Dunes de Ste Marguerite

Oceanopolis in Brest is an excellent sealife centre divided into three zones - tropical, polar and temperate - and as well as being able to see the various fish and sea creatures, there is information galore about the different environments and how steps are being taken to preserve them. The penguins were very happy in their chilled water and standing on slabs of ice, while the brightly coloured tropical fish swam around the specially grown coral reef. The harbour seals were our favourite in the temperate zone, which you could see from both outside above the water and inside, below playing and tumbling together. The parking had an area for motorcaravans, so we were able to leave the van there while we went into the town by bus, where as well as doing the last blog, we discovered the interesting bits courtesy of geocaching info. It isn't a very attractive town because it was virtually flattened during WWII because of the allied bombing of he Uboat pens in the harbour and the re-building is on a boring grid system. However, the medieval castle and small tower over the river have survived. We watched some ladies doing Breton dancing in the Place de la Liberation - a bit strange - rather like joined up line dancing and very repetitive.
Spent a very comfy night in that parking area next to the marina and set off in the morning towards the Pointe de St. Mathieu. We had read that the lighthouse is open to the public on weekend afternoons, so after a walk around the ruined abbey and on the coast path, we climbed the 163 steps to the top. From there, on this very clear day, we had everything pointed out to us by a very enthusuastic lady guide. Below us was the semaphore, a shorter tower for the coastguards, the abbey and its ancient monks garden, a chapel and a monument 'Morts pour la France' which has a woman's head at the top, looking down and very anguished. We were told about the 3 lights that shine from here - 2 from this lighthouse and 1 from a small one beside the abbey which replaced the firey beacon on top of the abbey roof in ancient times. And, of course, the views all around of the sea, rocks, small islands, several buoys and lighthouses made it a very worthwhile visit. When we walked over to the monument, we also discovered the Cenotaph (a memorial empty tomb) where those who have died for France on the sea, both as fishermen etc. and in conflicts are remembered very movingly. The building is like a small castle almost below ground level, the tiled floor slightly undulates and in the first room, there are 3 rectangular pieces of glass with small candles and a single flower on each and spotlights shining down on them, blue, white and red. All very symbolic and the poems on the wall tell you that you can use your own imagination as to what the slabs of glass represent - boats, people, coffins ... In the second room, each wall is displayed with individual photos of people (les Morts pour la France) that families have given in remembrance. A recording is being played, not of music, but of voices listing names and occupations (we think - it was not easy to understand).
Stayed the night just north of there just before the Pointe de Kermorvan - very attractive site with large irregular pitches of mown grass between 'hedges' of tall grass and wild flowers, but with rubbish facilities - fortunately not a problem as we have all we need on board so long there is a tap. But not so good for the loo-emptier, when of all the 7(!) loo blocks were either closed off or the water disconnected! To get into the site, we'd had to phone a number displayed on the reception door to be given a code number to open the barrier.
Quite a different story at our next stop - here at Ste. Marguerite. Mme le Camping (Vera) gave us a very warm welcome, gave us loads of information and offered to do our washing for us! She also told us we had free use of the wifi here. We could go off and find a pitch to suit us and let her know the number, but as a really strong wind had blown up, she suggested that the lower part of the site behind the dunes, would be the most sheltered. So we set ourselves up, put the kettle on and got out the laptop - no joy - so after many tries to get it connected, we decided to move to higher ground. The wind died down and we spent the rest of the evening enjoying the beautiful view of Aber Benoit (river estuary) and out to sea with lots of little islands and rocky outcrops + good internet access. If the weather were warmer, this would be a perfect place to stay ......
So today has been fairly lazy, with Madame doing our washing - although we declined the extra charge to put it in the drier and we hung it out in the chilly breeze while we went for a walk. Through a gate at the edge of the site, over the dunes and onto a huge white sandy beach, and as the tide was out, walked out and onto one of the little grassy and rocky islands. A funny thing happened - this wasn't one of the places we had researched any geocaches - but as we climbed up towards some large rocks, I spotted a give-away sign that fellow cachers will recognise - a pile of small rocks placed against the bottom of a big one. John had walked on and sat on another rock to contemplate the view, when I followed him with a plastic box in my hand and a shout of "found it"! And it had a travel bug in it!
At last we will be heading along the north coast from tomorrow. Quite a long way back we realised that at the pace we were going, we weren't going to manage all of the Brittany coastline in 5 weeks and had thought we would possibly reach Morlaix and then fast-track to Dieppe. That would mean, of course, that we would have to come again to see the rest! But the pace has been perfect for us - seeing, doing and relaxing in pretty equal measure.
Will report soon on where we get to ....