The GR 34

What’s the best sign in Brittany? This one: Why? Because it means you’re on the Grande Randonnée (GR) 34, the hiking trail that goes all the way around the coast of Brittany. It’s 1800 kilometers long. We’ve only hiked a fraction of those kilometers, but we’ve enjoyed them all. There’s something for everyone: stark natural […]

Happy All Saints’ Day

All Saints’ Day (November 1) is a national holiday here. School children have been on vacation for the last two weeks; today their parents get the day off too. We’ve been seeing a big sign on a greenhouse nursery for weeks – “Ici Fleurs de Toussaint” (All Saints’ Flowers Here). The French tradition is to […]

The Sea Wind

The wind blows pretty strongly almost every day here near the coast. It’s delightful while we hike and, when it blows hard, invigorating. There’s quite an updraft when you walk up to the edge of a cliff – a hat-keeper is an essential wardrobe element. But what’s most impressive about the wind is what everyone […]

Lunch and a Show

Today we had an outstanding lunch at a restaurant in Le Fret, the Hostellerie de la Mer. It had been on our to-do list for a while – we had tried to eat here for J’s birthday, but they were full. So first, since J’s into that sort of thing, let’s talk about the lunch… […]

Quimper Redux

We had briefly visited Quimper in early September; yesterday we went back for a closer look. Our visit certainly started off better than last time – we had an excellent lunch at Le Gandhi, an Indian restaurant. It was great to find some truly spicy food, something very un-French. We spent the afternoon walking around […]

Hiking Crozon: Clouds 2

M was inspired by the skies near Lézargol today… next comes trying to reproduce them in watercolors! We’ve never seen so many interesting clouds as we do here in Brittany. What the heck is going on in the atmosphere to make the formation above?

Hiking Crozon: Île des Capucins

Tuesday’s hike provided a vivid contrast: boredom and thrills! Our Sunday washout left us hanging just shy of the Île des Capucins so we headed back toward Roscanvel to pick up the hike where we had left off in the rain. At first it seemed we weren’t going to reach the island today either. This […]

Hiking Crozon: L’Aber

What a difference a day makes. Our Sunday hike was … rather damp. Monday’s hike was damp too, but only with sweat as the skies were blue and the sun was brilliant. We started at the Pointe du Guern, the end point of a previous hike. From there we headed west toward the River Aber. […]

Hiking Crozon: Near Roscanvel

The maps have been rather confusing. The France Outdoors app says the GR34 doesn’t go out on the Roscanvel Peninsula. But other maps show it does. When we visited the Pointe des Espagnols (see our earlier post), we saw GR34 signs so we decided to head out to the coast west of Roscanvel for a […]

Finistère Flowers

There’s definitely something to be said for a mild climate. The leaves are turning at home, but here the flowers just keep coming! Maybe all that rain isn’t so bad after all… The gardens at our rental are just as lush as when we got here six weeks ago.