Still here – a pretty wild day today but mostly dry. As the first beach on our agenda is 6+ miles away and would mean walking through and around the city we decided to shake things up a bit and get the bus into the city centre and walk from there. The bus went on a very circuitous route but eventually dropped us off and we walked around the port to get to our first beach…

The port is pretty huge with various different areas housing some beautiful tall ships as well as a fair flotilla of gin palaces and in a different area the large cargo ships and car ferries. As we came out the other side Plage des Bas Sabiens awaited….

Continuing south down the Dinan estuary we came upon the pretty cove of Plage Solidor lined with bars and restaurants and plenty of people enjoying a drink in the afternoon sun – at the head of the beach is Solidor Tower keeping watch over the busy estuary across to Dinard on the other side…

Continuing our walk, our next beach was Plage des Corbières at the bottom of a public park….

We then had to walk through quite a few residential back streets before making our way down onto Plage des Fours a Chaux, which we had to ourselves and so took the opportunity for Tilly to have a bit of a runaround whilst I sat in the sun enjoying the view, drinking a coffee and lazily throwing a twig for Tilly to chase….

At the far end of the beach we were able to see our final beach – Plage du Rosais…

Time to head back now to catch the bus home…

Thoughts of the day:

• Fortunately I checked beforehand but only small dogs are allowed on the buses here and they have to be in a suitable carrier- luckily the sling I have for Tilly was deemed suitable – rather odd for a dog loving nation?
• These high winds have certainly churned up the sea – from what I could see on the bus there was lots of wind surfing and kiting going on.

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 0
• Miles walked – 6
• Beaches – 5
• Aire – £11.35
• Laundry – £7.50
• Bus – £3.50

A mostly rainy day for us today so we caught up on some admin jobs and generally hung about until the weather cleared mid afternoon and we were able to take a leisurely stroll along the two beaches a few hundred yards from the Aire.

Firstly the almost shingle beach of Plage du Havre du Lupin….

And then the much nicer sandy option of Plage du Havre….

Some pretty impressive properties look down on both beaches each with their own private beach access – not bad for some – I wonder how many are actually lived in? It doesn’t look like many as they are mostly shuttered up against the elements. Such a lovely almost fully enclosed sheltered bay.

Thoughts of the day:

• This Aire looks like there are quite a few permanent or semi permanent vans in occupation- certainly a few that look like they haven’t been anywhere or are going anywhere anytime soon – a very affordable lifestyle and an idyllic spot to live which I’m sure property wise doesn’t come cheap.
• I get the feeling, though could be very wrong, that quite a few of the motorhomes that we encounter whilst travelling about are people like me travelling for extended periods of time, if not permanently.
• There are very few campervans around as the French indeed seem to favour largish motorhomes – if we do encounter another van it is invariably German or Dutch.

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 0
• Miles walked – 3
• Beaches – 2

Another very misty and chilly morning until late morning so we decided to sit it out on site before moving a couple of miles up the road to our first couple of beaches – still somewhat shrouded in mist was Plage de St Benoit-des-Ondes and a bit further on Plage de Porcon….

Our next stop was the large village of Cancale where we spent a couple of frustrating hours on the phone trying to sort out the fact that any internet access has disappeared (late yesterday afternoon) which is very debilitating as even Apple Maps doesn’t work – in the end I solved it myself as I had the VPN set to the UK and somehow this was making a fairly weak signal here in France even worse – you live and learn. That sorted and as the day has rather runaway with us we decided to park up in the local Aire and head off on foot to explore the beaches on offer. First we made our way down to Baie de Radegonde – not much of a beach really – again mostly crushed shells leading down to rather muddy sand….

But much like its neighbour Plage de Houle, both beaches were backed by a promenade and street lined with bars and cafes – all those that were open were busy on this beautiful sunny afternoon….

From here we walked on back up to the old town – looking down on the Oyster and Mussel farms of Cancale where many folk sat enjoying fresh oysters from the local market…

From the old town we walked around the headland to look down on Plage de l’Abri des Flots…..

Before wandering back through the town to the Aire…

Thoughts of the day:

• Technology – I used to be so up to speed with it all but now I’m afraid a lot of it is just a mystery!
• It is nice to see so many people out just enjoying the fine weather – it is a very European thing to do just wandering along the promenade or sitting outside a bar enjoying the sun – even on a school night!

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 10
• Miles walked – 6
• Beaches – 6
• Aire –