Travelling: Saint Brieuc

We finally got around to properly booking some time away and, because of the ease of getting there, we decided to go to Brittany.  Ed did some research on the area and, based on what we wanted to get out of this holiday which was mostly taking it easy, decided that Saint Brieuc would be a good place for us to stay.  It was somewhere where there were a few things to see but not too many that we would feel like we would need to rush around and see them all, and all of them were reachable either by walking or public transport as we weren't planning on taking the car with us.

As we went with Brittany Ferries we landed in Roscoff, then it was a pretty quick and easy bus and train trip to Saint Brieuc.  It was a Sunday so not too many places were actually open once we'd gotten there, but we still had a while before we could get into our Airbnb so we pottered around getting to know the centre a little bit.  We had decided not to take our rucksacks this time, but instead put everything in one big bag on wheels.  Whilst it prevented our backs from getting all sticky it was a bit of a pain to pull around and we definitely packed much more than we actually needed, so maybe we'll need to re-think that next time we go anywhere.  We did get a few groceries though and then got settled into the apartment we had rented.  The place had everything we needed, but the shower wasn't as good as I had been hoping.

The plan was to have Monday as a slow day where we didn't really do anything so it was probably just as well that that ended up being the day that I got my usual holiday sickness.  I'm not entirely sure what it is about travelling, but I always end up with a cold of some form for a least one day.  Maybe it's just all the new people and viruses that I come across, but I'm glad it happened that day as it normally happens nearer the end of the holiday.  It also meant that Ed had to go out and do all the sorting and food buying that I would normally have done.  In fact, this holiday he actually got to experience what our holidays look like from my side rather than his.

Tuesday was the one day where the weather was meant to be pretty good throughout, so that was the day that we decided to go visit the La Baie de Saint-Brieuc Nature Reserve.  We got a bus to Hillion and then walked the very short distance to where there was a hide.  We ended up being the only people there and the views of the bay and salt marshes were really good.  Unfortunately, we were a bit off with the tide which meant that the waders were too far away from us, even when using my binoculars.  There was still a good selection of waterfowl though and it was nice realising that I did still recognise most of them.  We also realised that we would be able to walk back to Saint Brieuc on a route that mostly stayed by the coast.  It ended up being three hours long and my legs and feet definitely felt it by the end, probably not helped by me still being a little bit ill, but it was still a really good way to get back home and it helped give my body an airing after being couped up whilst travelling and being ill indoors.

Wednesday was our city day where we had a look at the local market, looked around the museum (small but with quite a lot of information mostly on old local trades and crafts), a quick look in the tourist information centre, and then walked the city tour they have that shows you the significant historical buildings of the city.  The tour was actually my favourite bit, though we hadn't originally planned on doing it, and we got to see some amazing 17th-century and 18th-century buildings.  I'm not sure if they would have been originally painted in the colours they now are but it definitely made the interesting carvings stand out.  I haven't been to too many places in the UK where we have these types of buildings still standing, so it was interesting to see so many of them here.  We also found a very tasty, vegan restaurant (La Vegetalerie) to have lunch in and get in some much-needed vegetables.

We had already decided that Thursday was going to be the more relaxed day with some more walking and headed off to the port through La Vallee de Gouedic Park which runs right through the centre of Saint Brieuc.  It's within quite a steep valley with lots of trees and is actually a very nice and relatively quiet walk despite being right in the centre of the city.  The port wasn't all that exciting to see, though it did look like it had some nice cafes and bars, and we did our usual boat looking.  However, we did head back pretty quickly after arriving and used that time to start packing everything up ready for travelling back to the UK.

The next two days were basically travelling days with some time in Roscoff.  We headed to Roscoff on Friday morning and pottered around for a bit looking for some presents for family and friends, as well as some stuff for us we really didn't need but wanted until we could book into our hotel.  We were actually able to book in pretty early on in the day, which was just as well as I was feeling particularly tired that day and was more than happy to just get into bed as soon as we got into the room.

Before we caught the ferry on Saturday we did manage to visit the little church that we had seen from afar the last time we were there but didn't get to go to.  You can't actually get into the building and it would be much too small to hold services in, but its location meant that fishermen are able to see it when they're heading out to sea.  We had decided to get a cabin on the trip back, even though this one wasn't an overnight trip, and I'm glad we did as it meant we were able to get some extra sleep in especially during the stormiest sections.  The trip had already been delayed a little due to the stormy weather, but there is something quite nice about being rocked around whilst lying in bed.

So, this wasn't a packed trip but we did get what we were hoping for, which was to see more of Brittany without rushing around and to get the downtime we both needed.  Where we were did mean that I ended up eating much more gluten and dairy than I would normally, even with us cooking our own food at night, but it was worth it to have those lovely warm croissants every morning which Ed very kindly went out and got every time.  We also spent a lot more money than we should have done, especially on food and despite cooking for ourselves at night, but I did think that was probably going to happen based on how we are about food.  Brittany is definitely an area we would return to, but I think we'll try a different location with a little more to do next time.