Ille et Vilaine - Whether by air or by sea... it's...
the Gateway to Brittany (and a chunk of Normandy too)
And, of course, all points south...Bounded by the English Channel to the north...the Loire Atlantique to the south - Normandy's Manche & Mayenne to the east and the Cotes d'Armor and Morbihan to the west... Ille Vilaine is host to Brittany's ancient capital city of Rennes... Other towns and cities you will recognise by name... St Malo, northern citadel and chief ferry port is the place, bombed virtually flat as a key stronghold in WWII, through which much of the passenger traffic now arrives from the UK and the channel Islands. It faces Dinard, a resort made fashionable by the visiting English in the 19th Century. On the east of St Malo's peninsula is Cancale, famed for its oyster fisheries in the Bay of Mont St Michel. (Mont St Michel just falls into Normandy - I'm sure to the annoyance of the Brittany Tourism Office). Historically St Malo has been the jumping off point for many famous explorers and merchant venturers as well as the Arcadians; those Atlantic crossing settlers who became French Canadians and some of whom moved on at the behest of the British when they moved south to Louisiana to become Cajuns. Consequently there is a strong relationship between Cajun music and Breton folk music (sorry... I'm a fan). But the population of Ille et Vilaine is less distinctively made up of the Celtic Bretons than the regions to the west. Dol de Bretagne signals the beginning of France's 'West Country' as it specialises in Cider making. In addition St Servan, Redon, Vitre, Dol, Dinard, Cancale & Combourg are the towns of chief importance. A Google search on any of these town names will reveal more than I can ever assemble here.
St Malo: The citadel that launched a thousand ships and took ten thousand bombs which left it razed to the ground...These days it's rebuilt to its original ground plan and looking great - and it has some great food outlets...
Check out Kouign Amann (Queen Amarn) and Far Breton - Brilliant! Nice with a cup of coffee in the many pavement cafés within the walls. And quality seafood is available everywhere. Fougeres...just west of the Brittany border with Normandy is on our patch and worth a visit.(great stained glass in the church).
We spent a whole day walking around St Malo when we were forced into a 36 hour stopover after missing the ferry because of a freak blizzard on the autoroute in July... Just checking you're paying attention...It was just before Christmas... St Malo is great, even in December and luckily great for Christmas shopping. Chic specialist shops and great couture and interior decor outlets and antique shops. I think we went in every single one! The street market on Fridays is legendary. The shopkeepers complained to the local council that the market traders were blocking the doors to their shops and so now all shopkeepers have a right to set up a stall outside their own premises with their own special bargains. I picked up some 1910 magazines in very good condition. I will be framing the quirkier ads when I get time...(I know...whatever lights your lamp).
Rance Estuary... No, not San Francisco! This is the bridge over the Rance looking towards the sea...We travel across this bridge between St Malo and our house in Brittany at least twelve times each year.
The French treasure their architectural heritage (patrimoine) and nowhere is it more obvious than throughout Brittany The region is certainly doing its bit.
These regional pages are far from finished - and we are always eager to travel further into Brittany and explore every time we are able to spare the time. Here are some links which will help you to discover more......
Special note... 3 of these photo's are mine - the shots with people in them - the remainder are credited to www.all-free-photos.com
Finistere
Finistere....The Feisty North...Le Sud Sophistiqués and the
'Rugged' West. Plus a host of cultural, archtectural and coastal delights!
But don't be put off by the 'rugged west' bit... it's no more rugged than the west of Cornwall (where everyone wants to spend their retirement or go on holiday) and where the gulfstream ensures that crops grown are ready for sale before the rest of the country like Daffs in December. Finistere has been the last of the departments of Brittany to attract the full on attention of the UK market. But it is the area where the value for money is markedly improved. Ferry access from UK, via Poole & Portsmouth to St Malo is good...and, as well as air access into Brest from regional airports around the UK, anyone from the southwest of England benefits via the availability of the Plymouth -Roscoff ferry connection too. So, there's great opportunity just waiting for you in Finistere. Towns you will have heard of... Brest - an important sea port and naval city - first major landfall when crossing from the Americas so...busy and worth a vist - A reported 3 buildings only remained standing after the battle for Brest in WWII - after which it was a U Boat base until liberation - Brest Airport is the arrival point for many incoming flights from UK and Irish regional airports. Quimper (pron: Campere) the ancient capital of La Cornouaille (pronounced Cornwall - see what I mean? - we used to be joined up). The Stethoscope was designed/invented here. A very attractive city also famouse for its 'Faience' pottery. Good road and rail links from here all the way through to Paris. Morlaix, where the old quarter of the town has winding streets of cobbled stones and overhanging houses constructed of stone and timber. A very attractive area within easy reach of Roscoff. Ferry link with Plymouth... set up by Brittany Ferries in 1949 and founded by a co-operative of Breton farmers wishing to maximise their trade with UK...Also the jumping off point for the famous 'Onion Johnnies' who used to cycle around the south of England selling their wares... Some stayed and made their lives there. Alas a tradition which I believe has now come to an end.
