An absolutely beautiful sunny and warm day and the shorts are back! Travelling a whole 4 miles and still managing to get fuel and groceries on the way, we arrived at our next stop an Aire in the small village of St Jakut-de-la-Mer which occupies a small peninsula. Once settled we set out for a walk around the peninsula taking in the beaches on the way. Our first beach just a few hundred metres from the site was Plage de la Manchette….

Closely followed by Plage de la Pissotte and Plage du Chatelet….

As we approached the tip of the peninsula, sprawling in front of us was the sandy Plage du Rougeret and across the wet sands lies Ile des Hebihens walkable at low tides and had it been a bit earlier in the day we probably would have taken advantage of the opportunity …

Instead we crossed over to the other side of the headland and took the chance for a sit down and chill hour or so enjoying the warmth of the sunshine on Plage des Haas…

All the while in the distance at the shoreline people can be seen foraging for mussels – I think – I guess it is a cheap source of food?

Now on the home straight – I will add at this point that though present the GR34 meanders in and out of the shore rather than directly following the shore – our last 2 beaches of the day are Plage de la Banche the closest to the village and beyond the village the more remote Plage du Ruet….

A lovely walk and with the tide so far out the beaches extend across slightly muddier flats as far as the eye can see – I’m not sure that going for a dip at any of them would be particularly possible or enjoyable – not that it was on my to do list!

Thoughts of the day:

• We were planning to stay here another day and just have a beach afternoon and a bit of a paddle but as I said the lower sand was a bit slimy and muddy so we kept on walking instead
• I bought some cherry flavoured coke the other day by accident and just gave one word – why?

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 4
• Miles walked – 7
• Beaches – 7
• Aire – £14.08
• Fuel – £61.04
• Groceries – £29.80

A lovely, mostly sunny, albeit breezy day for us today as we set off the short distance to Dinard finding parking on a wide leafy lane leading to our first beach of the day – Plage de Prieure…

Here we were also afforded a stunning view across the emerald waters at St Malo…

An interesting concrete path half way up the rocky cliffs below Dinard with some amazing properties seemingly teetering above us, lead us all the way around a number of beaches…

The first beach we encountered was the lovely wide sandy bay of Plage de l’Ecluse with its fab infinity sea water pool…

Next up was the smaller but stunning Plage de Port Salut with an interesting sculpture? above the pathway of a large boulder wedged into a tree….

The last beach along the coast path around Dinard is Plage de St Enogat, here we sat for a while watching the kite surfing out in the bay before making our way across town back to the van…

We made a quick stop on the outskirts of Dinard to catch the 3 remains beaches of Dinard – Plage de Port Blanc, Plage de la Fourberie and Plage de la Fosse aux Vaults….

A short drive took us to the small resort of St Lunaire where again we were lucky with parking and enjoyed a final stroll to take in the wide sandy bays of Plage de St Lunaire….

And Longchamps Beach….

An absolute corker of a day – the only shame being that non of these places had anywhere suitable for us to park overnight so we have gone inland a little to the village of Beaussais-sur-Mer and are nicely settled into a small quiet Aire for the night.

Thoughts of the day:

• We have happened upon the GR34 which is a coastal path running some 1240 miles from St Malo to St Nazaire – originally used by customs officers patrolling for smugglers but now a public footpath and one we’re enjoying immensely.
• We are enjoying the fact that when both walking and driving through built up areas the roads and pavements are very wide and no one seems to be in a rush!
• I think covering the coast of Brittany may take me a while as around every corner is yet another beach – happy doesn’t even come close.

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 23
• Miles walked – 8.5
• Beaches – 9
• Aire – £11.01

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