Pors-Peron

It was raining on Thursday morning, so after we left Le Pouldu to continue westwards, what better way to spend an hour than to go geocaching! So it was that we spent 20mins feeling around an ivy-covered dry-stone wall which surrounded the little chapel of St. Maudez, with our other hand on our brollies! Our information said that we needed to look in a low wall near the larger door to find barbed wire and fishing line. Then to follow the fishing line ..... and voila, a small metal plate that revealed the co-ordinates of the final cache - with each number indicated by a line of indented dots! Very clever. So then, off we went through the long (wet) grass along a path to search inside a log for the treasure - the things we do!
Then on to Pont-Aven, stopping for our lunch in the van by the river Belon - although Ann did make a request to pop over the road for lunch - to the rather grand looking Hotel Manoir something. Request denied! The rain stopped, the sun came out and Pont-Aven was beautiful. We walked by the harbour in the tidal estuary of the river Aven with boats bobbing on the water and lovely houses and gardens up high from the banks, then up towards the town to where the river
came tumbling over rocks and around the old mills.
Gauguin lived here with his painting friends in the 1880/90s as they found the river, the mills and the sea ideal subjects for their vivid landscapes. There are now lots of galleries selling pictures of a similar style. The town is also famous for its Galettes (butter cookies) - we went in the shop that had several different varieties broken up for us to sample! One more thing to say about Pont-Aven - by the town bridge stands an ancient building on stilts in the river. You possibly can't see what the sign says, but it is "toilettes"



After a night at La Foret-Fousenant and waking to a beautiful sunny morning (May Day, a bank holiday in France), we found another great walk courtesy of geocaching. A wooded path along another river estuary (a fairly easy geo-find among some large rocks on the way) leading to the sea and a pretty little sandy bay where we sat and people-watched for a while - especially a little boy who ran up and down the beach filling his little watering can and playing happily with his little plastic toys, singing to himself all the time.
I wanted to see Benodet but as we drove along beside its promenade, we realised that a bank holiday afternoon was probably not the best time to try and park there - it was like a Sunday afternoon with tous le monde out for a stroll. So we parked a bit out of the town and took our stroll around the marina and ogled the boats and their owners. That night we found an excellent Aire de Service de Camping Cars in the little village of Combrit, behind the Mairie and its rocket-propelled Church(!) When we arrived at about 5 there were 2 others already parked up - by time we went to bed there were 7 of us all in a line! Also on the area when we got there, several jovial chaps were enjoying a game of ... well, we don't know! They had a short metal post that stood on the ground with a small stone on top, then they attempted to knock it over by the skilled use of a metal disc about 5 ins in diameter. After a lot of whooping and cheering, they all trundled off, only to return about 20 mins later for another round. This happened about 3 times and we expect they arrived home for their dinners full of good spirits!!!
Saturday was dull, but dry so we just pootled to Pont l'Abbe, Loctudy, Penmarch and to the most south-westerly 'Pointe' of Brittany. By this time we had driven into a sea fret, so the lighthouses looming up in the mist were a bit of a dismal sight - but just around the corner we were rewarded with the most amazing spectacle. At St Guenole on the map it is marked 'rochers' - a wall by the road separates you from a 'beach' of huge flat rocks leading down to enormous boulders with the waves surging and foaming over them. It was a pity about the mist, but we could still feel the impact of this dramatic scene below us. Followed the road north from here hoping to find a campsite that wasn't enveloped in mist, but we didn't, and stayed at the very pleasant Camping La Corniche at Plozevet.
This was where we tried to catch up on our blogging - with very little result. When we tried to do some more last night (our second night there) we just couldn't get connected, no matter how hard John tried. Tonight here at Port Peron it is very different - free open wifi service with the repeater adjacent to the next pitch! But it is now quite late, so will sign off and continue tomorrow with Sunday and Monday's events.