Brittany - from the Lost Blog

Serendipity. When you’re daydreaming endlessly about a trip to Brittany and trying to plan one but realise you just can’t afford the ferry but then out of the blue someone offers you an expenses-paid commission in that very place.

This post is long overdue. Midsummer’s day has been and gone and this peculiar season has raced past with a flurry of unusual weathers from soft, muted grey days where the ocean seems to blend into the sky to thick misty sunshine and rich blue cloudless skies with peppery hot winds blowing in off the sea. Although the quiet grey days are soothing and good for getting the creative gears going, I can’t help but to feel uneasy about the rapidly changing climate and the world’s power’s almost deliberate ignorance. The other day I heard a ‘boomer’ in a cafe staunchly proclaiming to her family that she couldn’t care less about recycling as ‘she wouldn’t be around anyway when the proverbial hits the fan.’

… jees. Thanks.

I’m going to ignore the fact that we’re near the end of June now and the nights will surely draw in and instead reflect back to early May to record an adventure on this space of memories. Sure, it’s a small adventure on the grand scale of things and it certainly was neither magnificent nor particularly relaxing but it was important in its own little way. It was Lyra’s first trip abroad, our first trip as a family (Even if it was a working holiday) and although it was difficult in a lot of ways (and I don’t overall rate travelling with a 6 month old…) it was still lovely.

I’ll do my best to remember what I can of the trip. My memory is getting worse and it feels slightly like ADD is creeping back up on me again and all of my coping mechanisms are slowly raining away. Maybe it’s baby brain. Who really knows?

We stayed in the wonderful village of Carantec in an Air B&B with the prettiest views ever right over the river. I’ve always thought Brittany was a French version of Cornwall with better bread but actually, there’s a great many differences, especially in the coastline. Although Cornwall’s striking granite does make for a few crags and small islands around the coast and we do have an archipelago… Brittany takes islands to the next level. I have an unhealthy obsession with islands so it blew my tiny little mind when I learned there were not only a bajillion islands and crags peppering the coast of Brittany, but tidal islands that you can walk to and there was one right in our village.

The view half way across the Isle-Callot causeway
Park in the village of Carantec and walk over. It’s much longer than it looks so allow plenty of time for the tide which rushes in very quickly.

Isle-Callot was one of my favourite destinations on our trip (probably something to do with it being and island.) We decided to take a day off driving on the wrong side of the road (Surprisingly less stressful than I had envisaged) and play close to home. Lyra was entering a leap in her mental development so a nice long walk in the carrier was what she needed to soothe her off to sleep and the weather was powerfully sunny.

Like the stone and seascape of craggy Brittany, the light is different too. It was bright and glaring that day, much stronger than what I’m used to and a hot wind blew across the causeway where so many people were dotted around, crouched and foraging for cockles.

Isle-Callot was a veritable playground of wildflowers and white-sandy shores concealed by long grassy dunes and secret winding paths. The beaches were all seemingly empty and it was a paradise for Sarah’s. I surely could have stayed there all day, cosied up reading a book on the sands or exploring every single inch of secret beach but alas when you have a honky-babe, such luxuries like reading on the beach are on the back burner.

By the time we had thoroughly explored the island we had to race back to beat the encroaching tide for fear of being stranded. There were quite a few homes on the island whether those were exclusively holiday lets or full-time homes I couldn’t say. I envied them being able to enjoy these quiet beaches for hours with no fear of the tide and spending quiet evenings here drinking good wine and letting the light dwindle, but then on the downside, you have to put up with endless walking tours of tourists and day-trippers like us traipsing all over their island.

One thing we really struggled with in Brittany was eating. Jon’s a vegetarian and we found that France (or at least the part of France we were in) really doesn’t cater well for veggies. With Veganism on the rise in the UK, we’re so spoiled with a great variety of food options both when shopping and eating out, even in an old fashioned place like Cornwall. However, in Brittany we were lucky if many places had even 1 vegetarian option on their menu and I lost count of the amount of times we ended up eating Crepes. I had envisaged this happening and we had booked self catering but found that the super markets were also ill-equipped for veggies (or at least the recipes we’re used to cooking) and so we spent 4 days living off bread, cheese, pasta and crepes. If you like seafood however, you’re all set! I love fish and would have loved to have visited some of the local seafood specialty restaurants but sadly, they don’t cater for my +1’s ethical food choices so I’ll have to come back with some of my more morally questionable friends.

Quimper – a small, leaning city with a beautiful gothic cathedral well worth a visit. There’s a very instagrammable coffee shop if you care about that sort of thing and some incredible medieval buildings

Our other favourite destination from the trip was Ploumanac’h. I have a hazy memory from many many years ago of visiting here with the school on a French exchange trip and I remembered it being outstandingly pretty but that was about it. Honestly this photograph does the place zero justice because when we walked onto the beach, this view took our breath away. It was the thing of fairytales. You can just about make out a Chateau hidden among the trees on that tiny island in the lagoon.

It’s on part of the coastline that’s known as the ‘Granite Rose coast’ and the granite here has a characteristic pink tint that adds to the fairytale vibe. You can take the coast path to the right of the beach and follow it along to the pink granite lighthouse which I highly recommend as there are some spectacular views of the coast. When we went, the sea thrift were out in full force and you can see so many tiny islands and rocks all along the coastline. In the right months, you might even spot seabirds like puffins who normally come to roost in the spring months but we had no such luck (I am desperate to see a puffin in real life.)

This was another beach I could have happily whiled away a day but we’ve made our life decisions and we’re at the mercy of a certain curly haired babe who we’re slowly conditioning to love being by the ocean but in truth, is only interested in gumming on rocks.

We took the coast road back to Carantec, snaking along the peninsulas which was probably one of the best moments of the trip. We love long scenic drives with music playing and singing along to albums from the 10’s so we can feel somewhat ‘youthful’ again. I’ve taken to doing things these days that might make me feel young again because I’m sad to say that now at 27, legally married with a child, I officially feel like a grown up. It sucks and everything hurts.

3/4 way into our journey through coastal villages and dreamy sweeping views, the honk-meister awoke and we were forced to pull over by a random woods to ‘exercise her’ which actually meant us running around with her on our heads while she laughed manically. This was actually quite a magical moment from the trip as we found this enormous empty beach and we chased each other around all laughing like goof balls before the drizzle came in and we retreated back into the woods and to the car for shelter.

We had researched extensively a million places to visit in the area and our trip was fast and fleeting and so we barely scratched the surface on any of them. I’m normally one who hates plans because I feel like plans set up expectations and my favourite adventures are the unplanned ones because there is no expectation. Only real memories.

I found it hard when researching spots in Brittany to find places that weren’t the usual tourist destinations. Living in Cornwall I find that often the best places are off the beaten track. I wished there were some helpful blog posts for Brittany advising people of exciting and alternative places to go. I know we’ll come back again, perhaps when little babe is older and keen to explore but it has inspired me to try and provide posts for people that perhaps want to visit Cornwall and avoid the usual tourist traps. To try and make the more whimsical and off-the-beaten track spots more accessible so that perhaps visitors like me can seek out some more unusual locations 

This is by no means a travel post as it’s neither helpful nor informative and anyone who followed my instagram stories that week will notice I’ve left out a huge chunk about our ferry fiasco (two ferry fiascos to be precise) but I’m just leaving these sweet pictures here so that in years to come, I can remember fondly our first little family trip together.

Next time, I really want to explore Normandy, the Falaise d’etretat and the Mont St. Michel so if anyone has any advice for eating vegetarian in Normandy, PLEASE do send advice. What did you all do?!