Extended travels #1 - Traveling around Brittany, France

My wife and I decided to kick the 9-5 for 50yr plan into touch and instead spend our time doing what WE wanted to do.
In our case it was extensive travel.

After quitting our full-time jobs nearly two years ago; mine of 17yrs in the ambulance service, and my wife as a nurse, we set off on our extended travels.

Its not that hard to do and you can do it too, if you really want it!
Maybe its not travel for you, because we are all different and have different aspirations.
But if you want get out of the 9-5 rat-race, you can.
With some planning, its just a decision!

We usually travel in Merlin, our campervan.

On this occasion we stayed pretty much in the same area; namely Brittany, France and took a month slowly exploring the region before heading for the music festival known as Hellfest in Clisson near Nantes.

Brittany at one point, was an independent kingdom before becoming united with the rest of France.
It still to this day retains its Celtic cultural identity and Bretons still have festival days when they dress up in national costume, encouraging others to join their celebration.

Bretons even have their own language and I could even recognize Welsh among other Celtic influences.

One of the locations that stood out was Dinan, a citadel in the northwestern parts of Brittany and is in the Côtes-d'Armor department.

This walled Breton town contained cobbled streets and quaint buildings dating back to the 13th century.

Dinan is situated on a hilltop and from the river Rance, was quite a walk up the many old stone steps.
You felt you had stepped back in time.

We stopped at a restaurant in its historic square to sample what Brittany is renowned for, Crepes.
These Crepes were made from buckwheat, giving them a distinctive flavour and crispness.

Whilst eating, we could see through an archway, this fantastic building (pictured below) that was originally built for the aristocracy.
The detail in the carved stone and its heavy wooden doors were impressive.

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Moving on we found one of the many houses (read castle on its own island!) we are going to buy when we win the lottery - yeah right!
A magical place in Ploumanac'h, Brittany.
The only way to access it is by boat or some other floating vessel.

We did notice that there were a lot of rocks in the water on the north coast of Brittany and some have a pink hue to them.

This was one of the four beaches we visited, and had walks on this day.

We finally came to rest, on an extremely windy day, at Lannion.
One of the four beaches we had visited even had trees that had blown over the cliff tops onto the beaches. We nearly had to take refuge in an old WWII bunker!

The birds were flying backwards and Merlin was rocking like a boat on the open sea at Lannion.
So, in true Brit style decided it was time to christen the small, lid covered BBQ, my parents had bought us for Xmas.

Having only sausages to offer the BBQ, my wife made some burgers, potato salad and put together a salad. The potato salad came in real handy to weigh down and stop lettuce from being swept away by the wind.
I can report a successful BBQ, washed down with copious amounts of alcohol.

The next day, you wouldn't have believed there had been so much wind.
With one couple paragliding for hours around the beach.

It was also a shower day!
When traveling, you come to appreciate that the things that you take for granted, like taking a shower.
Some things take a bit more planning than usual; like making sure that you have enough water.

I also decided it was time for a shave, with the backdrop of the glorious beach. It sure beats seeing my face in a mirror!

We found yet another secluded inlet not far from the sea after finding a few dead ends where you couldn't get a campervan in, due to height barrier restrictions.

We later explored a village called Locronan. Another quaint village and had more crepes opposite Saint Ronan's church. Awe inspiring architecture.

Saint Ronan is reputed to be of Irish descent. Local tradition holds that he was a bishop from Ireland who came to found a hermitage (‘loc’ in Breton), and the St. Ronan church houses his relics.
The village itself has served as the location for a number of films such as "A Very Long Engagement ".

Another lovely location:-

Rochefort-en-Terre

Stopping at Conde-Folie, Piccardy, France on the way back to the UK.
With Merlin our campervan in the distance.

A storm was just about to kick off as we were getting back to Merlin from our walk.

You can do this to, it doesn't take a lot of money to live like this.
If you are interested in finding out how, follow me, I will cover it at a later date.

Next, I will be spending just over a week, helping out at the Steelhouse Festival, South Wales, UK
I am the official photographer and will be taking shots of bands like Saxon and Skindred.

You never know I might even see you there!