2016 France adventure begins on the Oscar Wilde ferry from Rosslare to Roscoff leaving at 17.30. Prior to our sailing we had “breakfast” in the Suitor Gallery, lunch in Fishers in Newtownmountkennedy (where I had the most delicious goat’s cheese, berries and caramelised pecan salad which is best savoured eyes closed!) and dinner in the “Steakhouse” on board. It seems that it was the “booze cruise” as there was wine tasting pointing us in the direction of the wine hypermarket in Roscoff. We did a brief tasting but had already discovered a wine (by chance) in the Steakhouse which we might get on our journey back. Our no window 2/3 berth cabin was fine and I was surprised to find that there was no sea rocking movement (which I quite like actually) and we woke just in time to grab a quick coffee and croissant, pack our bag and position ourselves in proximity to the staircase to the deck on which we had parked. There followed more than 45 minutes as everyone except us seemed to be disembarking. The car in front had a problem. His battery was dead because he failed to observe the notice that stated categorically that car alarms should be disabled - and we had been deafened by his very enabled and alert alarm!
My memories of our holidays is France include the scent of heat as we pass from the ferry onto the route a droite. Yes we had to drive a droite but it was raining and temperatures were more like en Irlande and L’irlande with temperatures barely in the teens! Our first destination was Auray in Brittany near the Golfe de Morbihan. En route we stopped for lunch in a Breton Creperie at Heulgoat.
I ordered a Galette des bois - mushrooms, emmenthal and crème fraichre. It was delicious! Jim ordered a galette du terroir. When the owner was taking our order he asked me if Jim knew what his galette included and I was able to assure him that he did and was looking forward to it. It was andouille with compote of apple. Andouille is the large version of andouillette, a favourite of Jim’s and chosen frequently by him when in France. Both andouille and andouillettes are an offal sausage with a very distinctive flavour which I find slightly disgusting but Jim enjoys.
Following lunch we took a look round the town and watched some fishermen fishing for trout on the lake. There was a notice indicating that they had to return the trout to the lake. I cannot understand the point of fishing if you can't eat what you catch!
At the bridge we discovered what had been noted on the map as Les Rochers. It was an area of huge rocks piled up and resting alongside and upon one another creating passages and caves. Of course we had to investigate despite warning regarding the dangerous nature of the terrain. I managed to remain upright as I treaded most carefully. Jim did fall but has suffered no ill effects thankfully!
At the Devil’s Cave a dog had been abandoned by its owners who had descended for a visit. The dog cried in distress for the duration and it was a pitiable sight and even more pitiable sound. I was glad when they were reunited! Jim descended also for a visit with the devil but I remained in the higher realms - not quite in Heaven, more a sort of Purgatory where the uneven ground was forcing unnecessary penance on me! At any rate, we were happy to have stumbled on an interesting spot for investigation and fresh air.
We arrived quite early to our overnight stay in Auray so we had an opportunity to visit Quiberon - a peninsula in the Gulf of Morbihan. Traffic was very heavy - what would it be like in the height of summer! There we had a lovely coastal walk and a coffee looking out at the myriad of yachts - lots of wealthy people frequent Quiberon obviously!
Back to Auray where we were delighted that our 2 star hotel, with very friendly staff, was only a 15 minute walk from Le port de Saint-Goustan which is a very pretty port surrounded by lovely restaurants and typical Breton streets.
Jim ordered a cider seeing as we were in Brittany and thought he had to drink from the bottle until he realised that the cup with the same logo as the bottle was the correct receptacle from which to imbibe! I just had a boring white wine which suited me fine.
Having debated the merits of the 3 course cheap menu we decided that 3 courses were too much and we opted , Belgian style, for moules frites. One course ensured that our little walk back to the hotel could be done in comfort!
The following day our destination was Rochefort to visit our friends Danielle, Emmanuelle, Jade and William (and, of course, Dexter and Kooky, the dachunds. Breakfast in our hotel was good so we had no lunch stop - just “comfort” stops and coffee en route. We arrived, as planned, around 4pm and spent the evening entre amis (Danielle had kindly invited her friends to join us for l’apero).
The following day our destination was Rochefort to visit our friends Danielle, Emmanuelle, Jade and William (and, of course, Dexter and Kooky, the dachunds. Breakfast in our hotel was good so we had no lunch stop - just “comfort” stops and coffee en route. We arrived, as planned, around 4pm and spent the evening entre amis (Danielle had kindly invited her friends to join us for l’apero).
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