Great Start.....Not!
We set off last Thurs at around 6:30am, for a 250 mile journey to Poole in Dorset to catch our ferry at 12:30pm to France. We were cruising along with about 80 miles to go when the traffic started getting a little busy. Not only that, but the last 100 miles or so were pretty much all country roads. It suddenly dawned on me that this was gonna be a little tight for time, as we had to be at the port at least 45mins before departure! With around 30 miles to go we were about 45 minutes left before the ferry departed. I put my foot down with the forlorn hope, that the ferry may be delayed. We made the port with about 10 minutes to go before the departure time, but unfortunately we were too late as the doors had closed and the preparations had been made for the ferry to depart. Shit!!!!
Thankfully, the Brittany Ferries customer services rep, resheduled us on another ferry 3 hrs later from a neighboring port at Portsmouth some 50 miles away.
We arrived at Cherbourg at around 7:30pm and checked in to our overnight hotel. The next morning we left on a 2hr drive for a 3 night stay in the small town of Dinard, just a few miles from St. Malo in Brittany.
Dinard is situated on the Emerald Coast of Northern France. It has a lovely little beach, and the Centre Ville is composed of small shops and plenty of restaurants and bars. The beaches are great in this part of the country. Right along the coastline there are little island fortresses that originate from medieval times. As the tide goes out, this exposes little paths to the islands, which also provides a great wealth of little rock pools ready for exploring for me and the kids.
St. Malo
For the remainder of our holiday we stayed in St. Malo, a few miles up the coast. St. Malo is a walled city of great medieval tradition. It consists once again of small quaint shops, with a rich array of wonderful seafood restaurants. Again the City is protected by island fortresses, which provide lovely little walks when the tide is out. Our hotel was situated on a the promenade about a mile or so outside the walled city, so most evenings we would walk along the prom dodging the crashing waves against the sea wall, which provided great entertainment for the evening.
Mont St. Michel
Our last day was spent at a truly remarkable place. Mont St. Michel is an granite island that has an Abbey and walled town built upon it. Walking onto this island is like stepping back in time to the medieval ages. Seriously I've never seen anything like it, absolutely breathtaking. If you ever get a chance to go and see it, you won't be sorry.
So then, we had a great time, spent an absolute fortune, and now I'm ready for poker. I hope the break from poker has done me good. I feel thoroughly refreshed, so back to the grind. GL all.
2 comments:
Looks and sounds like a great time. Glad you enjoyed your time.
I went to St Malo for three weeks when I was 17, on a crash course in French. Needless to say, it was more of a crash course in drinking. Still, I recognize it from the photos and it got me just a little bit nostalgic. It is indeed a beautiful little town.
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