Brittany, 5 December

I made the huge mistake last night of failing to put on my bedsocks.  This meant I could simply not get my feet warm, and thus could not sleep.  I finally gave in and put then on - I do hate wearing them and one always comes off and gets lost - and of course, transformation. It wasn't even that cold, which is what is so annoying!

This morning we drove down to Pointe du Raz, which is about as far west as you can get in France. I should have liked to have stopped at the supermarket that said it was the "last supermarket before America", but we didn't. We thought might if we came back that way, but then we didn't.

The Pointe du Raz is obviously, in season, a huge tourist trap, with paying parking and a huge crescent of shops and a museum - all closed! We were reminded of Land's End, rather.   You could still park, but the barriers had been lifted and there were no attendants. We walked out along the path to the first viewpoint, which was lovely - sea all around, a lighthouse at the end, and plenty of rocks with lighthouses on them, too.

We walked back to the van and drove a little way north, past some wonderfully-situated hotels, to the Pointe du Van. This part of Finisterre is known as. Cornouaille, and the French for Cornwall is Cornouailles, so there is some connection.  The local languages are mutually intelligible with both Welsh and Cornish, I understand.

But it was time to turn eastwards, so we drove on, past Quimper (bypassing it, this time) and L'Orient, and turning south to Quiberon, which turned out to be a seaside resort at the end of a really long peninsula.

We stopped there for lunch, and then drive back through Carnac. This, however, proved to be a failure as there were roadworks and we were diverted hither and yon to the extent that I didn't realise we had been there until we were no longer there!  We did, however, see a field of menhirs (so that's what they did with all the ones Obélix carved!), so we felt honour was satisfied.

Then we drove on along the main road - Brittany doesn't have the toll motorways that are ubiquitous in the rest of France, but has some very good dual carriageways instead - to Rennes, and this pleasant aire in the suburb of Cesson-Sévigné.  It is the first aire that has been even remotely full this holiday, but we have a place by the river Vilaine, and very nice too.

There is so much more of Brittany to see, but it will have to wait for another time. And not in the summer - I imagine it would be heaving with tourists and no fun at all!

Brittany, 4 December

I forgot to say yesterday that we passed a town with the simply glorious name of Villedieu-les-Poêles! 

This morning, we woke at 7, but it was still past 9 when we got away - it's not easy to be quick when you have to wait for the kettle to boil for your tea, and wait for the water to hot up for your shower, and then get breakfast and wash it up, make the beds and ready the van for the day's travel. But we got away at last, and our first stop was the town of Perros-Guirec, where the Swan Whisperer said there were some pink rocks he wanted to see, so he went off to look at them, and when he came back he had some coffee before we moved on round that peninsula. On the way we saw the rocks he'd been to, but I was distinctly underwhelmed.

Then a little further on we saw the real pink rocks, much more impressive!

We realised that we were, of course, in the very region where Astérix' village was supposed to have been, and I saw a dolmen by the side of the road, whether natural or put there for tourism, I wouldn't care to say. Apparently, Goscinny was wiser than he knew, as a real iron age village had been found in almost exactly the right place!

We then drove to Roscoff, where we had lunch overlooking the ferry.

A pleasant little town. We also decided to investigate where to go to this afternoon. We decided that we would head down to Audierne, but go through Brest and Quimper - we reckoned, correctly, that the traffic would not be too awful on a Sunday afternoon - and if time go right out along that peninsula to the Utmost West!  Or, failing that, to park up in Audierne overnight and go out to Pointe du Raz tomorrow.

Best was lovely - one of these days we want to come back and spend a couple of days there. Quimper less so, a bit meh.  Audierne, where we did end up for the night, is lovely - we are parked along a river, with a château the far side, and in view of a bridge. Not that we can see anything right now as it is dark and we have the shutters drawn to keep the heat in....

Dinner in the van - a sort of shakshuka, but with the end of the potatoes in it. And I have just remembered I had been going to use some chorizo, too!  Never mind, it'll keep....

Brittany, 3 December

I had sat the alarm for 08:00 this morning, but by the time we got away it was 09:30 and we had wasted at least an hour's daylight.  Tomorrow, even though it is Sunday, we will be up at 07:00 and, I hope, away earlier. Or out for a walk, but the days are so short it is a pity to waste daylight.

