Thursday 6 October 2011

Quiberon

The last of our outings in Brittany was to the Presqu’île de Quiberon (presqu’île means *almost an island*). It's somewhere I can remember visiting the first time I went to France - we cycled out to the peninsula from the Perrut's house in Carnac. I remember the long sandy beaches; having grown up swimming in the Atlantic and the Irish sea it was a novel experience to swim somewhere where it was warm enough to just lie on a towel and get dry. I remember too the fact that even then there was still some barbed wire here and there in the back of the dunes, left from WW2.
It was mixed weather that day - it was quite cloudy when we were in Quiberon, at least by the time we'd had lunch. But after we were almost back to the car after a long walk it turned beautifully sunny, so we went and sat on a beach for a while. Lunch was some very nice crêpes in the Duchesse Anne - savoury buckwheat crêpes for starters, and some lovely sweet ones with apples flambéed at the table with Calvados.

Fish shop




Bakery
 A few hardy souls sunbathing before the sun actually came out. When it did, people seemed to come out of the woodwork. In this picture and the following one you can see little changing rooms (I guess) built under the esplanade.





We got to see some cirl bunting, male and female
 


Some rather fine graffiti on one of the old WW2 blockhouses
Hitching a ride

 All along our seafront walk there was a spicy smell, a bit like cloves. We never did identify which plant or bushes it was coming from, but it was certainly lovely.

C sitting on one of the beaches further back towards the mainland. We were watching some would-be kite surfers, but in all the time that we were there they never really got going. And it wasn't quite warm enough to tempt me in for a swim - paddling was enough.

2 comments:

Lorraine said...

I love the signage you find. It's so colorful as are the buildings with the wonderful trim. And speaking of color, those birds have beautiful coloring. That pale yellow is so pretty. Snail upon snail - great find. I like those shades!

Sabriel said...

I've been enjoying these photos, and I love the one of the beach in this post, it's made me realise how long it is since I went for a walk on the beach, even though I live so close to the sea.....