A Potter Along the Pointe Du Raz

7/30/2019 A Potter Along the Pointe Du Raz

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A potter along the Pointe du Raz02/12/2012

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Ty Hir - our little piece of rural heaven in Brittany

Last weekend we made a short visit to beautiful Brittany. Brittany Ferries currently have alate autumn getawayofferfrom 99 return.

As we have put our house in the UK on the market, we decided to take advantage of the offer and move some of ourgear over to ourholiday homein Finistre. Not that we really needed an excuse to go back, we do miss our littlepiece of rural heaven when we are not there!

Andy enjoying dinner on the ferry Bretagne

Andy loaded up the car on the Friday and picked me up from work en-route to the ferry in Portsmouth. As usual wewere early but we boarded fairly quickly much to our great satisfaction.

My stomach was grumbling at the thought of the dinner that awaited us at theLa Baule, the self-service restaurant on
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theBretagne(my favourite ferry). I had the lamb tangine, it was a huge serving that melted in my mouth - yum!Naturally this was accompanied by a bottle of red which went down very well.

They take their food and drink very seriously at Brittany Ferries - you can even download their menus and wine listsin advance of your trip to plan your dining experience - how very civilised!

Mushroom magic at Ty Hir

We arrived at the gites late Saturday morning after a quick stop for a few essentials at theIntermarchesupermarketat Rostrenen. These naturally consisted mainly of wine and a treat from the patisserie.

I love the roads in Brittany, they just seem so quiet and traffic free compared to the UK, though you do have tocontend with the occasional tractor or two! A small price to pay methinks.

We discovered the last of the autumn mushroom crop lining our drive but resisted the temptation to try them fordinner - we will leave that to the experts!

The lounge of the Petit Longere with the fire roaring

After a couple of back breaking hours of digging out weeds we felt that we had earned our very tasty and tangy mille-feuille aux framboise from the patisserie - what a treat and just 3 for two of them, a bit of a bargain I'm sure you willagree!

Of course, now it's autumn, we were able to take full advantage of the lovely wood burner in thePetit Longre. Wewere happy to spend the evening snuggled up in front of the fire watching a bit of TV.
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Beach at the Anse du Cove on the Cap Sizun Peninsular

On the Sunday we set off early for the Cap Sizun peninsular at the far west end of Brittany. Our goal was Pointe duRaz which is most westerly mainland point in France. In summer it can be a bit busy and we were keen to discover itout of season.

Our first close encounter of the day with the sea was when we made a quick stop on a beach overlooking the Ansedu Loch. We were lucky that the sun decided to show its face. It gave a lovely warm glow to the cliffs overlooking theanse (cove).

Point du Raz with the Ile de Sein in the distance

Pointe du Razis the most visited tourist site in Brittany. During summer you have to pay to park by the Visitors Centrewhich is located 800m from the point itself but out of season parking is free.

It was a blustery day to say the least and some of the gusts of wind were nearly strong enough to knock us our feet -it made photography somewhat of a challenge! I did manage to get a few snaps before we headed to the moresheltered northern side of the point for a cliff top picnic lunch.
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Pointe du Raz coastal path to Baie des Trpasss

Having been entertained by the diving gannets as we enjoyed our baguettes, we set off towards the beach atthe Baie des Trpasss, 2.5kms away.

The name of this beautiful bay translates as Bay of the Dead. There are a number of legends which seek to explain

the name.

One story is that bodies of shipwrecked seaman were washed up here by strong currents.

Baie des Trpasss

Another tale tells that the dead were taken from the bay to the Druid Priestesses on the Isle of Sein which lie 8km offthe Pointe du Raz.

The bay is also thought by some to be the location of the lost city of Ys, the fabled ancient capital of the region.

From the cliff top path you descend to the wide sandy beach via some WW2 german bunkers. These have beendecorated in traditional French fashion - with graffiti.
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Phare de la Vieille lighthouse from the beach on the Bay of the Dead, Cap Sizun

Once down on the beautiful beach we found ourselves subjected to the full force of a strong sea breeze. We found aconvenient bench and enjoyed watching the powerful surf pounding on the shore. It was mesmerising.

