We came for three nights, stayed for 11. Adventures around Névez in Cornouaille. Days 7-14 Part 4 – The town of Névez – Kouign Amman at last, and a bonus Breton choir – plus, a reflection on wheelbase overhangs!

Our choice of Névez as a hub for somewhere to ‘settle’ was entirely accidental – it just happened to be the nearest small town to what we were really focussed on – the campsite and its adjacent beach! It’s probably fair to say that this is pretty much always the case unless we are planning on visiting a town or city in and of itself – as we are planning later in this trip with Concarneau, for example.

So we had clearly struck lucky with the centre being an easy cycle ride away, as was the local supermarket; a market planned for the weekend we were staying; a very helpful tourist info centre; enough bars, cafés, patisseries and shops to make the trips in more fun, and, as we discovered by accident, some excellent entertainment on one of our visits!

Like all the other towns and villages we have visited, Névez has its traditional and distinctive Breton style church…

...and after much hunting, a bakery that sold Kouign Amann – one of our buttery delight discoveries from the autumn…

...the weekly market with its mix of clothing, crafts and delicious food stalls…

...and, also on market day, a full-on Breton choir that kept us entertained for longer than we expected!

As a hub for exploring this part of Cornouaille, Névez and Camping Raguénez Plage make a great base. A bit like Cornwall in the UK, if you are minded, nowhere is actually very far in distance (although it might be in time!) so although we could easily have stayed and driven to the rest of the places we fancied visiting, we decided instead to drift along the southern coast and find a site near to Concarneau, a medieval walled city on its own island. It’s meant to be a much less intensive and touristy experience than, say, Mont St Michel in Normandy, so fingers crossed …

S&J xx.06.25

NB – a footnote for fellow dullards from Mr B about van wheelbase lengths…

One of the reasons we chose an Iveco Daily as a base van for building Evie, was that as well as being available in large cubic capacity models, with twin wheel options that can be uprated to carry more weight (as we did with Evie), it had a reputation as having an excellent turning circle, with the distance between the front and back wheels shorter than other panel vans from Fiat, Citroen, Ford etc. Which means that the consequence of this slightly shorter wheelbase, is a much larger overhang at the rear – requiring a fair bit of concentration when manouevering in tight spaces! Mr B can often be heard waxing lyrical about this to other converters of vans, but he was especially excited when we parked up alongside a couple of other campers that allowed this photo explanation! He says it’s important to understand that all three vans had their rear wheels against the curb, and that Evie’s front wheels were more inside the front of the bays than the other two…

You were warned!!

We came for three nights, stayed for 11. Adventures around Névez in Cornouaille. Days 7-14 Part 3 – More art – a day in Pont Aven

With the sun still shining and with a desire for more than another day at the beach, we decided to drive up the River Aven to visit the town on a market day, Tuesday, and have a look at the art museum as well, having been deprived of a visit to the Gauguin museum in La Pouldu, whilst it was being renovated. With international interest in the late 1860s in the landscape and traditions of Brittany, sufficient to draw a mixed bag of mainly Americans, English and some French to Pont Aven, by the 1880s Gauguin was one of 40-50 artists in residence who established the town as a haven for artists seeking new ways of ‘seeing’ the world.

We could see on the local map that there was parking at an Aire just outside the town, and as we eased our way through the busy traffic and throngs of visitors, we were grateful that the municipality had made the effort to make it so easy to visit. The Aire was essentially a large car park and whilst it had no facilities, neither did it have any restrictions if you fancied staying overnight.

As usual, Evie seemed to be dwarfed by the other nearby campervans…

...but whatever their size, it always feels better to be leaving her in the company of other vans and their owners when we are out for a day trip!

The walk into town was short, the streets were busy with other tourists and we were glad of the Aire and the sense of being away from that madding crowd. There are many picturesque views along the riverside…

...and there was a steady throng of people heading to and from the market. We are suckers for French markets, and although many have much the same tat in parts, there is usually an interesting stall here and there that takes our fancy.

With lunch time in full swing and many of the restaurants already packed, we clocked one we fancied coming back to after we had wandered around the market. Unluckily for us, the market, whilst covering a fair distance, didn’t have much of interest, apart from a couple of ‘artisan’ galette vans, but as we fancied one of the restaurants or cafes, we headed back up the river to get a table with a view. But we weren’t the only people to have fancied this particular lunch stop, and having been told that there was a wait of at least 45 minutes, we decided to head back to sample a galette. 

