The extended Easter break allowed us time to visit Malestroit in Brittany, France in order to check up on our house in the attractive town, enjoy some time exploring this part of France and preparing for the visit of friends at the end of May.

Our weekend however started in Southend-on-Sea in the UK as this happened to offer the best cost combination of hotel and transport to/from France for us. The Friday morning flight from 'London' Southend International Airport to Rennes was badged as a Flybe service but actually operated by Stobart Air (the same Stobart that owns and operates the UK trucking business and coincidently Southend Airport), although on the day the aircraft carried an Aer Lingus livery. This travel option ticked a few boxes too with both Southend and Rennes airports being used for the first time and travelling with Stobart Air was also a new experience. All are now safely stored on the travel spreadsheet!

Collecting our hire car at Rennes airport it was clear that Europcar had given us a vehicle that had seem some high mileage as well as a few scrapes and bumps. Quite how they could tell between any old and new damage would have been a challenge.

Our first stop was Le Hangar in Ploermel, a 45 minute drive from Rennes where we met friends, Liz and Geoff, for coffee and cake as well as making a reservation for lunch ahead of the May trip. Le Hangar is the situated in the old railway station goods shed and now produces a huge amount of biscuits, artisanal chocolate and other treats as well as offering a range of tea, coffee and lunches.

Unlocking the house in Malestroit it was nice to see everything was OK and given the great weather we thought we had better do some shopping and have a walk around the town. Given how the weather changed over the Easter weekend it was a good job we took advantage of this window. Malestroit has a number of restaurants and on the Friday evening we ate at Pont Neuf.

Saturday morning had seen the weather take a turn but we still were keen to explore the area so headed to Pen Lan on the coast (a 45 minute drive from Malestroit) but had to take shelter from the wind and rain after a short walk on the coastal path in the rather pleasant Le Domaine de Rochevilaine, a four star hotel. The coffee and hot chocolate were a little expensive (€4.50 each), but the views and surroundings were worth it - just a shame the weather was not that good. With an afternoon visit to Vannes for a late lunch we headed back to for a Saturday evening in Malestroit at the Corps de Garde restaurant for dinner.

The sun was shining on the morning of Easter Sunday and after a visit to the local bakers to collect the breakfast bread we headed off to Auray but as the day progressed the weather again started to close in as Storm Katie was approaching France. With an early flight on the Monday morning planned back from Rennes to the UK it was time to head back after a coffee, tidy the house and go out for dinner. Our final evening in Malestroit was at La Piazza a good value pizza/pasta/grill joint in the centre of town.

Our flight back to Southend was scheduled to depart at 10.05 on the Monday morning so that did mean an early alarm call before leaving the house at 07.30 for the one hour drive to Rennes. We need not have rushed! With blue skies in France Storm Katie had passed through in the night but was now pretty much sat over the south east corner of England. 11.15 came and went and our aircraft was still grounded at Southend but by 11.55 our plane was in the air headed over the English Channel to France. Our new estimated time of departure was 12.45. There is not much to do at the airport or in the area around the airport at Rennes for over three hours, however we did manage a walk around the nearby village of St Jacques de Lande so at least that killed about half an hour . . . . . . . . . the bar, with views over the not too busy runway, did however open at 11.00.

Arriving back in the UK after the 75 minute flight to engineering works on the rail link between Southend Airport and London meant a longer trip than planned to get back to Derby. This, coupled with delayed services as a result of Storm Katie, meant that we were back at home by 18.30 (or 19.30 French time) and the end of a twelve hour journey.

It is just nine weeks until we are back in Malestroit, this time travelling by Eurostar to Paris and then by TGV to Rennes, hopefully both the journey and weather will be a little kinder to us.