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.

Visiting Guernsey

We had decided a long time ago that Guernsey was a place we really wanted to visit, so when it opened up again around the time we were booking our honeymoon it seemed like it was meant to be.  The fact that it was so close and we could take a ferry instead of flying was also bonus.  

We stayed in a shepherd hut at Camp de Reves, found by my husband, and it was perfect.  Just the right size (which also gave us an idea about the type of place we'd like to live in in the future), with a great view of the sea, perfect location for visiting all the sites we wanted to go to, and a lovely amount of privacy.

Our main aim of this trip was to relax and enjoy ourselves, but we did want to see the history of the island, get in as much walking as possible, and look at any crafting that was still happening there (this last one was mostly for me).  We went out most days, apart from the day I developed a nasty cold, but didn't cram any of them even though we probably could have seen everything in three days had we been inclined.  

Despite most of the things you hear about Guernsey being related to WWII, there's actually quite a bit of Napoleonic and prehistoric history there as well and we tried to see as much of the prehistory as we could.  They were mostly burial chambers that you could go into and I always find them fascinating.  It helped that everything was pretty easy to get to and it really didn't take long to drive anywhere - and by that I mean 30 minutes at the most, even with traffic.

In the week we were there we did manage to see a lot of monuments and historic structures.  However, my favourite part was the two walks we did along the south coast of the island.  Despite being so close to a built up areas, it was very peaceful and lacking in human noise.  The views out to sea were also very beautiful and quite a few of the plants were flowering.

There wasn't as much crafting to see as I had hoped, despite there being a 5 ply wool yarn that is a Guernsey specific wool and a specific style of jumper.  I did manage to get some of this wool though and the pattern for the jumper which I'm going to make for my husband.  I did also buy a hand woven basket that had been made locally and that I'm going to put my knitting projects into.  I could even use it to carry them around whilst knitting if I ever get the urge.  It's absolutely beautiful and I can see it lasting for years.

The good things about visiting Guernsey were how easy is was to get around and how quickly you could get to places even with a speed limit of 35 mph everywhere.  It also has a much slower pace so it was a lot easier to relax into our holiday, and everyone was very helpful when we had questions about things.  The food was also pretty good, even on the plant based front and that's usually where things can be a bit hit or miss.

There are always a couple of bad things no matter where you go and at Guernsey it was the cost of everything, which was a little bit more than on the mainland.  However, we were expecting that so it wasn't too much of a problem as we'd gone prepared.  There also wasn't as much wildlife as I had hoped, even a long the coastline.  To be fair, it was only April and the size of the island means that every available space is pretty much used up by humans so there aren't too many places wildlife can go.  However, I had hoped for a little bit more marine wildlife, but oh well.

Even with these couple of bad things we still really enjoyed our time in Guernsey, helped by the amazing weather we had, and we'd like to go back again at some point.  In fact, we enjoyed it so much we started talking about the possibility of actually moving there to live.  Right now we definitely don't have enough money to do that, but you never know there could be a moving to Guernsey blog in the future.

Visiting Lundy Island - part 2

The weather on day three didn't exactly turn out how we were expecting.  Instead of the hot, sunny day that had been described by the weather forecast before we left for Lundy, we had a very cool fog.  There was actually something a bit mesmerising watching the mist rolling across the field through the tent door and, I have to admit, it was a welcome break from the heat we'd been having so far.

It did slightly change our plans though as there was no point in going to the Halfway Wall to watch Puffins again if they were just going to be hidden by mist.  Instead, we decided to first go to the church, a pretty little thing with a number of boards providing information about the social history of the island, before heading to the Battery we'd missed on day three.  We figured that, based on the locations of the newer lighthouses, it was probably not as misty closer to the sea where the Battery was located, and we should still be able to get a good view of seabirds from there.

It turned out to be a really lovely spot to sit watching the birds flying in and out, with the fog above us and a great view of the sea spreading out in front of us.  The Battery is actually a fog signalling station that was built in 1863, with cannons being fired every ten minutes during foggy conditions

We spent all morning just sat there watching the seabirds and we finally got a good view of some Fulmars flying by us (a bird I absolutely love).  As we sat there the sun began to burn off the fog and by the time we had returned to the tent for lunch, it was completely clear again.  

We had wanted to have a look at a section labelled on the map 'earthquake' and where the ground had been split open a bit like a book, so we did that on the way back.  It was an interesting site to look at with all the ridges and drops, and the little bowl at the end that we sat in for a bit gave us an opportunity to see a Kestral fly by.

After lunch, we had a beer at the Marisco Tavern and spent the rest of the day just pottering around, relaxing, and generally just enjoying doing nothing on our holiday.

Despite the glorious sunshine returning, day four was a bit of a sad day as we really didn't want to leave Lundy Island and the enjoyment of having so few people and so much wildlife around us.  We spent the morning packing up our things and I have to say that the tent was particularly quick and easy to put away.  

We decided to treat ourselves on the last day to a cooked breakfast, which we had at the Tavern, before heading back to the Halfway Wall to carry on watching the Puffins again on our last day.  One of the best bits here was actually seeing the Ravens as we walked up to the wall.  And I finally plucked up the courage to actually give watercolours a go again.  Definitely not the best thing I've ever done, but it's a start at least.  

We then headed back to the Battery to have lunch and enjoy the view one more time, this time with the sun.  Along with the sea birds we saw yesterday, we got a good view of some Gannets flying and fishing, as well as a Harbour Porpoise - which was pretty amazing.  Unfortunately, there were more people this time as the ferry had come in that day, so it wasn't quite as enjoyable as the first. 