We set the Satnav to take us to Saint-Brieuc, but decided not to go into the town itself. The first part of the trip we went across country, and then along a nearly motorway-standard N road, stopping for lunch at a service area. Our own lunch, I hasten to add, not what was provided by a café. Then we drove on, catching a glimpse of Mont Saint Michel in the distance, and up the coast to this town, Paimpol.  We are in a very nice aire, nobody else around, with services. It cost €4, and there is free parking in the town, but we need services. 

The Swan Whisperer went out for a walk and then we had a cup of tea before we walked into town and had dinner at a random, but very good, creperie.  And then back, and more or less straight to bed, although we did put the heating on for ten minutes, and boiled the kettle for bottles and tea.  He is now charging his phone and checking the sports results... Which I am so not interested in, but he persists in taking me anyway.

Brittany, 1 and 2 December

We couldn't really let the year end without another short trip in the motor home; after all, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a booze cruise! 

We couldn't leave on our usual 10:30 pm crossing as the Swan Whisperer had a rehearsal for the Christmas Show, so we were never going to be able to leave London much before 9:30 pm.  In fact, the next crossing was not until 1:30 am, arriving in France at 03:00 local time.  Eek!  However, we managed it, but by the time we had made our way to the car park (and they have changed the exit from the Eurotunnel yet again), turned on the gas, sorted out windows and blinds, etc, it was at least 3:30 am.  I had travelled in pyjamas, on the grounds that I wouldn't need to get out of the van once I was in it, and had spent the crossing curled up in bed, so it didn't take too long to snuggle down.

Needless to say, we didn't surface until after 10:00 am this morning!  And there was a late breakfast and some shopping before we got away. The Carrefour looks amazing, and French supermarkets do Christmas so much better than ours do!  Lots of foie gras, smoked salmon, champagne, etc.... 

Anyway, we got away at last and headed to the Aire du Baie de la Somme for lunch, and then on as far as Falaise, where we are parked up for the night.  And drinking wine.... 

The Regency Javelin Tour

A few weeks ago, I was looking at railtours, like you do, and found this one, which was not too expensive, involved a Javelin train (okay, not so romantic as a steam train), and was on a day when we had nothing else planned.  So the Swan Whisperer bought tickets, and this morning we got up very early and made our way to St Pancras via the Victoria Line.  The train was waiting for us on the platform - when we finally found Platform 12, we discovered we had come a very long way round, but we had been able to buy a coffee at Costa en route.

Our seats were in either the first or the last carriage, depending on which way we were going!  And there were several route reversals during the day.  They gave us a printed itinerary, so we knew where we were and whether we were in time or not.

It was a very grey and dreary November day, with very little colour about.  As always, perhaps the nicest part of the journey was the Mid-Sussex line, aka the Arun Valley Line, which runs through the water-meadows of the Arun valley, and passes Arundel Castle.

But it was fun going out on HS1, which we have only ever done on Eurostars (I did once go between Stratford International and St Pancras on a Javelin, because I could, but it only takes 2 minutes or so....).  We went down via Rochester and Strood to Tonbridge, and then along the line to Redhill, and thence to the Arun Valley Line once we reached Three Bridges.  Then at Littlehampton it reversed again to go along the West Coastway line, which I know like the back of my hand, so not as interesting as it might have been....  However, instead of running straight into Brighton, it went up the Clifton Curve to Preston Park, and then down into Brighton from there - not sure where.  Brighton was basically lunch time - I'd brought sandwiches, and then we went and got the Swan Whisperer a coffee - and after it we headed off to Hastings, via Eastbourne (where we reversed again, only I'd fallen asleep by then, and missed it).  I think these semaphore signals were at Hastings:

After Hastings, we headed back to - I was going to say Birmingham by way of Bethnal Green - but back to St Pancras via places like Sevenoaks, St Mary Cray, and then Rochester again to rejoin HS1 at Ebbsfleet.  It was dark by then, of course, so one couldn't see much, and I was a bit stiff after sitting all day, but we had had plenty of opportunities to get up and move around and stretch, so it wasn't as bad as it might have been!

