France Part 4 - Beautiful Villages!

And now, day 12. Where are these days going? Time flies by, and it is no different in France! Here I am writing in the little town of Pont Aven on the night that Aston Villa has won the Europa League final, beating Freiburg 3-0. I did predict it, and here’s the proof, but we couldn’t watch it as none of the bars in town were showing it. Ah well, the things we miss for a holiday. My friend's daughter’s boyfriend was there. And credit to him, going all that way for his team – that’s loyalty. But it's a good win for an English team, showing once again at club level. England doesn't do too bad!

Told ya - if only I’d put £50 on it, and my lovely wife in Port Aven, a lovely little village

We are in a lovely little town and have also visited some lovely places, and I will mention Saint-Pol-de-Leon, the beautiful little village of Locronan. And don’t be put off with parking instructions, as we found a little car park with room for the motorhome, some 300 metres from the village centre, but then we are in May. Don’t quote me on this in July or August.

But let’s go back a few days; not everything goes to plan. There was a nice bar-come-restaurant in Barfleur, another beautiful small seaside village, and I asked if they would let us in with the dogs. They said yes, but as we just wanted a drink, they said we couldn’t come in, even with plenty of empty tables. I just shook my head and walked out. Talk about when it suits, eh?

And we have visited Locronan and Vannes and some wonderful places. Some were on a recommended list and some weren't, and therein lies the problem: do you follow what other people have done or do you do your own thing? Well, there’s a simple solution, and that’s to do a bit of both. Locronan was recommended, and thankfully we took the advice along with Vannes and Port Aven, but Saint-Port-de-Leon wasn’t, so had we been following recommendations, we wouldn’t have had one of our favourite wake up views in a small seaside aire.

But back to apps, and my co-pilot found this one on ‘Pitch Up' by chance. Look at these photos, but as importantly, it has full facilities, all for €18. Amazing. The best part is the bar right next door. I’m not saying they are hard up, but having to make garden furniture out of old pallets does worry me!

And so here we are in the small village of La Menitre on the banks of the River Loire. We have travelled all the way from Normandy along to Brest, which we got to in the end, thanks to not stopping at Mont-Saint-Michel, down through Quimper, past Lorient, and to Vannes. Another beautiful town with many pedestrian areas and a lovely cathedral, from there we have come inland, heading to the Loire Valley and towards Angers. However, here I have a confession!

What is your idea of a crepe? Because in my 63 years, I had never had one, and in my head, it was simply a pancake topped with maybe honey or other sweet sauce that you had as maybe a late morning treat with a nice cup of coffee! I couldn’t be further from the truth, as you can see from these photos. Sauté potatoes, bacon, and camembert cheese; absolutely delicious. Honey sauce my butt.

This wasn’t just delicious and one of the best meals I have had in France; it was a meal that lasted me most of the day. Meaning my co-pilot only had to make a snack-style tea, rather than a full meal. If you are driving past Vannes, please stop and find the café called ‘Chez Foggs’ and indulge yourself. We found parking easy enough on a side street for about €3/5 for 3-4 hours.

The guy serving spoke great English, but when I asked him where he learned to speak the language so well, his response of ‘watching Little Britain on TV’ was met with a little scepticism! But a great guy and a beautiful town.

Can I get Nan’s in Shifnal to do this? I’ll see when I get home!

So here we are chilling out, heading to the Loire Valley, and on the hottest day of the holiday so far, it was the day we decided to drive the furthest, but we have to do these things. It isn't easy finding that happy medium; sometimes you drive for 100 miles and don’t see much, and sometimes you drive for 30 miles and see some wonderful sites, like today. There is no win-win remedy. A holiday like this is exactly what you make it. Though personally I would suggest research, shorter drives, and more views and places to take in!

So, to finish, I’ll talk about driving again, and yes, even coming inland up in the Northwest, it has been much the same. Mile after mile of pothole-free, smooth, straight roads, using cruise control for many a mile. There are still thousands of acres of agricultural land needing many hands to cultivate the crops. My co-pilot and I were discussing this and seemingly the lack of agricultural vehicles and people we were passing as we traveled. And what happened? Well, in about ten miles, we must have passed about 6 or 7 tractors and trailers. A bit like buses, really; you wait 30 minutes for one, and two come along at the same time.

Moving east, I had expected more hills and valleys, but maybe we’re not that far inland yet, well obviously not, but it is still a lovely drive, but we actually paid for a toll road. It was quite strange really. Who needs motorways when you have dual carriageways? They are amazing, so empty, to the extent I had my cruise control set at 60 mph, 96 kmph when the majority of the time the limit is 110 kmph, but be careful; it often goes down to 90 kmph, and less if required.

Anyway, I thought I had set the satnav to say no tolls, but after driving this dual carriageway, we found ourselves facing toll booths. Basically, we had to collect a ticket and up went the barrier, so off we went. I’m not sure how far we travelled, but I’ll estimate about 20 miles, and thinking we had gotten away with things as we had one previously on a ‘no charge’ toll road, we were faced with more booths. Credit the co-pilot; with her head out the passenger window, she soon put the ticket in and paid contactless for the journey, no problem really, although it could be if you’re on your own. Remember the tickets and pay terminals are on the left! With you being on the right, that’s a long stretch! I think we paid €5.55, about £4.80

But wherever we go there are muppets. In a larger town or city roads always get busy, and passing Angers, a car had broken down on the hard shoulder, causing absolute mayhem as it does in the UK. And assume the world over, so with cars trying to join the main carriageway, we still had the ‘last minute muppet drivers,’ you know the ones, the impatient Kermits who have to use the full slip road and get as far ahead as possible and squeeze in last minute, annoying the patient ones! Well, it happens in France too, and for the next 5 miles or so there he was seven cars in front of us. I think he got where he was going about 4.36 seconds quicker by pushing in! But that aside, a good day driving on empty dual carriageways, with nice scenery and ending up at a lovely campsite with a beautiful sunset. It doesn’t get much better!

Thanks for reading

DJ