It was then time for us to start making our way back down to the quay to catch the ferry, but we wanted to take our time as we wandered down and went for a swim on the beach beside the quay.  It was absolutely freezing, but I managed to stay in the water a bit longer than before despite not having my wetsuit on.  However, we warmed up quite nicely afterwards doing a bit of rock-pooling, something you should never grow out of.

The ferry home was a much calmer affair than the one in.  We had decided to sit inside this time and I was glad to get out of the sun for a bit as we had basically been sitting in it all day.  It also didn't stop us from seeing the Common Dolphins again, jumping alongside the ferry, and a number of Razorbills, Guillemots, and Puffins.  

The drive home was a long and late one, made even more unpleasant by the fact that we didn't really want to be heading in that direction.  However, we'll definitely be heading back to Lundy Island at some point - hopefully in the not so distant future, and I would recommend visiting there if you get the opportunity.  Our bird tally in those four days was a pretty good one and they really didn't require that much effort to see either. 

To find out more about Lundy Island you can either go to the National Trust site here or The Landmark Trust (which is where you can also book accommodation) here.

I'm not sure if there'll be a blog next week as I have a few things going on, but I will do my best. 

Visiting Lundy Island- part 1

If you've been following my budget blogs then you'll know that in June we took a little trip to Lundy Island as part of our joint birthdays and anniversary celebration.  As it's on our bucket list of places to visit in the area, mainly for the puffins, it seemed like a very good place to celebrate.

The shortest amount of time you can book to stay there are four days (three nights) so that's what we went for, though I have to admit we both ended up wishing we had booked much longer. We went for the camping option as it was the cheapest option available and would allow us to give our new tent a test (so far so good on that front).  We also drove up the night before as the ferry was leaving at 7.30am and the idea of driving across Devon that early in the morning wasn't a pleasant one.

The ferry trip to Lundy takes about two hours and on the way out, along with the rocking, there was quite a bit of fog which made us a little worried we wouldn't actually get to see Lundy as we sailed in.   However, the fog lifted as we reached the end and we got a great view (the older man standing right in the way regardless of everyone else notwithstanding) with blue skies and Common Dolphins leaping beside the ferry.  I didn't really take any photos as I just wanted to enjoy the view.

Understandably, it takes a little while for them to unload the bags from the ferry and take them up to where everyone is staying, so you need to wait a bit before you can settle in.  We had had to cram our hand luggage more than we would have liked so the idea of walking the whole of the island that day was not a compelling one.  I'm also really not a morning person and the hour we had to wake up at to catch the ferry meant that I was very fuzzy for most of the day, and not in the mood for a long trek.  

So instead, we decided to take it slow, enjoying the heat of the sun, get some lunch from the Marisco Tavern (bake potato and a beer), and wander around the south part of the island.  First, we headed down past the church and had a look around the outside of the castle (built in 1244 for Henry III).  We decided not to actually go to the South Lighthouse but instead followed a small trail that curved along the south of the island and up the west side towards the Old Light lighthouse.  

This lighthouse was built in 1819 but turned out to be far too high with the light regularly being hidden by the fog that seems to regular cover the top of the island, but not at sea level.  It was replaced by the South and North Lighthouses in 1897.

We then cut across the field, heading back into the village to check out the shop, have an ice cream, and a little nap in the sun.  By this point, our bags had been delivered to the campsite and we were able to set up the tent with all our sleeping gear.

We had decided that the first night would be the night that we ate at the Marisco Tavern as it was actually my birthday, which was a lovely way to end the first day.

Day two was the day we had decided to properly explore the island.  After enjoying a little lie-in we headed off north along the main central (though mainly eastern) path.  As the sea birds were mostly nesting on the cliffs on the west side of the island we decided to use this path to quickly get us to the North Lighthouse, taking a little nosey at the Old Hospital remains on the way, before slowly meandering back along the west path.

There were quite a few steep steps down to the northern lighthouse, which unfortunately you can't look around, and we did think twice about heading down.  However, we ended up being very glad that we did as we not only got to see puffins bobbing around in the water but also saw a couple standing on the cliff beside us at pretty easy viewing - with binoculars.  We sat there for quite a while watching them and the guillemots, razorbills and seals there, with the area all to ourselves as many people seemed to be put off by the stairs.  

After dragging ourselves back up the stairs we headed down the west coast, stopping now and then to have a look at the cliffs to watch the seabirds nesting, mostly herring and lesser black-backed gulls, and look at the land just above the cliffs in the hope of seeing more puffins.

We lucked out just south of the Halfway Wall where we saw a lot of puffins all along the top of the cliffs where landslides had produced lots of burrows for them to nest in.  It was amazing to just sit there watching them flying in and out, popping down into their burrows and interacting with each other.  We actually spent so much time sitting there it was well after lunchtime before we set off again back towards the village, with an idea of returning there again before we headed home.  The plan to visit the Battery on the way back was put to one side as I was way too hungry.  So instead we headed back to our tent to eat and enjoy an afternoon nap, but not before getting a glimpse of a Peregrin Falcon on one of the cliff tops.

Once the temperature cooled back down we headed back up the field to have a look at the tiny cemetery on the island and then walk up the Old Light to get a really good view of the island as the sun lowered.  By the end of the day our birding list included Puffins, Razorbills, Guillemots, Shags, Oystercatchers, Herring Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Great Black-backed Gulls, Peregrin Falcon, Stonechat, and Skylarks.  Not bad really and the view from the lighthouse was a great way to end a beautiful day.

We had two more days left on the island and on the second evening we planned what we wanted to do over the last two based on what we had already seen.  When we checked for we left for the island the weather had looked good for these two days, so we had high expectations.