A Google search on any of these town names will reveal more than I can ever assemble here.
Brest: Next stop Rio de Janeiro! - Brest was a strategic gain for the Germans in WWII... shame it had to be bombed to oblivion...but an interesting city nontheless.
Quimper: Be careful with your pronunciation - like 'Camp Air'... not Kwimper.We went there once but I didn't have my camera with me! Steeped in history! Its narrow streets area a delight. An ancient city which the Germans missed!
Concarneau... Avenues and alleyways... an ancient coastal town with a rich seafaring tradition...and, these days, a thriving (and very chic) marina.
Morlaix Bay... The whole of the north Finistere coast is a joy to discover...Think Finistere - think Devon and Cornwall. The fortifications?...Napoleon wanted to keep the British at bay...and later it was the Germans who used them for the same reason (except this time it didn't work)
Locronan... So oldy worldy... they used it as a key location for a film version of Tess of the d'Urbervilles. All they had to do was take down a few TV aerials and scatter some sawdust around and Voila!... a brilliant town to visit with some lovely antique and craft shops (classy...chic). Locronan was also the centre for the rope making industry when sailing ships ruled the waves...and, when the French navy (one assumes their biggest customer) switched to Steam, the order book looked bad and the worked dried up to a trickle.
These regional pages are far from finished - and we are always eager to travel further into Brittany and explore every time we are able to spare the time. Here are some links which will help you to discover more...
- http://www.discover-brittany.info/region2.htm (finistere)
- http://france-for-visitors.com/brittany/finistere/index.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finistère
Cotes d'Armor
Straight off the boat at St Malo... turn right ...and you're in the Cotes d'Armor!... Best Brittany Website ever:- http://www.brittanytourism.com/
Probably the best connected region of Brittany...being close to the most convenient landfall by sea or air. Flights from all over the UK land at Pluertuit (Dinard) airport as well as the western channel Ferries arriving at St Malo (just into Ille et Vilaine) from Weymouth, Poole and Portsmouth as well as the Channel Isles...But the properties tend to become cheaper when you get away from the coast and into central Brittany. So, what are the Cotes d'Armor towns and cities that might sound familiar to you?
...Dinan, ancient and majestic town on the River Rance, it just oozes ancient architectural splendour from several classic periods in history as well as culture and cuisine of the highest order.
Lamballe - home of the national stud. Erquy & Pleneuf Val Andre - chic resorts with reminiscences of Torquay - but, like I said chic! Next door is Daouhet a fishing village that has grown old gracefully but with an eye to the future via its marina and quayside restaurants serving moules and oysters straight off the boat. The regional capital is the coastal city of St Brieuc; the city of valleys which all lead down to the sea. Follow the road down to Port du Légué which sits 'reborn' under the viaducts which carry the traffic above the valleys as the port gets on with becoming chic and trendy after a good few years of being in disrepair and then in development limbo. There is an Emmaus there which is a must to visit for great household bargains. The road out along the creek takes you to the wide open 'pick your own mussels' beaches of Binic & Plouganoual.. St Brieuc, at the sharp end of the valleys, is a gem of a city with hi-tech as well as traditional industries (a Carrefour big enough to get lost in) - high on culture - low on crime - with an ancient quarter which is a delight to walk around with little chance of being mugged! Voila!
Dinard is a delight - especially when the sun shines...The son et lumiere at Bon Repos is worth moving from the UK for on its own (the first 2 weeks in August). A picnic on the banks of the Nantes Brest Canal makes it a perfect evening... 400 actors, 50 horses, a pack of hounds and laser projections that will amaze!
Music is a must throughout the Cotes d'Armor from traditonal bagpipes and big drums to blues and heavy metal - even Bruce Springsteen played Carhaix Plouger - Vieilles Charrues 2009 - apparently one of France's biggest festivals. We were there...Great show...unusual toilet arrangements, expensive beer and it took us 2 hours to cover 3 miles from the autoroute to the car park...but you love it don't you?
