Waiting to board (middle of back row) in pouring rain
6 June 2012, 113 miles
It was so stereotypical of how the French see England – we drove to Portsmouth through some of the worst rain we have seen with Horatio so far – and he does seem to attract it. We finally boarded the Bretagne at 7.45pm and left him in the bowels of the ship with the trucks and coaches to find our cabin, and – more importantly – the restaurant.
We woke at 5am – even B! Dozed till 6am when they tannoy/annoy you with all the places you can spend more money getting breakfast. By 9am we were in Dinard, the other side of the harbour at St. Malo, and by 915am leaving as there was little to see except the view back to the port and our ferry.
At 1030 we were at the river port of Dinan, having our second – equally unhealthy – breakfast. The first was croissants, the second was crepes –the sweet kind, with all scraps helpfully cleared up by a literally hovering sparrow.
What a backdrop for his first French photo!
We left Horatio under the stunning viaduct and then did our best imitation of mountain goats up the steep cobbled streets to virtually the same level. Dinan is very pretty with some lovely old ramparts, but you need the sugar from the crepes to attempt the climb and its still exhausting! But worth it. The town is so close to St Malo that we now have it on our list for a weekend break another time.
Tonight we are in Trebeurden. Unremarkable except it has an aire (camping car overnight parking stop) and is at one end of the Rose Granite Coast, which we hope to see tomorrow.
Driving Horatio has been challenging today – we are out of practice and both had to negotiate some narrow roads. The red wine (of course) has hit home.
We are now – done in! ……zzzz