We're just back from a fantastic 2+ week roadtrip to France and the UK. I'll talk about the initial part of the trip today and the rest of it in the next post.
Our trip towards the UK started on Friday July 5th with a trip to the vet. Dogs entering the UK have to have documented proof of having a de-worming pill administered by a vet less that 120 hours (5 full days) before departure. As our ferry from Roscoff to Plymouth was scheduled for Wednesday July 10th at 9am, we were within the window by taking Daisy to the vet on Friday at 2pm. We could also have organized a vet visit in France (which would almost certainly have been cheaper), but we thought it would be just simpler to organise with our local vet in Switzerland.
It's about 11 hours by car from our home to the presqu'île of Crozon, where we'd be staying with friends for a few days. Our daughter happened to be singing in a concert on the Friday night in Le Locle - which is very close to the border with France - so we felt that leaving afterwards and doing a third of the journey would ease the pressure. It was the day of our eldest son's last exam at EPFL in Lausanne, so I won’t deny that this plan was a little on the optimistic side.
Everything went as planned with the departure, and the weather was lovely as we headed to Auxerre, the town I'd identified as being at about the right distance for this first leg.
We stayed overnight at a Campanile hotel just off the A6 motorway. We did most of the drive while France were playing Portugal in their quarter final of Euro 2024, so the roads were nicely quiet. And we arrived just in time to see the second period of extra time and then France win on penalties.
The following day was fairly uneventful. We continued on the motorway towards Paris and then headed westwards to Brittany. The weather remained reasonably good throughout - although it was raining in the Paris area - and we arrived in good time in Crozon to watch England play Switzerland. Yes, this was a big match for me… it's interestingly the first time the two teams have met where I genuinely supported Switzerland, which says something important about my cultural identity, these days, I suppose. I wasn't unhappy to see England progress to the next round, though: Switzerland's performance in this tournament was excellent and they did a fantastic job, giving England a major scare. And I could still support England in the semis.
The next day was a little overcast, but still dry. I walked the dog past the Grand Hotel de la Mer in Crozon, which looked like it was straight out of a Wes Anderson film.
Our main reason for visiting Brittany was to catch up with old friends who now live there (at least for part of the year). Many of you will know my fellow old-time Autodesker Cyrille Fauvel - and perhaps his wife Marie - and some of you might even remember Jacques Sedille. Cyrille, Jacques and I all worked together in the Developer Support/ADN team, back in the day, before Jacques headed off to work on Architectural Desktop and then left Autodesk for other opportunities.
It was lovely experiencing the Brittany countryside. The coast is just gorgeous.
We visited la Pointe de Pen-Hir and its “tas de pois” (which literally means pile of peas, referring to the little isles that are vestigial remains of the original cliffs).
You have to get a crepe or two - and a glass or two of cider - when in this part of the world.
Another thing you need to do here is to try the local seafood. After having a full day inside playing boardgames (which was a lot of fun), we ventured out on our last day to buy langoustines for the evening meal.The rain had stopped in the morning, but I wouldn’t say the weather was amazing. At least we could be outside!
It was a lot of fun to navigate the tides, exploring rock pools, etc. It's a huge difference from life next to a lake. ;-)
The weather brightened up in the afternoon. Apparently there are more sun-related skin problems per capita in Brittany than in other parts of France, mainly because the wind stops people feeling the true power of the sun.
It was a lovely way to finish our stay - a walk along a lovely beach to work up an appetite.
And then some delicious langoustines to fill it!
On the Wednesday morning we were up and out of the door really early, as we had 90 minutes to drive from Crozon to Roscoff, plus we had to check-in with Daisy 90 minutes before the 9am departure of our Ferry.
Thankfully everything went smoothly and we were able to board on time. This was a relief, as the crossings aren’t very frequent and I had a number of things planned for the remainder of the week that wouldn’t have been easy to move.
We were in the dog-friendly part of the boat - we took a dog-friendly cabin which was a great place for us all to relax.
The boat was far from being full, though: we were just ahead of the busy season.
I enjoyed sitting outside with Daisy on the doggy deck.
After arriving in Plymouth we headed west, once again, to Penzance. I'd booked accommodation at the local Youth Hostel..We weren't in a dorm, though: I'd opted for a yurt (a big tent), as it was a) dog-friendly and b) really cool.
It had beds for 5 people, beanbags and even a stove. It was a lot of fun.
After settling in we headed to Marazion to get dinner. This is where you can cross to St. Michael’s Mount when the tide is low.
The tide was coming in when we arrived, so we just had to admire it from a distance.
A friend had recommended eating at The Godolphin Hotel - or its pub, Craby’s - from where we had a lovely view during dinner.
We stayed there to watch England prevail over the Netherlands in their semi-final. We then headed back to our tent to sleep.
The next day was our one full day in Cornwall. Our plan was to explore the coast a little, before something quite special in the evening.
As a family we’ve really enjoyed watching Poldark on Netflix. When researching things to see in Cornwall, we realized that many of the scenes featuring mining were filmed at Botallack, a National Trust property near Penzance.
It was a really nice place to visit, and had very few people there when we went.
You really got a sense of the traditional Cornish mining operations, and how danger-fraught it must have been, being so close to the sea,
Some of the structures had clearly been restored but were nonetheless impressive.
As the day heated up, Daisy looked for ways to cool off that thankfully didn’t involve jumping in the sea.
After Botallack I suggested stopping by Land’s End, which was a totally different experience in terms of people (and tourism more generally).
Walking along the coast was nice, though.
Our main purpose for visiting Cornwall in the first place was to see a play at the Minack Theatre, something that had been recommended by one of my oldest friends from back home, Jim Rice. He’d studied for a year in Falmouth, and said this was “the one thing you really have to do” in the area, if you get the chance.
This has to be one of the most spectacular theatres anywhere in the world, and isn’t as old as you might imagine.
We couldn’t take Daisy to a performance, so we ended up just being four to see London Assurance.
It was a wonderful experience. And while it really didn’t need to be, given the setting, the play was even good! We really laughed a lot.
On Friday morning it was time to head eastwards. We broke the journey twice: once for lunch in Exeter, where we ate at an old favourite of ours, Wagamama...
… and then a spontaneous stop at the Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth.
We realized we were ahead of schedule, so thought we’d say hello to some donkeys.
That’s it for the first week of our trip. Thank you so much to Jacques, Juliette, Eve, Raphael, Cyrille and Marie for the warm welcome in Brittany! We hope to see you all again very soon.
In the next post I’ll talk about our time in Lyme Regis and the London area.