The bay is normally very popular with local surfers but today it was a bit much for even those hardy souls.

We only saw one hardy wetsuit clad soul bobbing around in the waves. He didn't manage to successfully ride a wave

during our stay, not surprising considering the force of the wind.

As the sun began to set we slowly climbed back up the cliff and retraced our steps to the car park at the Pointe duRaz. This is definitely a highly recommended day trip from our gites, especially out of season, for stunning views withplenty of bracing sea air.

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Falling for 'Skyfall'06/11/2012

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Sorry, what was that? You were expecting a post about Brittany or house hunting in France? Quelle dommage!Today I thought I would share with you my thoughts on the new James Bond movieSkyfallwhich I saw on Sunday.

It is actually difficult to say too much without risking spoiling it for those of you who haven't seen the film yet. I was, ina previous life, something of a film buff. Having worked for a film distribution company, I was in the privileged positionof being able to see many movies before they went on general release, either in our private cinemas at work or atmulti-media premieres (or even a few royal premieres!). Thus I was rather spoilt in that the audiences were generallywell behaved and one could become completely absorbed in the entertainment unfolding on the screen with fewdistractions.

Since moving on from the world of film distribution I have become less and less enchanted with trips to the cinema.I've found that many people seem to think that they are in their front room (perhaps that is something to do with theever decreasing size of the auditoriums and screens), chatting, eating, kicking seats and generally being

obnoxious...or perhaps I've simply become a grumpy old woman!

Queues for 'Skyfall' at the Odeon Leicester Square

Anyway, let's say that I rarely go to the cinema nowadays as I've found that the experience ain't what it used to beand, of course, home entertainment systems have moved on leaps and bounds since the long gone days of myyouth...

I found myself in Leicester Square in central London on Sunday, having planned to see a show in the West End withmy mother-in-law. We failed dismally to achieve this as the selection of Sunday matinees on offer at theTKTSbooth(which used to be the Half Price Ticket Booth) were not to our taste (mental note - stick to Saturdays for the theatre!).
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So what to do on a wet Sunday afternoon in the West End? Go to the flicks of course! A huge poster for 'Skyfall'loomed above us on the facade of the Odeon Leicester Square cinema. Well, if you are going to see a blockbusterfilm that's the place to see it - after all it's the only cinema that I know that has a Wurlitzer organ!

I have seen a lot of positive press about the film, which always makes me suspicious, so I was prepared fordisappointment. It was a packed house and thankfully the wrapper rustling and general chitchat stopped as soon as

the lights went down for the main event - much to my relief!

Bond pursues the killer over the roof-tops of Istanbul

The first scene opens with a distorted image of a figure making it's way down a corridor, which we know is theubiquitous 007. The room into which he emerges is strewn with bloody bodies. Naturally it is set in an exotic location,Istanbul, we expect nothing less of Mr Bond.

Quickly a chase starts, through narrow streets, crowded markets and across roof-tops, the method of transportchanging rapidly from car to trailbike to train! Bond is desperate to retrieve a computer hard drive with top secretinformation on it, stolen by the assassin.

I am not going to say how the opening sequence ends but the words of theSkyfall theme songperformed and co-written by Adele now make sense - that's as much as I'm letting on!

Dame Judi Dench as M

Much of the focus in this Bond film is on M, played with vigor by Dame Judi Dench for seventh time. This time we getto see her come out from behind her desk and even handling a gun or two! Her past comes back to haunt her in themost horrific way, attacking the very heart of MI6 on the banks of the mighty river Thames.

