BRITTANY

We are on holiday in Brittany, some distance from the coast.  The gite is very rural and remote, down a long single lane grassy track, equipped reasonably well and clean, with excellent wifi, comfortable beds and plenty of hot water.

It’s a very pretty area and not as crowded as the seaside places.  There is more to Brittany than boats and beaches yet none of that is very far away.  It’s rather like how we see our home in the Loire.  We’re away from the touristy places but they’re not too far away if we fancy a day out (with visitors for example).

The other evening we went out for dinner to a restaurant we had spotted earlier in the day.  As we left the house and rounded the first bend our way was blocked just a few feet ahead by an enormous stag.  A fine full grown animal complete with antlers.  He blinked at us as if to say "what are YOU doing here?"  Then after a few moments just leapt through the hedge and disappeared.  Although we are surrounded by forest at home and see deer (and boar) regularly, I’ve never been close enough before to appreciate how big and magnificent they are.

The gite was once a farm and there is a barn full of ancient tractors and machinery jumbled amongst old furniture and other stuff.  It’s a brocanteur's paradise with loads of stuff that would "do up" nicely and fetch a small fortune.

At a brocante a few weeks ago we lashed out 8€ for an electric barbecue with our holiday in mind.  Often the barbecue provided can be rather unappealing so we brought our bargain with us but without high expectations.  It works really well, who would have thought it?!

Today we headed off to the coast, hoping for lunch, and were not disappointed.  We had misgivings as there is a lot of disruption caused by the strikes and protests going on all over France.  We spotted the occasional road block but were otherwise unaffected.

The weather is wet today and with that came a drop in temperature so the restaurant had its fire lit.

Hugo is getting used to accompanying us to lunch or dinner as we don’t like to leave him in the gite by himself.  He's well behaved but easily distracted.  He's learning and so are we.

 Lastly, as other bloggers that I read have reported, my page view count has suddenly gone through the roof.  Presumably due to AI activity of some sort but it’s hard to see how there would be anything to gain from it.  It’s all a mystery to me!