Loire Diary - June 2010

27/07/10

Thursday 1st July

Today, we’re leaving the Loire behind and heading north again. The temperature is still gloriously hot however as we pull into our next B&B. Which looks suspiciously deserted… Several phone calls, an espionage meeting with a taxi driver and a quick time-filling drive to the beach (should’ve walked) later, we leave our bags in our room and head off to Cancale.

After a stroll around the town and the market, and having bought some Leffe for later, we head down to the harbour. I have beef carpaccio, a little slither of heaven! We end the day on the patio of the B&B, drinking Leffe and watching the sun go down.


Friday 2nd July

We wake to a slightly more blustery day than we’ve been used to recently, but just shrug our shoulders and head off to St Malo. Walking round the battlements of the walled town I get struck by photography-itis and can’t seem to stop taking pictures of the abandoned fort in the harbour.

St Malo is charming and intriguing, but very expensive within the walls. Great fun to explore, but apart from more beer and food, we’re not tempted to put our hands in our pockets. Entertainment over dinner consists of watching various drivers make a sharp turn to exit the town through the narrow gate in the wall. Tip: don’t stand on the path outside the public loos or you’ll spend more than a penny.

Dinner over early by French standards, we lose the car back at the B&B and walk down to the beach. It’s hard to believe that from the middle of the village it’s five minutes to the sea… Fantastic. We watch another sunset in the brasserie (La Perle Noire) at the top of the cliff, over several more beers. And a bottle or two of wine. And a couple of whiskies.









Saturday 3rd July

This morning, we’re off to Mont St Michel, somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit. We take the scenic coast road. This almost feels like home, the landscape is so flat. Which means you get an amazing view of St Michel as you approach. This is one of those places in the world which looks amazing in photos – but absolutely blows you away when you see it for real. I was intrigued by St Malo yesterday, enclosed in its walls, and enthralled by Angers’ perfectly preserved medieval town, but this is really something else. We decide not to take the tour of the abbey, in favour of exploring the streets and I can’t help muttering to myself every five minutes: people live here! This is unbelievable! The first street up from the gatehouse is quite commercialised but that still somehow doesn’t detract from the enchantment of the place. Every corner you turn brings you something else to see – a tiny crammed cemetery, the front or side view of someone’s old home or a view over the endless flat landscape.

I’d love to spend a weekend in one of the hotels within the town walls, and maybe visit the abbey late in the afternoon, when the crowds are much fewer. As it is, even though we’re not in peak holiday season, there is nowhere left to sit. We perch ourselves on the edge of the fountain just inside the gated entrance and watch the endless crowd roll by.

On the way ‘home’, we take a detour through Dinard, which is very pretty but again, quite pricey. The day has grown steadily hotter from its unpromising start and I’m looking forward to trying out the sea, however. We grab the absolute minimum that we’ll need from our room and walk down to the beach. The water is cold but not freezing and we spend the next hour like absolute children; omig I haven’t done this since I was about 12! S thinks it’s hilarious when a huge incoming wave picks me up, turns me through 360 degrees and then deposits me back on the beach. I know it’s pointless to try and either stand up or resist so just let the water take me.

When we get back to our room and I try to peel off my cozzy in the bathroom, half the beach deposits itself in the shower tray. It is absolutely everywhere! Not pretty or comfortable…

Having spent several hours drinking ourselves silly there the night before, we particularly want to eat at La Perle Noire tonight. We are fortunate to find the last available table as they are holding a private party – several people get turned away or have to eat outside. The waitress seems surprised when we order a second bottle of wine but this is our last night and we’re enjoying ourselves far too much to make it an early one.

The very last thing I do before we trudge back to the B&B is take a series of shots of the sunset…








Sunday 4th July

What can I say about our last day? Our ferry isn’t until early evening and we’ve got all day to get there – but it will take the better part of the day to drive to Calais from Brittany. We stop briefly at Cap Gris Nez to admire the view and finish off a sandwich before turning our noses towards Good ‘Ole Blighty once more.

Now: where are we going next year… ?