Plouharnel

As it has been several days since we had opportunity to blog, we have quite a lot to catch up on this afternoon. As we write, I realise that the St. George's Day Parade should be happening right now! Here it is sunny, but not very warm today, so hope it is dry in Horsham this afternoon.
Back to Wednesday - we drove all of 11 miles to our next stop! Found the most beautiful campsite at Penboch, with a huge pitch surrounded by clipped hedges with a view towards the Gulf of Morbihan, just waiting for us. A lovely walk on the coast path under ancient pine trees - met a large group of walkers going the other way - could they be the local Health Walkers? The site also has a covered swimming pool, so we took advantage of that too. We had bought some fish in Vannes, so John was happy to be cooking his first barbecue of the season.
Got the bikes off the back of the van the next morning for a ride around the Pointe d'Arradon with its magnificent views across the Gulf and then back 'home' for another dip in the pool.
Friday - on our drive west from Penboch we stopped off at 'La Trinitaine' - we had read about this factory and its many shopping opportunities around this area. This is the main factory shop and therefore the biggest. What do they sell? Food! Cakes, biscuits, meat and fish products (tinned) - great to look around and buy a few samples. Drove around the southern bypass of Auray and south to Locmariaquer and then walked to the pointe. This is where there is a tiny entrance to the Golfe du Morbihan and we watched the tide coming in. Next was the promontary at Kerarno - so lovely, and we found a pretty little sandy bay to enjoy the sunshine by the rocks.
Very rarely we find ourselves at a 'Camping de Grotte', but today we found 'Camping le Ripoff'! They called it les Palmiers. It was our most expensive site to date and very very poor. Madame was charming, though! But it was in the right place for a night halt.
Yesterday took us around the coast at La Trinite sur Mer and Carnac, although we actually missed out the Plage at Carnac, preferring the little ones. We were just parking up to have our lunch when we abused from the other side of the road(!) - we were spoiling the view from his front garden! He may have paid for the view, but he didn't buy it! To appease him we moved on and found a better view anyway! It has been quite chilly and windy this weekend, so sitting on the beach was not so comfy for a picnic. Then we drove inland a bit to see the pre-historic Alignements, so famous around here. Wow, what a spectacle. We walked around those at Kermario - there are 990 menirs in 10 rows, approx. 1k long and 100m wide. Then we went on to walk in the woods and see the Geant du Manio and Le Quadrilatere - the first, a tall standing stone and the latter a rectangle of smaller stones. This was also the place of a geocache - a nice easy find in the woods close by. Just here, too, was a riding stables and it was lovely watching the little children on the shetland ponies. The main footpaths into the woods were topped with broken oyster shells - quite a useful local commodity.
Then to Plouharnel and another geocache which required one to park by the Church in the tiny old part of the town. We chose the same time as a wedding was about to start! We got in the parking first though - most of the guests arrived late! We then had to find numbers and dates from houses and a small chapel, before a walk to two fontaines (natural spring wells) and along a bit of coast path to find the cache under rocks on a pretty gorse-covered headland. And so to our campsite just along the road from Plouharnel - a good one this time, so staying tonight too.
Today have driven all around the coastline of Quiberon which was once an island, but is now joined by a sandy isthmus. The west coast is called the Cote Sauvage and it certainly was today with a strong westerly wind - waves pounding on the rocks. There are a lot of motorhomes around here and particularly on Quiberon - but there is not a lot of parking for them! Most carparks have high barriers or no motorhome signs. We found several spots where we could stop on wide verges beside the road and walk for a while in the blustery wind. The scenery was magnificent and well worth the trip. Our campsite guidardien told us about this internet cafe in Plouharnel, so that is where we are now. Moving further west tomorrow, so more news when we can.
Love to all.