Vannes & Quiberon, Brittany

Our next day trip took us to the very pleasant town of Vannes, built around its port and well preserved medieval centre.

Land or water, expensive Vannes real estate

500 year old houses don’t suit TV aerials do they?

Pretty garden by the ramparts

Hey pigeon, you and I got something to clear up

A sign in the window says ‘For Rent’ – you’d need to bolt your furniture to the floor

Particularly old clocks

“Oi, no shagging around on the back of my boat!”

From Vannes we trekked down to look at the beach resort of Quiberon where lots of French people go for their Summer holiday.  Despite poor weather there was traffic backed up all along the “one way in – one way out” road, and when we finally got there we wondered what the fuss was all about.

The beach at Quiberon - whoop-de-doo

Summer holiday fare

Only in France – on a very busy motorway, in peak hour traffic, “lets move this thing that takes up both lanes”

Josselin, Brittany

Josselin is a 20 minute drive from our Brittany base.  It is one of the most beautiful towns we have ever seen (including Italy).  It was market day on Saturday and the town was alive with colourful stalls, interesting people and wonderful food smells.  The cathedral is right in the centre of town and we climbed the 137 steps to the top of the belltower for an exceptional view of surrounding areas and the stunning Chateau on the edge of the river.  We had no sooner finished looking round the cathedral itself when the huge bells started ringing and next a wedding procession came through the streets on foot to the cathedral.  We were thankful we were not still in the belltower.  This place was so picturesque that I took 229 photos and found it hard to narrow this post down to only 12!!!

Street view near Chateau	Market Day activity	The local sculptor was a real character
Housing, Breton style	Looking across to the Chateau from the Cathedral Belltower	Typical street view	The Flower Girls
Chateau from the river	Handrail reflection	I was delighted to find a working Calligrapher in town	Elegant Breton style window

Nous Sommes Arrivés En France!

Aaaahhhhhhh … to be back on French soil, there’s just something about it that delights us …

A little town in Brittany called Frossay	St Nazaire bridge	The Tour de France passed through Redon last week and the townsfolk decorated their roundabout with bicycles
The gite in Lezonnet where we are based for the next 5 days	I love the wildflower street verges in the local town of Ploermel	A pub in Ploermel The French have a wonderful way with foliage
There is a nest of Swallows in the porch outside our gite front door. Some are hidden – there’s about 5 or 6 babies in there somewhere	I stood on the windowsill, not breathing, with the camera plastered to my face for half an hour to get this image	A little blurred but a fascinating shot as mother swallow takes off after feeding her babes