A reluctant and dishevelled Bond returns from Turkey to track down the perpetrator of the atrocities in Istanbul andbring him to 'justice'. He meets with a new Q to be furnished with the tools for the job, a gun (a Walther PPK ofcourse) and a tracking device - that's it! Things have moved on, Q has gotten younger, a subject of much derisionfrom 007 and there are no exploding pens

Having found and unintentionally dispatching the assassin from Istanbul without retrieving information about themissing hard drive, in a masterpiece of cinematography using the bright lights of Shanghai, Bond goes on the hunt forthe madman who masterminded the attack on the MI6 headquarters.

A succession of more exotic locations are lavishly and lovingly displayed for our eyes to feast upon, the music
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swelling suitably as we fly over colourful enticing citiscapes and landscapes. Of course Mr Bond is ably assisted by asassy attractive female colleague, who flirts with him endlessly but I guess who wouldn't?

The Aston Martin DB5 makes a welcome return

Having found and caught the 'baddie' Silva, played amusingly and camply by Javier Bardem sporting a shockingperoxide blond barnet, the location moves back to London. The villan Silva proves to have had more forethought thananyone in MI6 ever suspected and manages to escape from under their noses with Bond in hot pursuit. Mayhem

rains in central London as a chase takes place on The Underground only for Silva to make good his escape.

From here the action moves to Scotland, with a homage to past Bonds when 007 drives M to safety in his AstonMartin DB5, complete with ejector seat button which James is sorely tempted to use at one point. 2012 marks the50th year of Bond on the silver screen and I thought that this was a nice touch (I have to admit that Goldfinger is myfavourite Bond movie too!).

I am not going to tell you what happens in Scotland except that this is where this story ends in spectacular fashion, inmore ways than one!

I am so glad that I went to see the cinema to see this film. I think that Daniel Craig makes the perfect Bond, harkingback to the darker black humour of the Connery days brought up to date in the 21st century. This Bond though hasless love interests which is no bad thing in my opinion, give me more action any time! A little bonus was RalphFiennes making a cameo appearance and not playing a baddie which makes a nice change

If you can, try to see it on a full size screen and leave your brain at home, this is pure entertainment that carries youalong effortlessly for a fully engaging 142 minutes. James Bond will return and if it is anything like Skyfall then I can'twait!

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Making offers on properties in France31/10/2012

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Carnac-plage, Morbihan, Brittany - autumnal sunset

Apologies again for the delay in posts, we've been back to Brittany since my last post!

Lots going on at work too so have been a bit distracted recently with one thing and another. Hopefully things willsettle down a bit now and I'll be a bit more regular - so to speak! Still getting used to the dark evenings now the clockshave gone back - roll on Spring hey?

Autumn is a lovely time to visit Brittany, especially if there is an Indian summer. The roads are even quieter thanusual and you can have the beaches all to yourself - what's not to love?

The heather clad Monts dArre in Finistre, Brittany

So, to recap, during our house hunting trip to France in January 2011 we had seen two properties that we really likedin Finistre in western Brittany and had returned home to plan our next move.

We decided to make an offer on the house with the lovely garden nearMonts dArre. This was the one that we hadfound through the notaire's office in Huelgoat.

We spent a long time putting together our offer, taking into consideration the fact that the electrics needed replacing,as did the kitchen and bathroom, some of the windows were damaged, the chimneys needed repointing and it wasextremely likely that we would need to put in a new fosse septique which was not going to be cheap!

Based on our research and knowledge of the local market we felt it was a fair offer with a little room to manoeuvre,bearing in mind that the vendors were English and they never accept the first offer do they? It's just not cricket!
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The lake at Huelgoat, Finistere

We also mentioned that we were in a strong position to buy as we did not have to sell a property and already had a'Decision in Principle' from a number of French banks, so we knew that we would be able to get a mortgage. Afterchasing the agent a few times (nothing ever happens quickly in France!) we were told that the vendor was notprepared to accept our offer and would we increase our offer - which we duly did.

Again after more chasing we finally received a response to our second offer which befuddled us somewhat. They

were not only refusing our offer, they were putting the price up by 10,000! Sacre bleu! We came to the conclusionthat they didn't really want to sell, after all why had the previous sale failed? We gathered that there was anotherfailed offer prior to that. So we decided to cut our losses and move on to the second property.

