Last Tango in Breizh – more fun with butter than you could imagine!

Into Normandie and on to Breizh  Days 1 – 5

 

Ordinarily we would plan to be away in Evie for our autumn trip for anywhere between six and eight weeks. But for a variety of reasons, our time was limited to just three weeks this year – and not starting until the second week of October! So where to go? Deciding that it would be too much of a road trip to whizz down to the Spanish Med for some much needed sun, and recognising that a lot of the French Med would have shut up shop by the time we got there, we narrowed it down to Kernow or Breizh, as we learned to use the names given by native speakers.

And as we’d spent a fabulous week in north Cornwall on a spur-of-the-moment campervan trip in September, we decided to explore Brittany – somewhere we had been before but never to the more dramatic north and western coastline.

 

Arriving in Dieppe in the afternoon, and after deciding that we would swerve the autoroute and instead just explore the Normandy coast towards Mont St Michel and the border with Brittany, we had forgotten just how much the French have come to love their giratoires! Which is how, after slowing down for roundabouts more times than we’d care to remember, we decided to stop near the picturesque town of Pont l’Eveque. Mrs B had found what looked like an interesting Aire just on the outskirts (on Park4Night of course) in a little hamlet called Saint-Julien-sur-Calonne. There were cryptic comments by previous van visitors about ‘not standing by the glass column’ and it was clear that there was no parking between 0800 and 1800 – but we decided to have a look anyway, as darkness had already fallen and there weren’t any other options close by…

 

Arriving in the dark is never ideal, but seeing an empty bit of tarmac next to a tree and picnic bench, all looked good and just like the photos in P4N. But as we were manoeuvering back and forth to get Evie level without needing ramps, we spotted a hand made sign, warning of fines if we stayed beyond 0800. The ‘glass column’ turned out to be one of those undergound recycling bins that are lifted out by trucks – which would need to park right where we were! Without any info on which day the recycling truck was due, and by now too tired to move on, we reconciled ourselves to an early start the next day… which turned out to be very easy indeed, as the nearby church bells kicked off at 0700 and kept going for a good five minutes without let up!

 

So, by 0730 (after a very early fog-bound drive by Mr B whilst Mrs B snoozed in bed) we found ourselves outside a rather unusual example of rural religious practice; a small park area on a hillside, beautifully kept with flowers and numerous shrines to a variety of local saints where people could come to contemplate. This was another P4N suggestion but for day parking only. Breakfasting as the sun rose and watching as the early morning mist melted away, we enjoyed the peace of this unique and special spot.

 

 

Reflecting on how little distance we had travelled from Dieppe, and resolving to use the autoroute next time, it was a short hop before we reached the start of the free A84 at Caen, which would take us on to the free Breton ‘autoroute’ network that radiates out from Rennes. (The inverted commas here are because the Breton roads are dual carriageways, rather than dual carriage motorways, but at the speeds we drive in Evie, they are essentially interchangeable!)

 

We hadn’t yet decided the specifics of where we were heading in Breizh, but wanted to explore the culture, food and drink as much as possible. With a limited number of campsites open this time of year, Mrs B suggested we stop just west of Dinard at a small village called Pléboulle to use as a base for some exploring of this section of the Breton coast.

 

Camping Frêche à l’Ane is a small ACSI listed site set on a hillside with terraced pitches, where we decided to stay for three or four nights so we could explore this part of the Côtes d’Armor region – all of it new to us.

 

 

With a lovely, large pitch at the bottom of the hillside, we were bemused by some of the negative comments by ACSI visitors about the short walk back up to the impeccably clean sanitaires and really helpful reception staff with loads of useful information about the area. With time to explore the small village before dark, and after ordering, of course, bread and pastries for the following morning, we wandered into Pléboulle. Whilst we expected the usual neat and tidy appearance/high level of municipal pride in the village, we definitely weren’t prepared to stumble across two large brown 4x4s, engines running and with well-armed soldiers, all with face masks! Mr B guessed from the number plates that they might be Land Army soldiers, but he quickly surmised that the matt brown paintjob on the vehicles and the masks meant they were possibly an elite unit on some hush-hush task. But after a bit of Googling, it seems more likely they were just a reconnaissance unit on exercises, with the ‘special’ brown paint job now the standard for French Army vehicles! Suffice it to say that it still made Mr B’s afternoon, although he was heard muttering that he would miss the old (and to his eyes at least, exotic) camo paint.