All in all, a very enjoyable day, and on-train sales, raffle tickets (no joy, of course) and a silent auction which I didn't participate in raised about £2,500 for the Royal British Legion.

But would somebody please tell me why it is easy to find the King's Cross exit from the Victoria Line platforms, very close to it, but utterly impossible to find the Victoria Line platforms from the King's Cross entrance?????  There seems to be a wormhole that means whatever way you go you have to walk down endless claustrophobia-inducing tunnels with horrible lighting.....

Regent Street Motor Show

Tomorrow is the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, and, in preparation for this, today was the Regent Street Motor Show.  This event is one of those occasions when Regent Street is closed to normal traffic, although the shops stay open.

We nearly didn't go - the Rostelecom Cup was on all afternoon - but dragged ourselves away from the television after the ice dance, and got a 159 bus up to Piccadilly Circus.  This was nearly a mistake as it took about half an hour to cross Westminster Bridge, which seems to have been reduced to one lane in each direction.  However, once it had done that, Whitehall and Trafalgar Square were relatively free, and we got off at Regent Street/St James and walked across Piccadilly Circus to the start of the show.

The actual vintage cars only took up part of the street; the first part was about vintage racing cars, rather dull really, except there was the late great James Hunt's racing car.

Then there were some sponsors' vehicles, and a couple of old coaches/charabancs before the Veteran Car Concours d’Elegance, as it was called. 

And then came the veteran cars, all dressed in their best.  Only about 1/4 of the ones that will be running tomorrow, but they were very splendid indeed!

Then came one car that has obviously languished somewhere for years and years and is presumably about to receive some TLC very soon:

And that section ended with a wonderful vintage charabanc!

Then there was a section of low-emission cars, which was quite interesting, and some Minis, and finally some ride or other sponsored by Top Gear.  At which point we had arrived at Oxford Circus, so we wandered off to find a Prets to have lunch, and then the 137 bus back home, where we arrived in time for the end of the Pairs, and all of the Ladies' Free!

It was quite interesting - probably not worth a special trip to London, but certainly worth a visit.  Presumably this happens on the first Saturday in November every year, so there will be other occasions. 

Nunhead Cemetery

It is All Saints' Day, so what better place to spend the afternoon than in a cemetery?  Nunhead cemetery, to be exact.  It was part of a guided walk organised by the Cooltan Arts Centre, not as exciting as the blurb suggests - the guide to the cemetery wasn't available until 2:30, and then he was held up, so really, touring the cemetery was all we had time for.

The walk started off outside Nunhead Library, which is closed for redevelopment until 5 December, but is really rather an enchanting building.  We then stopped on Nunhead Green to talk about the area - a craft beer shop and an enormous estate agents providing proof of gentrification!  Then it was along Linden Grove (where Charles Dickens apparently installed one of his mistresses) to the cemetery.

It was really lovely!  It is, of course, on of the Magnificent Seven suburban cemeteries established in the 1830s and 1840s when London's churchyards were overflowing.  It was used for burials for over 100 years, but closed in 1969.  And left to rot for the next 20 years, while wildlife and nature took over.  And, of course, there was a lot of urban exploration, drug-taking, and downright vandalism going on.  Eventually the cemetery was bought by Southwark Council for £1, and eventually it was restored - there are Friends of the Cemetery who volunteer to help keep the walkways open and so on. 

Because it was All Saints' Day, some of the graves had fresh flowers, and some had flameless candles on them.  Not all, by any manner of means, but enough to show that people still care.  There was one modern grave that just said "Harold and Tim RIP" (it might not have been those names) with no date; we wondered whether it  had been an unofficial burial while the cemetery was closed, in an era when Harold and Tim might not have been welcome to be buried together elsewhere.

There was a very moving memorial to some scouts who had drowned in a disaster off the Isle of Sheppey, near a World War 1 cemetery. 

From the top of the hill, there is a protected view of St Paul's Cathedral, but it was too foggy to see it today!

And then we walked back downhill to the exit. 

Contrary to popular perception, it wasn't in the slightest bit spooky - it was lovely and peaceful.  Apart from people walking their dogs, of course, but then, how lovely that they should have such a big space available for to do that in!  It really is a lovely place, and I would happily go back if it wasn't slightly awkward to get to!