A day trip to Ushant

Today we had taken a gamble on better weather and booked a trip to L’Ile d’Ouessant  (Ushant in English).  The rather small boat left Camaret-sur-mer at 0845 so we had not had much breakfast.  This turned out to be a good thing as the sea was very choppy and the ferry was incredibly rough, travelling at 20 knots on such wild seas.  I was rather ill, having never been seasick in my life before.   

We arrived at Ouessant around 10am and had a walk around the main town Lampaul and a look around the church there.  The church tower had been paid for by the British in return for the rescue of survivors of the Drummond Castle wreck in the 1860s.  We chose to do a 12km walk around the Northwest corner of the island as this promised some of the most interesting views and things to see.  The coastline is truly stunning and we enjoyed visiting the lighthouse museum at the Phare du Creac’h.  We also got to visit some old Ouessant houses that were furnished as they would have been when they were occupied by Ouessant families and workers.   

After getting the bus back across the island and the ferry back to Camaret-sur-mer (it was thankfully much calmer this time) we had a really good evening meal in a restaurant in Camaret-sur-mer, called Del Mare.

A driving tour in the rain and a nice dinner

We didn’t rush to get up this morning as it was still rather wet.  We spent the day driving around villages we wanted to see.  First we went to Camaret-sur-mer to buy tickets for the ferry to Ile d’Ouessant (Ushant) for tomorrow, then we drove to Landévennec to see a new abbey and also the ruins of the old abbey, with an interesting exhibition about life in the abbey.   

After these visits we went to Le Faou for a wander and picked up a couple of bits of food shopping.   

After going back to the tent and changing we drove back into Crozon to have dinner at Le Mutin Gourmand (where we had tried on Tuesday but failed) having made a booking this time.  The food was excellent but the service was rather average.  We were both impressed with the choice of cheese though!

A gorgeous costal walk and a wet festival at Morgat

The weather was much better today so we had a walk from the campsite along a nearby coastal path to the Pointe de Dinan.  There were some really stunning views and it was a nice, if rather windy, walk.  We went back to the tent for lunch and then drove to a beach a bit further along the coast for the afternoon.  We sat there for a while but the wind was having a rather nasty sandblasting effect!  In the evening we drove to the Port at Morgat to a festival with more live music and grilled tuna (Thon Grillé) being served.  Sadly the weather was a bit rubbish so once we had eaten the tuna and then had sweet pancakes we decided to go back to the campsite for another very rainy night.

A trip to Oceanopolis and Brest, and a Fest Noz

We had breakfast at the tent today.  The weather was looking no better than the forecast so we drove into Brest and went to Oceanopolis, the huge aquarium there.  It was a good aquarium and we enjoyed watching the seals being fed.  After that we had a rather wet walk around Brest, including seeing a church built after WWII, and then drove back towards the campsite.   

We tried to get into a nice restaurant in Crozon but it had no space so we drove back to Tal ar Groas where there was a Fest Noz going on, celebrating with crepes and cidre (not cider!).  We enjoyed the music and dancing and it was good that the weather had cleared up enough to make a nice evening.  By the time we got back to the campsite it was raining again though, and did so for most of the night.

Arriving at Camping Plage de Goulien

We arrived in Roscoff at 7am and started the drive to our first campsite near Plage de Goulien. We stopped off in a little town called Tal ar Groas for some coffee as we were quite tired, it being so early.  We arrived at the campsite around 10am and it was unfortunately raining so we sat it out for a bit before finding our plot and pitching the tent and setting up camp.  We bought a few provisions in the campsite shop and had lunch at the tent.   

 After a little rest we went into a local Leclerc to buy a few more bits and pieces including petrol and some fresh milk.  Later that afternoon we had a nice walk along the Plage de Goulien then went back to our tent for dinner and a fairly early night after an early start!

Summer Holiday to France

We left home around 5.30pm to drive to Plymouth in plenty of time for the 11pm Roscoff Ferry. After a quick meal we had a good night’s sleep in our cabin, ready for the equivalent of a 5am start in UK time the next day.