Loguivy de la Mer - 7 September 2021

Bliss - a good nights sleep. So peaceful overnight.

Was up at 0730 - so being an hour later than at home - saw the lovely sunrise. There was a man laying in his bed in a panel van, side door wide open, watching the sunrise from bed - tough life!

It might sound strange, but on this trip we’re trying out our cordless Vytronix, which is a cheaper version of the Dyson! Every day there’s so much dust and debris which accumulates through the windows. Previously I’ve used a dustpan and brush. This new gadget is much quicker, and much more efficient than me. Manage to vacuum the whole house at home, so guess it will last a long time before needing to be charged again. Anything to make life easier. Simple wins!

Just can’t get on with calling my husband Martin, so back to Tintin!

So Tintin drove today, only about 30 minutes. Again, using Park4night to help decide where to go. It’s good, as we can use filters to hone down what we want. We decided to leave early, as Loguivy-de-la-Mer only has 6 official spaces, and is parking right at the port.

We were in luck, spaces free (but have been full during the day).

We got our bikes out in order to ride back to Paimpol, which we’d passed through. Only about 4 miles, and we were in time to wander around the huge Tuesday market. It would be quite easy to buy ‘stuff’ - lovely reversible skirts, cashmere and silk scarves, bags etc - but really trying not to accumulate too much!

Tintin wanted to sit down for a beer, tried to - but a sign said we needed our pass sanitaire - which hasn’t materialized yet…

The 'old tower' in the town centre is all that remains of the 18th century church that once stood here. Apparently it was not generally thought to be an attractive building so it was replaced by the Church of the Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle. We went towards it, thinking it was a proper church, but no!

So, the following is from my guide - “Paimpol is a coastal town in northern Brittany, between Saint-Brieuc and Tréguier and near Lannion and Dinard.

The town developed around the important cod fishing industry from the 15th century to the 19th century and Paimpol’s fishermen used to set off on long trips to Iceland each February, trips which lasted around eight months at a time! The emphasis is more on tourist boats now but there is still an active fish market.”

The wearing of masks in the town is compulsory, and really, people adhere to it - however unpleasant in the heat!

Must be our lucky day, went into a Carrefour City and bought some real milk, so the UHT can standby for a rainy day!

Came back to Dave early afternoon so Tintin could relax his weary joints for a while. It was up to 30° in Dave, but managed to get a good flow of breeze through.

Went out on our bikes again, in search of Point de L’Arcouest, which is where ferries go over to Île de Bréhat, known as The Island of Flowers. There are two islands, of roughly equal size, that are connected by a bridge built by Vauban, the French military engineer.

We tried to go along the walking path to start with but found it’s not for bikes, so just got lost in the small roads. With the help of Google maps we got there.

Tintin reminisced about when he visited Bréhat - thinks he was about 9 or 10 years old. Flew from Guernsey to Dinard on a Dakota, coach to the ferry, trip to the island for lunch with his parents, then back - all in a day trip! Makes you wonder about transport now - have we regressed?!

We were just amazed at the sheer volume of people! There were coach loads of them, with five ferries to take either around the islands, or directly there. Was €9.50 to go. There were fields and fields of parked cars and mohos too. Really glad we cycled in, had a look, then off again! Had enough of hoards of people after visiting the market this morning!

First time we’ve seen a field of artichokes!

17 miles cycle today. Waiting for the tide to come in, so Tintin can fly his drone again. No video footage, as his card reader has stopped working. Update - however, Tintin being Tintin has found another way to download his photos…

You really have to be good to navigate around all these rocks here!

It may be our humble opinion - but doesn’t Dave look good!

Multiple bell ringing going on, let’s hope it doesn’t continue throughout the night! Park4night did warn us that it may be noisy with fishermen throughout the night - we’ll see!

It really doesn’t seem like France has fundamentally changed despite Covid still being an ongoing ‘thing’.

Bonus photos from today