River Ellez, Finistere, Brittany

The second property was the one near Plouy which consisted of two houses that were being let as gites. The lovelyriver Ellez is just a short stroll away at the bottom of a small hill.

Again we put in a carefully considered offer with a bit of room for negotiation (another English vendor!). The estateagents fees, which are paid by the purchaser, were higher on this property than first one as the notaires tend tocharge less the private estate agents. Also, we were buying the furnishings so we had to decide what we thought

they were worth.

Our first offer was rejected (as expected) so we upped our offer saying it was final one. After the normal toing andfroing the offer was accepted and the panic, I mean celebrations began.
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View towards Plouy from Ty Hir

The next thing was to apply for a mortgage. As we wanted a euro mortgage from a bank in France we decided to usean English speaking mortgage broker. He was extremely helpful, offering us several options and also helping us toset up a French bank account which was a priority as we now had a deposit to pay!

The mortgage process in France differs to that of the UK. Many UK lenders operate on income multiples whenassessing lending amounts. In France, lenders must consider affordability very carefully due to consumer law. It is left

to each lender to determine what is and what is not "affordable". In general the principle applied in France is that totaloutgoings (debt ratio) are not allowed to exceed 33% of gross income.

In the end we opted for a mortgage with BNP Paribas who have a specialistInternational Buyersdepartment. Ourmortgage offer was in English so there were no mysterious paperwork for us to have to interpret. It was all verystraightforward and we had our offer confirmed in a couple of days.

We also set up a bank account withAXA Banquewhich also has an English speaking department and we have beenvery pleased with the service so far.

The entrance to the "Chaos" in the Forest of Huelgoat

The next thing was for the estate agent in Huelgoat to work with the vendor to organise the mandatory diagnosticreports as mentioned in earlier posts. This includes surveys on the electrics, energy efficiency and waste waterdrainage amongst other things.

The land needed to split by a surveyor or a 'Geomtre' as the vendor owned another property and other land on theplot. This would involve a new plan cadastral being drawn up to show the new boundaries. Aplan cadastralis theFrench equivalent of the land registry in the UK. All departmental areas in France are divided up into numbered plotsand when you buy a property in France its boundaries are identified by the place name and its individual cadastralnumber. The cadastre plans literally tell you what you are going to purchase, so it's very important to study themcarefully before making an offer.
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So the paperwork waiting game began as ever in the property buying process, wherever you are in the world!

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House Hunting in Brittany - part deux26/09/2012

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Barfleur, Normandy

Sorry it's been a while! We had a lovely week and a half in Brittany enjoying the Indian Summer and then it wasstaight back to work, so it's been difficult to find time to write.

We discovered a number of new sights during our recent trip and I will share some of these with you in future posts.

As a teaser, here is a picture of the lovely fishing port of Barfleur in Normandy where we went for a little wanderbefore boarding our ferry in nearby Cherbourg. Guillaume le Btard set sail from here in 1066 becoming William theConqueror after his successful invasion of England. We will definitely be returning there in the future, if only to seewhat it looks like when the tide is in!

The lakeside town of Huelgoat in Finistere, Brittany

So, back to the continuing saga of our last house hunting trip to Brittany in the winter of 2011. Briefly, we had viewedtwo properties nearHuelgoatin the Brittany's most westerly department of Finistre that we liked enough to want to
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see a second time.

On the sixth day of our visit, we returned to the property that was made up of two houses that were being let as gites.There was no need to collect the key as it was conveniently already at the property so we could visit at our leisureand spend a much time as we liked. We managed to find our way back to the tiny hamlet without any diversions, onlyto discover there was already someone at the house.

A photographic record of the beams in the gites

We introduced ourselves to the lovely Englishman who was busy installing additional insulation in the smaller house.It turned out that he and his wife were caretakers for the property, his wife did the changeovers for guests and he cutthe lawn and also did minor maintenance jobs on the properties. It turned out to be quite a happy co-incidence for usthat he was there. After a bit of quizzing we let him get on with his job whilst we examined the property in minutedetail.