 

The next morning brought dull weather, but it was more than compensated for by the pastries we had ordered, which were so delicious they even merited a photo! What we didn’t realise at the time, was that this was just the first of many, many forays into the culinary delights of Breton butter and its judicious use across pretty much the whole range of Breizh food we would encounter – yum!

 

 

After enjoying the pastries, we decided we’d better get some walking in and set off to explore the nearby Cap Fréhel coastline and the beguiling Fort la Latte/ La Roche-Goyon.

 

 

Originally built in the 14^th century, the castle is much restored, now privately owned and has been used for a variety of purposes that includes festivals, film making and music videos. We loved the room set aside to cover its history with the film industry…

 

 

and the walking along a (very!) small section of the GR34 – the 1700km coastal walk around the Breton coast…

 

 

With time before dark to take a circular route back to the campsite, we drove on to another stretch of the coast at Sables d’Or les Pins, for more walking along the beach and estuary – a complete contrast to the rugged and rocky coastline at la Latte.

 

 

The next day saw us heading off to the mediaeval walled town of Dinan, where we planned to try for a typical Breizh lunch. Parking up in the town’s free Aire, we enjoyed the steep walk up into the old town…

 

 

 

With some of the old centre dating back to the 13^th century and most of its walls intact, Dinan scores high on the wow scale, although Mr B’s quest to walk the ramparts (as he was sure we could) was thwarted by large sections under repair! We both love an old town to wander around, but the highlight was undoubtedly lunch, and although a galette Breton is hardly a novel choice, we loved our sarrasin/ blé noir (buckwheat) pancake with its unusual topping of chicken and mushrooms in a red wine sauce, topped with a scoop of fig sorbet!

 

 

Craving something sweet to follow lunch, we had our first entirely chance encounter with what would become a recurring theme on this trip – buttery heaven in the form of our first Kouign Amann; a heavenly combo of flour, butter and sugar, caramelised to perfection, and Far Breton; a flan style egg custard with prunes. Both absolutely delicious (so much so we forgot to take pics!) we were left in no doubt that our plan to have a gastronomic adventure had well and truly kicked off – but we’d better be mindful if we still wanted to fit into the clothes we’d brought by the end of the trip! (If you visit, it was the amusingly named (but helpful with pronunciation) Steve McKouign patisserie!)

 

No doubt informed by our indulgence the day before, the next day saw us plan a proper hike out on the Cap d’Erquy, a little further west and another chance to sample a section of the GR34. Making full use of the info we had gathered at the campsite, we opted for a circular walk, the Sentier des plages sauvage.

 

Using P4N we were able to find a campervan friendly car park that was right on our circular walk, and after a light lunch in Evie we set off towards the coast, arriving first at a series of stunning ‘lacs bleus’ – former pink granite quarries that are now filled with fresh water, which, combined with the gorgeous smells of the pines and gorse was more reminiscent of Corsica or the Côte d’Azur!

 

 

 

 

The walk along the GR34 was stunning, as we passed a beach with an abandoned boathouse…

 

 

beautiful outcrops along the rugged clifftop…

 

 

the most amazing sandy beach at Plage du Portuais, complete with its naturist section…

 

 

and more views down to more beaches that continued to make us think we were anywhere other than the north western French coast - and it's still La Manche!

 

 

We’d arrived in Pléboulle thinking we’d stay for a couple of nights, but after four, and in spite of there still being much more to see, we decided we’d best move on, as there was so much more to explore and we’d barely started on the northern coast!

 

S&J

(covering 10^th-14^th October)