BRETAGNE – FINISTERRE

LATE MAY/EARLY JUNE 2017

After leaving La Ferme de Lann Hoedic near Sarzeau I moved on, first to Querrien and then to St-Pol-de-Léon near Roscoff.

QUERRIEN 

I first met Doug, Sarah and their first-born in 2003 when we sailed and anchored in company from Panama to the Galapagos and Marquesa Islands – all as recorded in Grandpa's Voyages.

Being much younger than I they had to limit their time at sea and moved to Yorkshire not far from Sarah's parents.     I once visited them there, probably in 2006,  by which time a second daughter had been born.

Thereafter I lost touch until receiving a Christmas Greeting in 2016 when I learned among other things they now had four children and had bought a rather run down farm in Brittany they had been working hard and successfully to restore to a well-kept state.        It was natural therefore to contact them and arrange a visit in 2017.

I had a wonderful 10 days staying on the farm but didn't do much cycling because I preferred the unaccustomed social benefits of spending time with other people.      I did get out one day for a couple of short laps on the dead-end lane serving their farm and a few other properties but the area was pretty hilly and even the smaller roads had quite a lot of fast cars zooming along them.

Doug and Sarah cultivate their land using traditional methods including crop rotation and leaving fields fallow from time to time, but necessarily use tractors that consume large volumes of diesel. They are dedicated to organic methods eschewing the chemical fertilisers and pesticides some of their neighbours prefer to use to obtain higher yields at the expense of environmental damage.

Here are a couple of photos to illustrate the beautiful result of the enormously hard work that keeps Doug super-fit and allows Sarah to use her veterinary knowledge and skills on the cows, sheep, and hens raised on the farm – not forgetting the bees though I doubt much surgery is performed on them!

Extensive fields

Curious cows with crops and sheep in the fields beyond

Another consequence of adopting this lifestyle is that the entire family is self-supporting in food and generates a surplus of all products that is sold to a now-established customer list.

It was great to be able to share this pastoral life during my visit.

Another interesting expedition came about because the two youngest children belonged to a group that had been practicing song and dance performances in traditional Breton costumes for an annual festival held during my visit at the seaside town of Pont l'Abbé just south of Quimper. 

Teams from other villages and towns all over Brittany take part and parade through the town streets before performing in a large local hall. In fact there were so many entrants there were two halls in use for most of the afternoon.

The performers assemble

And Parade through the town

SAINT-POL-DE-LÉON

I chose to return to England on the Roscoff -Plymouth route for another social reason.      John, who sailed on Alchemi in South Africa and Panama/Ecuador (Grandpa's Voyages 2007 and 2010), and his wife Pam live near Plymouth and I had arranged to call on them on the way to my home in Kent.

I found a very conveniently located campsite at Saint-Pol-de-Léon just 4 or 5 miles from the Ferry Terminal at Roscoff.     This site is perched quite high on a cliff at the edge of the Bay of Morlaix with splendid views across the water and overlooking the small Ilot Sainte Anne and its causeway.

Ilot Sainte Anne

Looking East over the Bay of Morlaix

The pitches were rather small, and relatively expensive, but it certainly provided a very convenient spot at which to stay for a few days whilst waiting for the ferry . 

 But I have to add that though there is a formally designated cycle path from Roscoff to the interior I didn't fancy using it because there was far too much traffic for my type of bike riding to be enjoyable (but the cycle path is used by many cross-channel cycle tourists arriving or leaving with their bikes on the ferry).