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. 

A Trip to Brittany

One of the perks we get from my husband's job is good deals on ferry trips to the continent and, when coupled with the fact that we got two nights at a hotel as a wedding gift and which included hotels in Europe, that meant that we were able to take an relatively affordable trip to Brittany.  We knew this was going to cost a bit more money than we should really be spending at the moment, but we wanted to enjoy ourselves one more time on a long weekend before things became a bit more tight financially speaking.

The ferry we took was a return to Roscoff, going over on Friday night and returning on the Monday afternoon.  We would be staying two nights at Morlaix at a place called B&B Hotel (which turned out to be more like a motel) and, as we didn't want to bring the car, we just got a bus from Roscoff to Morlaix and back again.

The first thing we did once we were off the ferry was to go straight to a cafe, the Cafe Ty Pierre, and have breakfast, which included a lot of bread and large mugs of hot chocolate.  I had already realised that it was probably going to be almost impossible to miss out gluten and dairy, or at the very least butter, on this trip and I'd accepted what affect that was going to have.  It was worth it though and you can't go to France without having the bread.

We were catching the bus to Morlaix at lunch time so we had a wonder around Roscoff to get an idea of the place and see what things we wanted to have a better look at when we were back on the Monday.  We also brought some postcards because it's always good to get them done early.   Roscoff is a really beautiful little place and I'd happily spend a whole day here doing not much except for eating.  

Once we got to Morlaix we went straight to the Tourist Information place, unfortunately missing the market we were hoping to have a look at, to find out what was open over the next couple of days and where everything was.  They confirmed what we had already suspected when it came to what would be closed on the Sunday, though it turned out more would be closed than we had originally thought.  However, we were given a map which had a couple of recommended walks around the town which would take us by a number of historic sites there.

As we still had time on the Saturday we went to see two famous houses in Morlaix, La Mason a pondalez and Mason de La Duchesse Anne.  Both are lantern houses, so called because the central space goes all the way up to the roof which has windows in it.  This allows light to fall onto all areas of the building as the side rooms also have windows.  Neither of the houses had much in them and there weren't any rooms set up 'as it would have been', but they were amazing to look at and the craftsmanship of the items that were there were really beautiful.  We also had a look at some of the shops as we tried to find gifts for people (and maybe a few things for ourselves as well).  Morlaix is another beautiful location, but we decided to save looking around it too much on the Saturday so we could have a proper nosy about on the Sunday.

Once these had been looked at and we may or may not have brought some cakes from a patisserie we headed to the hotel.  We had brought some noodles with us to have for our dinners to try and help save some money on this trip, but we did take a quick trip to a supermarket to get some more food as we weren't sure where we would be able to eat on the Sunday based on the information we had been given.  That trip to the supermarket did involve a quick nosy around a craft shop that just happened to be on the way.  Then it was back to the room to relax and knit.

The next morning we had a little lie-in followed by breakfast at the hotel before heading back into Morlaix to explore.  We came across a market on the way in, with mostly just food, which we had a quick nosy around and brought some local cheese.  Even though there wasn't really anything we could take home with us I still love looking at what's available at these types of markets and what type of things people eat in different areas.

There were two different walking routes recommended around Morlaix and we decided to do a mixture of the two going by whatever we thought we'd be interested in seeing.  The first port of call (ha ha) was the little port where we had a nosy at all the boats, our latest obsession, and had a look around the outside of the Quay of Leon the Manufacture which use to be a tobacco factory but has now been converted into multiple public spaces.  We then headed back to the centre via Fontaine des Anglais (a spring that was said to run with the blood of the English after the local people attacked some invading English) and up to the viaduct which you can walk across.  Obviously I'm a little funny when it comes to heights but it was still a really amazing way of seeing the town and great to be able to get so close to such a structure.  

On the other side we headed to the Eglise St Melanie (Church of St-Melaine).  I wasn't sure if this was going to be open as it was a Sunday, but it was and I'm glad as I think this is now one of my favourite churches based on the architecture and mostly the decorations on the inside - specifically the painted ceilings.

Then it was back to the centre, pass the closed museum and up the Rue des Vignes which we wondered up purely because it looked pretty.  Unfortunately the route we planned to take after was closed, so back down the rood we went and then took a route that took us pass the Eglise St-Mathieu (closed), up to the Chateau Square with another good view of Morlaix, back down to the Theatre du Paysde Morlaix, a mini up and down to the Lavoir Collobert (an open wash-house from the 18th century), and then up a very steep walk up to the Eglise St-Martin (also closed).

By this time it was definitely time to have afternoon tea, but as it was quite late and the cafes seemed to be closing we ended up going to a bar, the Bar le Taylor, to have a couple of very tasty European beers.  Then it was back to the hotel, after buying some macaroons and more cake from a place called Stephanie Giraud (and I can confirm that it's a place that's definitely worth visiting) to have more noodles and pack for a travels back to the UK.

Monday saw us walking to a very early bus back to Roscoff, thankfully via a bakery that was also open early and did some yummy croissants and baguette.  We were worried that as Tuesday was meant to be a Bank Holiday that there wouldn't be as much open in Roscoff as we had hoped, but thankfully we were wrong.  So, after a lovely hot chocolate at the cafe again, we wondered along a part of the water front we hadn't explored yet by the Biological Station of Roscoff and sat for a little while enjoying the views.  

By this point the church was open and we got to have a look inside.  This church was also beautiful and had a similar type of painted interior as Eglise St Melanie.  I remember seeing somewhere that British churches use to be painted in a similar way, but that this was changed after the reformation so it's been really interesting to see how they might have looked in the past.  After that we had a quick look through the shops for more gifts (and we might have also brought some things for ourselves) before having lunch at one of the creperies, which produced nice food but they put us in some dark corner to eat - maybe we weren't the type of people they wanted to advertise eating in their creperie.  

There was still a bit of time before we had to get on the ferry so we decided to visit the Mason des Johnnies & de l'Oignon de Roscoff, which was basically a museum on the Johnnies who use to travel to the UK to sell onions from the region and, though small, is more interesting than you might think.

Finally we headed back to the ferry port and back to Plymouth and what turned out to be quite wet weather.  It was a very short trip, but we still managed to fit a lot in whilst still having quite a relaxed time.  The only thing I would probably change was our bags.  We didn't really bring anything we didn't need (apart from a couple of tops for me) bit they still weighted enough to make walking around with them on our backs for an extended period of time uncomfortable.  I'm not sure how I'd change that, but I'll think of something before we travel again.  And we definitely want to do this again in the future.  We will need to save up for it though.  It probably helped that, as usual, we lucked out on the weather.