Click for a flavour of Springsteen's first (but hopefully not last) trip to Brittany...
watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx7ryL-VkTg
Every Breton village has its own leisure lake... and The Cotes d'Armor has a chunk of the Nantes Brest Canal - as well as Brittany's biggest lake - Lac de Guerledan... with woodland walks, water sports even a beach, Hotels, Kayak & Sailing Centres, Trailer Parks & Camping Grounds, Dinner Cruisers...A second lake, Bosmeliac (with fewer activities but no less beautiful) is just minutes away. The lake's dam is also the start for the Rigole d'Hilvern a narrow 'canal' which follows the contours for 65km acting as a 'drain' for the lake into the Nantes Brest Canal at Hilvern near to Pontivy (46km as the crow flies) It now forms a superb tree lined walk which touches tiny, sometimes seemingly isolated, communities along its length. All of this and you are never more than an hour away from the north or south coasts wherever you are in Brittany.
All things equine are important in Breton life... Ever since we first saw a poster for 'Hippo Courses' we have visited Plouec sur Lié on Bastille Day... No hippo's though...just a load of 'pram chassis' jockeys tearing round a grass track being cheered on by folks from miles around. A great way to spend the day ...It's free to park - free to get in. If it was in England just that would cost you about 15 quid. Take a picnic or buy lunch from the barbecue...How very civilised!
Many towns stage their own horse festivals. But there's plenty of info out there. Here are a few great sources of information....
Click below to find out a little more
- http://www.cotesdarmor.com
- http://www.discover-brittany.info/region1.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Côtes-d'Armor
Morbihan
Creeks, Rivers, Lakes, the Gulf of Morbihan...Arty, Smarty, Markety...
Chiccy bits, Cheeky bits and more of the Nantes/Brest Canal
From Napoleonic Pontivy on the Cotes d'Armor border - to the Quiberon peninsula and chic resorts of the south coast the Morbihan is made up of some extremely diverse ingredients... It is a panoply of traditional skills and occupations mixed with leisure & pleasure pursuits. Dozens of Islets in the Gulf and islands off the coast offer some very interesting excursions. The Gulf...(big lake or inland sea?). The wildlife here is breathtaking - a twitcher's delight... and, region-wide, leisure is a very serious business - one that guarantees, whether you are on holiday or living here, there is hardly a dull moment. Town names that will ring a bell? Pontivy (Napoleon's northern garrison town), Questembert - the medieval market is a must on a Monday morning and the annual festival of arts & music at Rochefort en Terre is a little like the 60's...If you can remember it you probably weren't there!. Malestroit, a market town with a quaint old quarter. Auray, a maritime town that is now as popular for shopping as sailing. Lorient a vibrant town with some great sweeping beaches (and one of the biggest annual Celtic music festivals in the world) and the regional capital...Vannes a city that has grown from an ancient maritime port to become a mix of heritage, culture, technology, leisure, pleasure and entertainment...If you like antiques... you'll love this place!
A Google search on any of these town names will reveal more than I can ever assemble here.
Poul Fetan in the west- is a village from another age, where ancient crafts and skills are on show... and you can take part too make a pot, make some lace, mill some corn...Josselin is a medieval town on show in near original architectural style as quaint streets and ancient buildings huddle around the castle on the banks of the Oust. (the Oust runs past the end of our lane about 80 kilometres north of here...but at our place you can jump across it. Here you could sail a ship up it!
Questembert market on a Monday is a must...The 16th Century timber market hall is worth the trip alone...but you will be amazed at what's available - from crepes and fruit & veg, Oysters and Mussels to livestock as well a Mandarin family who cook delicious Chinese food to take away (I've had some - and the crepes too - they're great)...Sweet tooth?...Bon-bon marché!
Rochefort en Terre... a petite cité de charactere is another of those manicured towns suspended in time where the annual festival at the end of August rocks...rolls and opens its heart and its doors with some very avant garde entertainment. It dares to be different!
Auray (a must to visit)... it's like Arundel by the sea - only better. The town heads a creek on the river that bears its name as it flows out into the bay. Carnac is the best known megalithic 'jigsaw' in France...4000 standing stones... makes you wonder how many more stones there might have been if they'd worked the afternoon too!
Nice quiet beach at Gavres... Looking toward Quiberon and its peninsula. I thought for a while that we shouldn't be there because it is sandwiched between the sea and a rocket firing range...but, after a few hours we did see a couple of other people and they weren't glowing with radiation - so, visit with confidence...There is also overnight parking for you camper or caravan...and what a nice view to enjoy during breakfast!
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