Andy took loads of pictures, often getting me to pose with my bright red frosted nose (this was the middle ofJanuary...) in front of the beamed ceilings so we would have a record of their relative heights for the future.

After a good couple of hours we had absorbed as much as possible with regards to the property so we set off toexplore the immediate area, again making a photographic record (what would we do without digital camerashey?). We found the closest source of bread and milk, looked for any evidence of developments might interfere withthe enjoyment of the property, i.e. wind farms, poultry farms, pig farms, nuclear plants etc. In the event we didn't findanything to put us off and it became a serious contender.

The main square in Huelgoat


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The next day we to returned to the second property with the lovely garden, again unaccompanied as the immobilierwas busy (c'est dommage!). We were entrusted with the keys and instructions on how to switch on the electrics andagain managed to find our way to the house without getting lost.

Time passed quickly as we explored the property and the grounds, Andy again taking photos aplenty, though I didn'thave to pose with the beams this time as headroom wasn't an issue.

We loved it just as much the second time around and I was particularly taken by the garden, it was simply a joy!Again we explored the local area, finding the closest shops and amenities and looking for anything that might proveproblematic when living there in the future. Nothing came to our notice but we knew that we would have to do furtherresearch when we retuned to the UK. We returned to the Notaire's office in Huelgoat with a list of questions, told themthat we were interested and would be in touch soon!

Notre Dame de Rocmadour in Camaret on the Crozon Peninsular in winter

The following day we spent exploring the Crozon Peninsular. This spectacular peninsular lies at the far westernextreme of Brittany and it's coastline is a mixture of dramatic cliffs and white sandy beaches The weather gods werekind and we had crisp blue skies all day to frame our pictures.

That night we packed our bags ready for our return journey to the UK via Caen the next day - this time a daycrossing.

Enroute to Caen we stopped in the well preserved medieval walled town of Dinan in the Ctes-d'Armor.

Unfortunately, we were in such a hurry we didn't get to see the historic centre or the old port but we did manage aquick walk around the walls and caught a glimpse of the Chteau de Dinan which was pretty impressive. It went onour list of places to revisit as we headed to the ferryport. On the 6 hour crossing to Portsmouth we had plenty of timeto discuss what we had seen and what we wanted to do next - there was a lot to think about!


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Chteau de Dinan, Dinan, Ctes-d'Armor, Brittany

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House Hunting in Brittany and Diagnostic Reports05/09/2012

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A flurry of activity today in the Richardson household as we prepare for another trip to beautiful Brittany (well Andy ispacking the car while I work from home...).

We will be travelling on theBrittany Ferriesship the Bretagne from Portsmouth to St Malo. We have some lovelyfriends coming to stay with us and we are looking forward to sharing our knowledge of the area as well as theoccasional bottle of wine with them.

It looks like the weather is going to be great as we seem to be experiencing an Indian Summer at the moment. It will

be a great chance to catch up with some of the friends that we have made in Brittany. Our house and cat sitters willbe arriving soon and then it will be time to set off to the ferry port for a very civilised overnight trip. Watch out for postson the new places we discover over the next week and a bit.

Crozon Peninsular in Winter - it's not always grey in Winter in Brittany

So, once again, back to our second house hunting trip to Brittany in the Winter of 2011.

Having sat up long into the night over a bottle of red (or two!) discussing the properties we had already seen, we
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decided to view the property with the worrisome beams again. The next morning we headed into Huelgoat to see theimmobiliere, stopping to look at the properties displayed in the window of the local notaire.

As Ive mentioned before, notaires also act as as estate agents and their fees are normally less than a private estateagent. A familiar looking property caught my eye, it was one that I had seen and liked on the notaires websitepreviously but it had been marked as sold prior to our trip. Apparently it was back on the market ooh la la!

