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We were like a small line of ants trailing their luggage behind them as we made our way from the apartment to the bus stop and onto Le Gare Montparnasse for our train to Brest. Within 4.5 hours we were in Brest with Alain waiting to take us to Plougonvelin.
It is so good to see both Alain and Claude, it brings back so many happy childhood memories. The house is still the same with a beautiful garden but most of all it is soo nice to see them both. As the children said as we drove away "they're really nice people".
We have been so spoilt with great food, Claude is the best cook ever, we've been dining on 3 - 4 courses every lunch and dinner as well as having a lovely scenic drive along la cote sauvage, even more spectacular with the wind whipping up the Atlantic waves, visiting the ancient chapel and following the old roman road. Totally incomprehensible for us coming from such a young country.
Brodie loved seeing the lighthouse and ancient abbey ruins at St Mathieu after a dinner of crepes at the creperie in Le Conquet. Sophie loved seeing the Brittany horses renowned for their strength, intelligence and beauty.
The local market is every Tuesday morning so we accompanied Claude on her errands. For a little old lady she moves like a spritely mouse from one store to the other, we lost her on more than one occasion buying meat, andouillette, fish, langoustines and finally at la boulangerie/patisserie where we ordered a beautiful taste a la fraise from Ma Mamman. It was "delicieuse!"
I must admit there were a few tears when we said our aurevoirs after lunch today but it has been a delight to see both Claude and Alain again and Claude has spoilt me terribly with some beautiful lace made by Lyontine and a silver bowl from her mother Mme Cibot as a present for my birthday. It would be so nice to visit them again in Plougonvelin in the not too distant future.
We picked up our rental car today for our drive to Avoine on the Loire. As we stayed for lunch with Claude and Alain we took the autoroute instead of the scenic drive. Amazing roads, we covered almost 500kms in 5 hours and only used three quarters of a tank of diesel. Jonathan did a great job of driving, in spite of it being on the wrong side and a manual car. Admittedly there were a couple of bunny hops at the beginning :)! Jonathan also got the GPS working which was a great relief and with Alains directions we made good time.
Our little house is a quaint farmhouse all renovated and very comfortable, only disadvantage is it's not far from an enormous and very ugly nuclear power centre. I'm very sure that Mum, Dad and I stayed in this very same area 22 years ago!
As it was pretty late we popped into Chinon for dinner, a very quaint and very old village where we found an Italian restaurant serving great pizza, much to the delight of the children. Using the GPS we meandered our way through tiny farm roads and woods enjoying the scenery and sunset on the way home.
Off to bed now for more adventures tomorrow.
Bonne nuit!
- comments
Granny and Grandpa, With lots of love Sounds great. Think we spent the night near the same power station, you're right - not exactly a thing of beauty or a joy forever. We evnv bought postcards of it!! Claude seems to have really spoiled you and Alain has been very helpful. They are great old friends.