Suffice to say that this wasn’t one of our better culinary choices and with the galettes tasting pretty bland, and Mr B’s bottle of artisan beer heading down the drain after a slight mis-step with his opening technique, we chalked it down to experience...

Still, having refuelled, we were happy to head off to the art museum. On arrival we were pleased to see that there was also an exhibition of art around the subject of sorcery (a top topic for Mrs B) which was so absorbing that we ended up spending most of our time there, with only a cursory visit to the section devoted to Gaugin and co. at the end.

We also had time to view one of Pont Aven’s famous biscuiteries, (we are currently enjoying their Breton palet as our afternoon tea treat!) complete with very old public convenience (conveniently sited over the river)…

...as well as a town version of the thatched cottages we had seen on our bike ride…

...before wandering our way back to Evie via the Bois d’Amour, one of the haunts of the Gaugin crowd…

The Bois is apparently famous for being the location of where Gaugin gave fellow artist Paul Sérusier a ‘live lesson’ in ‘feeling rather than seeing’ the landscape, as well as using the scenery himself for inspiration…

...and if Mrs B had easy access to art materials, she too would have drawn inspiration from the colourful and tranquil surroundings…

Luckily for Mr B, there were information boards a-plenty regarding the various wildlife to be seen along the river, including some beautiful vibrant blue damsel flies, that would remain still until just the point he tried to take a photo!

By the time we returned to Evie the Aire had become much busier, with a number of campers clearly in for the night and tables and chairs discretely tucked in alongside their vans. For us, we were glad to be returning to our pitch at Raguénez, with the comfort of a large grassy area to lounge about on and no traffic noise!

It’s interesting to reflect on just how much we have become fans of campsites, given that in our early travelling years we didn’t use them at all! Surely this can’t have anything to do with getting older!?

S&J 28.06.25

We came for three nights, stayed for 11. Adventures around Névez in Cornouaille. Days 7-14 Part 2 – A tale of two bike rides – Port de Trévignon and Port Manec’h

Lazing about on the beach can be a very easy routine to fall into, but after a while we both start to crave a bit of exploring… which is what led us to contemplate a ride out from the site on our trusty folding bikes, Freddy and Fanny. They are very easy to get out of Evie’s garage, but they only tend to get considered if we are in one place for a while... which we have been...

So after a quick perusal of the local tourist map we could see that we might be able to have a gentle ride west or east, with two ports as a destination for a possible lunch, or just for fun. With the weather in the toasty mid 20s we reckoned we’d be grateful for making our own breeze if the wind didn’t oblige.

We opted to try for Port de Trévignon first in the west, as it looked like we might be able to take the GR34 in the other, easterly direction, instead of a ride. The coastal road more or less hugs the shoreline for most of the route west, so it would give us a chance to look out for potential camper stop-overs for subsequent visits, as well as scope out the neighbouring beaches…

...of which there were a good number, like this one just along from Dourveil…

as well as one right opposite a free Aire further west again – literally the other side of the road!

With room for about a dozen vans…

and this fabulous beach right on your doorstep (plage de Kersidan)…

...you are allowed to stay for two nights, free of charge. Toilets are at one end of the Aire, shops and restaurants a short ride away! This lovely spot is a great reminder of just how campervan friendly France can be. If only in the UK…

Not much further along the coast we could see the Point de Trévignon and its ‘Scottish style’ castle set out on the headland, with the Glénan archipelago on the horizon…

There were several interesting looking restos/creperies in the vicinity of the headland, with fresh fish landed later in the day (chalked up on a handy blackboard on the quayside), but we decided that we’d just as happily head back for a late lunch on the pitch, before heading off to the campsite pool for a swim. Although not large, the port area boasted a lifeboat (active since 1906)…

...as well as perhaps the smallest lighthouse we have seen so far…

By the time we’d got back to the campsite, with a couple of inclines against us, we were more than ready for a lazy lunch, followed by some gentle swimming in the pool…

...with Mr B enjoying the water slides with our fellow travellers Eric and Anna…

The next day brought even hotter weather, so we decided to swerve walking east on the GR34 and head out on the bikes again to look at what sounded like some interesting ‘Belle Époque’ beach huts. Our route would also take us past a small hamlet of thatched cottages, Kerascoët, looking to all intents and purposes just like a village in Dorset in Thomas Hardy’s day. Roman Polanski filmed Tess of the Durbervilles in Normandy and Brittany for that very reason … Well, partly!

