Thursday 5 October 2017

Bretagne (Thursday 5th October 2017)

I didn’t get to bed until about 1:40am this morning. I’d started my third online chat with the Emirates help-desk – and I use the term very loosely – and the conversation just got my dander up. After about 1.5hrs I finally got an email address I could contact who had available to them powers beyond the lowly station of the chap I was talking to.

In the morning I had an email agreeing that this was “a major mess”, so that's progress of some sort, I guess. Later this evening I also found an email address for the Air Berlin customer service section so I’ve sent them an email too. We’ll see where that one goes.


It was just before midday before we got going. No drama, it was always going to be a lazy day. Josselin is the next nearest large town and boasts a medieval castle down by the banks of the canal. After weaving through the streets of the old village, avoiding roads works and the like, we finally found our way to the canal to take in the classic vista of “a castle by a canal”. Parking the car by the canal we  set off to try to find the castle entrance, which we did, but of course it didn’t open until 2:00pm. Have I mentioned that, in regional France at least, almost everything shuts down between 12:00 and 2:00pm? Only a very few places are open to service the tourists. Not wanting to wait for an hour in a lifeless town we drove off the the village of Rochefort-en-Terre, another one of France’s most beautiful villages, as it turned out when we got there. In my view this one earns its stripes. We visited the church of course, which was small and interesting. I think all the statues were nit stone, but carved from wood and painted. Even the “marble” columns by the altar were wooden. One could tell by the split timber. The stained-glass windows were a treat in the light at that time of day.




Before the church we visited Cafe Breton, where we had a couple of scrumptious crepes, in a setting to got with them. Very ‘old world’, a big fireplace, carved dark wood paneling and a 19th century mural adorning one wall…. and the service to go with it all. A bit more wondering around the streets, a bag of caramelised peanuts and then back to the car. The next destination was the beach on the Bay of Biscay at the town of Damgan, a drive of about 35 minutes. The weather was cold and overcast by the time we arrived so a quick walk down the incoming waves, a dip of the hand in the Atlantic, a photograph and we were out of there.




Surprisingly, we were almost 100kms away from Guillac by now. So much for a lazy day! Back at Josselin Kerry went to the supermarket to get some things for tea and I want to the car-wash. Even though we’re not obliged to return the car in pristine condition I just couldn’t stand it being so filthy. I know most girls won’t understand it, it’s “secret men’s business”, but the EUR 3.50 to drive away in a clean car is the cheapest way to get a happy bloke that I know. Just remember that, girls.


Back at the cottage we warmed up some salmon quiche that Kerry had bought, made a Greek salad, had a glass of wine and called it a day. We’ll be up early tomorrow so we can get to Paris by about midday. I’ll try to get some photos up tomrrow.

5 comments:

  1. Did I miss something, Greg? Is everything ok with your flights?
    Not long until you see Emily now.

    Hello, Em! Xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Did I miss something, Greg? Is everything ok with your flights?
    Not long until you see Emily now.

    Hello, Em! Xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  3. All I can say is, Rochfort-en-Terre, WOW!! What a fantastic looking town. I can understand why it earns its stripes. But where are the other people? Looks like you had that town all to yourselves.
    And yes, don't know if the girls really appreciate the clean car "thing" - it's in the male DNA. Good on Ya!

    ReplyDelete