Sightseeing around St Malo

 

 Once again we met up to find another great place for breakfast. Across the road there was a cake shop with enormous cakes in the window, almost about the height of a two tier cake!

At the little square where several of the pedestrian streets met there was a folk band playing – all harps, fiddles and flutes!

 A, D and I walked C around the walls while S and L went shopping and down for a swim. 

We met up with them for tea in the main square, and then went to collect all our stuff, inc. cake, to pack up the cars. S with C, took L off to catch the train to Paris C de G, and A,D and I went off for a coastal drive to St Quay-Portrieux. We stopped to look at Phare du Cap Frehel where there is an important project to regenerate the natural flora of the headland.

Mostly cormorants on the rocks

Regenerating the natural flora

As we drove into Portrieux, we had to sit in the car to listen to the final of 5000m as Mo Farah pulled another Gold medal out of the bag in a phenomenal race. We found our house, got everything inside and discovered that someone at the hotel in St Malo had eaten (presumably) the ears from Timothe’s sugar rabbit on the cake! Unbelievable, but nothing we can do about that. We all walked down the street and we could hear live music. There was a traditional band playing and tables set down the middle of the road. We were not too late to have pizzas and a glass of wine and it was very gezellig!





St Malo
Phare du Cap Frehel
St Quay-Portrieux

Visiting Mont St Michel

We arrived in St Malo by the ferry from Southampton – an overnight crossing which included a delicious dinner and then a restless night listening to the rumblings of the ship as it pottered across the channel and down the French coast.

We drove to the old walled city where we were staying and offloaded the cases and The Cake, before parking in the car park just outside the walls and went for breakfast with Soaz, Lindsey and Callum. Lots of strong coffee, croissants and stuff. Our plan was to visit Mont St Michel, and we were soon ready to set off along the coast in the glorious sunshine, getting warmer by the minute.

Normandy Flag

 

We all met up again and walked down to the entrance, where we caught a bus down to the Causeway. It was extremely busy with buses dropping off their passengers. We could see the old car park on the beach, which was now totally outgrown, and they were busy upgrading the causeway as we walked along the road.

 

 We spent a long time exploring the island fortress, discovering all sorts of nooks and crannies and enjoying it all very much. Eventually we decided it was lunchtime – around 3:30pm and opted for galettes, the speciality of the region, both savoury and sweet.

 

 

Our lunch venue, Cafe Poulard

Then it was time for our walk back to the cars and the drive back to St Malo. We parked back in the same car park as the hotel was sure they didn’t have a space for us.  We looked around the town and eventually decided on a great place to eat, Cote Sens, where we could have Callum on a bench seat between Soaz and Lindsey. Sadly he wasn’t settling and we all took a turn with him outside. D wasn’t feeling very well, so in the end took himself and C back to their room. Our dinner was lovely, but we were also glad to get back for a good rest after the fairly sleepless previous night.

St Malo

Mont St Michel
Cote Sens