Nearly to Vannes

On Sunday morning there was no morning walk in the park - rain stopped play! Surprising how much colder it turned too. It just meant that we headed off sooner to the southern coast of Brittany and began our travels around the coast at La Roche Bernard, a bit inland on the River Vilaine. It stayed chilly all day but no more rain. We actually had a bit of trouble getting into the port of the little town because being Sunday it was market day - not the fruit and veg sort - the bric a brac sort. All routes were barre as all the streets were lined with stalls loaded with - well, rubbish really! We found another way in from the south and after lunch in the car park at the port got settled in the campsite and walked up and over the big rock (Bernard was the chap who built his chateau on top of this rock in 11th century) to look at the junk on sale. John lost interest very quickly but I told him - you could find just what you always needed, so we carried on looking. He refused a ancient, but very interesting contraption that could have been anythng from a lemon squeezer to a tubular chip maker! Adam would have loved the toy cars (even the extremely battered ones) and I could have easily fallen for a beautifully dressed porcelain doll for Emilie, but of course - we left with nothing. Enough of the market, so down to the riverside to admire all the moored yachts and read the info boards about the building of the several bridges that have spanned the river over the centuries. The huge and high one here now was built in 1960, in the same place as two previous ones. But one that was built of stone in 19th century has gone, but the huge arches are still in place on either bank. After our dinner in the evening, we climbed a path through woods up to see the view from the bridge - wow, made our legs go very wobbly!

Today began quite overcast and misty when we set off but gradually warmed up over the day. Firstly we wanted to make a proper beginning to the journey by driving into Morbihan on the coast, so that meant going via Penestin to Kersequin, turning round and coming back from Loire Atlantique to Morbihan (with a photo to prove it)! Parked up by the beach at Kerandre - the tide was out, leaving a whole lot of mud where several groups of people were digging. When they had filled their buckets and came back up the beach, we saw that they were gathering oysters. Then to the Barrage d'Arzal just down river from Roche Bernard - we had read about the salmon etc. leaping up through the weirs so we went to see it. The determination of those fish is amazing! Also spent a very happy hour watching the sailing boats through the huge lock beside the dam and the road bridge being lifted to let them through, raising them to the river level. The barrage is closed as the tide rises to prevent salt water mixing with the fresh water.
Next stop, geocaching came into its own - we probably wouldnt have found the lovely Moulin de Pen Mur without it. Fellow geocachers can see the scene at GC139AF. In beautiful sunshine, we climbed a path with the aroma of gorse in full bloom to look down on the old mill by the stream.
Now for our night at Theix near Vannes. Visiting the town tomorrow so more news then.
Love to all.