Our first stop was to look at the small Chapelle Notre Dame de la Clarté – only open by prior arrangement unfortunately… 

Kerascoët was busy with other cyclists, and although a bit of a tourist honeytrap, it did feel very unusual wandering around what felt like an uprooted English village!

The trail further east started well, with a bit of off-road that had Mrs B racing ahead…

...and we soon reached the esturial beach of Rospico, reached by a lovely long descent that stopped just by a very well placed restaurant tucked into the cliffs with a terrace overlooking the estuary…

The ease of access to Rospico was, however, matched by the difficulty of the onward ascent, which, as well as some dismounting to walk (and inhale oxygen) might have heard one or two expletives uttered with comments about about poor route planning!

With the call of some Belle Époque architecture and a possible lunch girding our loins, however, we pressed on to Port Manec’h, reached by another long descent… 

Which meant of course, an equally long ascent after lunch – eek! Deciding that perhaps we’d postpone eating in order to prevent any post prandial issues, we went off in search of the much vaunted beach huts. 

And although the scenery across the Aven estuary was very fetching, we were just a little underwhelmed with the huts themselves…

Luckily for Mr B, whilst taking advice from Mrs B on future route planning, he discovered his phone could actually plot the route with a height profile (a bit late in the day someone observed) so the journey back whilst long, was nowhere near as steep (phew!).

Reflecting that perhaps two consecutive days of riding might not be such a good idea in future, we returned to the site for another late lunch and very relaxing (and cooling) swim in the pool – even the thought of a 300m walk to the beach seemed like a step too far!

Perhaps our next outing might not involve the bikes – and maybe even time for a bit more art?

S&J 26.06.25

Came for three nights, stayed for 11! Adventures around Névez in Cornouaille Days 7-14 Part 1 – Beaches galore!

Luckily, Mr B’s French was just about enough to clarify that yes, there were places available, and no, we didn’t need to reserve ahead of time – woohoo! 

We fancied Camping Raguénez Plage as it met a number of our ‘beach resort’ criteria: close enough to the beach for Mr B to be able to haul the trolley with our gear down to the beach, which should be swimmable; plenty of walking, ideally from the site; opportunities for cycle rides; good enough shopping within cycling distance; plus interesting places to eat out. 

And this site delivered in spades (as you may have gathered from the title!) Just a 15 minute mainly level cycle ride from the small town of Névez, it also delivered on a bonus of being a short drive from the art haven of Pont Aven (more to follow!). Not unlike our times in the past in the southern French town of Sérignan, we swiftly became very enamoured of the beach, which whilst not only beautiful, was usually very quiet, with easy, if bracing to start off with, swimming! It took us a while to acclimatise to the difference between plunging into the Bay of Biscay on a hot day – and the Med!

So before we knew it, we had relaxed into full-on Babley beach mode, whiling away the days reading, swimming and walking along the good old GR34 which ran along the back of the beach. The other end of Raguénez Plage is called Tahiti beach, partly with a nod to the artist Gauguin (again) who, apart from painting locally (as mentioned in the last blog entry) emigrated to Tahiti at the age of 42 where he continued his artistic endeavours, inspired by a series of young muses, until his death there twelve years later in 1903, at the age of 54. 

This first photo shows the gentle walk down to the beach from the site…

...where locals could be found fishing…

...the GR34 and the coastline was just waiting to be explored east and west…

...as well as good old fashioned chilling and reading on the beach…

We were also visited again by the French airforce, obviously putting on shows just for us, this time with camera ready…

With the temperature reaching the mid to high 20s, our stay started to feel like we were on the Med with lovely warm evenings (except of course the actual Med was a much hotter lower 30s!) We have both observed that as we have become older, that craving for the baking heat of the south has diminished (although we do miss the smells of the south and the sound of the cicadas!). 

We had a giggle at our initial uncertainty about how long we might stay before we had seen the beach, as represented by the amount of camping gear that gets put out initially…

...compared with the full on Camp Babley by the time we reached midsummer eve…

We have also come to enjoy this slower-paced trip, giving us an opportunity to get to know an area in more detail and discover things as much by chance, as from travel guides and brochures. And it’s lovely to arrive thinking we might stay just for a few nights, and then get to like somewhere enough to stay on longer...

S&J 25.06.25