we looked indoors and the buffet starters and desserts looked so good we discussed staying for lunch – as we do whenever and where ever the opportunity presents!<\/p>\n

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Starter plate and dessert buffet at L’Auberge de St Jean Baptiste.<\/p>\n

In the five minutes we deliberated, the car park in front of us filled.\u00a0 Orange-trousered-white-van-men, local businessmen in suits and groups of ladies-who-dine trouped into the resto.\u00a0 OK.\u00a0 Good enough.\u00a0 We are joining them!\u00a0 The buffet starters had 27 different options (I counted them!) hot and cold.\u00a0 There were prawns and crabs, cockles and palourdes, meat and pat\u00e9s as well as salads and fruits.\u00a0 Horrible – you wouldn’t have enjoyed it!\u00a0 Mains of pork and fish were followed by the dessert buffet.\u00a0 But how to choose?\u00a0 Smiling Jean came up with the answer.\u00a0 “Have several – four or five if you want!”\u00a0 I like a really sensible solution!\u00a0 All that lot plus half a litre of local ros\u00e9 for under \u20ac14.\u00a0 Bargain.\u00a0 It’s still possible to find them in France but you have to look for them – or be lucky!<\/p>\n

Wednesday dawned a bit iffy weather-wise.\u00a0 A good travelling day.\u00a0 We drove north to Coulon and the Venise Verte camp ground to meet up with John and Freda for yet another birthday celebration meal at Restaurant de L’\u00c9cluse that evening.\u00a0 Doing nothing very much is an art-form we are really getting into the swing of.<\/p>\n

The next morning we had a lovely walk into Coulon along the canal watching all the tourists in punts and boats wending their way through the network of waterways that give the name to our campsite.\u00a0 Coffee at J & F’s “local” cafe with Jerome (how he makes a living is beyond us – just six coffees in an hour!) was followed by lunch in town at La Pigouille and the “Pie de pecheurs” which was later implicated as a possible cause of “probl\u00e8mes digestifs”.<\/p>\n

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Coulon and its canals.<\/p>\n

So back to Brittany.\u00a0 Mireille had reserved us a place – but one with no shade at all.\u00a0 So we elected to change to one in the “A” sector which the frequent campers call “the Cemetery”!\u00a0 Or is it “the Council Estate”?\u00a0 I get the monicas for areas A and D confused.\u00a0 Anyway, we didn’t consider just how close pitch A1 is to the reception buildings and in particular to the TV room.\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0 And this afternoon \/ evening France and Belgium were playing football!\u00a0 Bad mistake!\u00a0 Still we knew the scores without leaving the van!\u00a0 It’s our turn to play today when we take on Sweden!\u00a0 I guess it will be equally noisy.<\/p>\n

This morning after a slow start, we headed to Eric’s bakery and coffee shop in Saint Armel.\u00a0 We went armed with marmalade to add to Eric’s croissants.\u00a0 Eric is as gay as they come and has the wonderful ability to welcome everyone, including us, as if he remembered us from last year.\u00a0 However, by the time we got there he had sold out of croissants!\u00a0 Chips!\u00a0 So our marmalade was spread onto half a baguette – not the same but it used up the marmalade!<\/p>\n

There are two cafes in this little village.\u00a0 There’s Eric’s pad and another the far side of the church.\u00a0 There’s nothing else in town.\u00a0 Two cafes and a church.\u00a0 Oh, and a little school in the back lanes.\u00a0 Our “local” place is always heaving.\u00a0 There is almost always a queue from the bread and pastries counter stretching out the door.\u00a0 The coffee counter is also a hive of activity.\u00a0 On the other hand, I don’t think we have ever seen a customer at cafe number two.\u00a0 It’s probably owned by someone called Jerome!<\/p>\n

St Armel is situated on the Gulf of Morbihan.\u00a0 The lane that runs past the school meets the gulf at a tiny carpark right at the water’s edge beside a lovely picnic ground.\u00a0 There is just room for four cars.\u00a0 Well now we are here, there are only three spaces.<\/p>\n

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The view looking over the water is magnificent.\u00a0 The \u00cele Tascon which can only be reached on foot at low tide is floating in front of us.\u00a0 The sun is shining.\u00a0 It’s a busy Saturday morning (well, afternoon actually!) at the start of the summer holidays in a tourist area and we are all alone.\u00a0 Just like sunny Devon – I’m sure.\u00a0 We walked a couple of miles along the coastal path through the marais as far as the rapidly submerging causeway to Tascon and back and met just one dog with his owner in tow.\u00a0 It’s just SOOO quiet if you know where to pitch your collapsible chairs!<\/p>\n

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I think we are going to relocate to another shady waterside vantage point a couple of miles to the east to see if there are any other people on this peninsula! So I’m ending this here and will find a few photos to illustrate our recent travels…<\/p>\n

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And later, on the beach at Sarzeau…\u00a0 \u00a0Last part to follow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

16\u00a0 RETURNING TO BRITTANY Just shows how many of you are keeping up with my messages!\u00a0 Did anyone notice that part 14 was missing?\u00a0 No one told me that they’d missed an important section of the story! Well well… It’s… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-portugal-2018"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=538"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8118,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions\/8118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}