britTany
2003
After many years absence
I return to France for a holiday. For Nic it is her second visit
this year.
We had booked a week in
a gite in the countryside south of Mont St Michel. Tacking a few
days on at either end for transit and additional rubber-necking
made up to a fortnight away from home.
Instead of a return trip
at the Dover/Calais 'cattle-run' we opted to only return that
way and sailed out from Plymouth to Roscoff at the western end
of Brittany.
The journey to Plymouth
takes probably no longer than the dash and struggle round London
to the 'Channel Port/s' for travellers from the North-West of
England. In the event, with an overnight crossing, we were able
to opt for a leisurely drive down, away from the motorways where
they were most busy. Here at our stop for afternoon tea on the
River Wye ...
... just upstream from Tintern
Abbey, seen here from across the river. Time for a 'quick-pic'
but not for proper exploration, unfortunately. Some other time,
perhaps?
Here we are in Plymouth.
Having arrived in the early
evening we had some time for a little wander in the old town ...
... and by the harbour ...
... with HM Customs' fast
patrol boat 'Vigilant' seemingly bedded down for the night (no
action there, then) ...
... and to have a meal before
queueing to embark for our 2300 sailing.
I'm always fascinated by
the procedures and actions of leaving harbour, in fact by departures
generally and would have loved to have been able to capture something
of the dignified, purposeful and unobtrusive manner in which we
quit the bright lights of Plymouth Ferry Terminal, the city lights
across the water and passed by the more occasional navigation
lights and those of moored vessels as we swung out into the black
sea with the full canopy of stars now visible overhead.
A completely uneventful
voyage had us disembarking at Roscoff in the lightening dawn.
From alongside the Chapel of St Barbara (the patron saint of local
mariners) on a small headland overlooking the ferry terminal ...
... we were able to view
the sunrise
Continued
in Part II
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