Lagatjar megalithic alignments, Crozon Peninsular in Winter

We stepped into the reception area and nervously tried to work out what we wanted to say in French as thereceptionist dealt with another English customer. Whilst the receptionist went off to deal with something else heturned to us, rightly assessing that we were fellow countrymen.He then proceeded to share the most intimate detailsof his recent marriage breakup in the space of five minutes phew! We subsequently bumped into him a number oftimes during a stay, where upon he continued his tale of woe - we started to think that he was stalking us, though hewas probably just lonely.

We managed to make the receptionist understand that we wanted to view the property and she arranged for one ofthe estate agents to come and speak with us. Happily, his English was much better than our French. We did persist intrying to use to French where possible, though I'm not sure that this was entirely helpful. There are a lot of British ex-pats around Huelgoat so I guess that the locals are used to dealing with 'Les Anglais'.

Les Tas de Pois (pile of peas), Crozon Peninsula in Winter

Yannick, our guide, was free that morning and even had the keys (not always a given as there often seems to be onlyone key available to a property which is on the market with numerous agents. Dont assume you can just turn up anddo a viewing on spec!).
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It turned out that the property had indeed been under offer back in October so he had a lot of information to hand.This included the plethora of diagnostic technique survey reports that are required as part of a house sale inFrance. There are a number of obligatory surveys which the seller of a property has to have carried out. These arenot the same as a structural building survey that are normally a requirement of mortgage lenders in the UK. You canfind out more about property surveys on theNotaires de France Property Surveyswebsite. The some of the requiredsurveys are:

Energy performance - Diagnostic de performance nergtiqueNatural and technological risks - Etat des risques naturels et technologiquesAsbestos - Dossier AmiantePaint containing lead - Constat des risques d'exposition au plombGas Diagnostic GazElectricity Diagnostic ElectricitEnergy Efficiency - Diagnostic Performance Energtique (DPE)Termites/fungal &Insect (larvae) related damage - Diagnostic Termites/Etat ParasitaireWaste Water Drainage - Assainissement Non Collectif for properties not on mains drainage

These surveys are collectively referred to as the Dossier de Diagnostic Technique (DDT).

Plougonven Calvary in the Monts D'Arree

Soon we were on the road following the immobilier through the wintery landscape of the Landes du Cragou moors inthe Monts d'Arre. The house stood off a small country lane with only one other property opposite it. As soon as I sawthe longere it took my breath away. It was only the second time since we had been looking at properties that Iimmediately felt that it might be 'The One'.

It was situated on a gentle slope overlooking a wooded valley. It appeared a solid stone building with lots ofcharacter. The lounge had a huge open granite fireplace and there was a separate large dining room and three largebedrooms. The kitchen and bathroom were small and dated. The bathroom in particular was unappealing, being abrown 70's job with one of the silly little sit up and beg baths that the French seem to love.

The garden was a joy, made up of nooks and crannies, with a little hedged maze, two orchards, a beautiful stone

well, plenty of outbuildings and a ruined cottage that had been turned into a delightful sitting area including little pondwith a fountain. There was also a large stone barn attached to the property that potentially could be turned into a giteif we decided to go down that route.
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Parc naturel rgional d'Armorique in the Monts d'Arre

The only problem was that they had been unable to find the inspection points for a fosse septique when they came todo the diagnostic reports, so we didn't know the state of it or even if there was a proper one installed! We could smellsome sewerage though as there was ventilation outlet was right by the back door - nice!

Also, there was no access to the roof space so we couldn't check not the state of the roof beams. Still I have to admitthat I loved it and Andy seemed to be taken by it too!

With the short winter day drawing in we headed back into the Huelgoat and arranged a seconding viewing theproperty with the two gites. This was in fact which was the whole reason we had gone into Huelgoat that morning inthe first place, though we had nearly forgotten that in our excitement about the house that we had just seen!

Another wine imbued evening followed with much discussion and analysis of the pros and cons of the the latestproperty. By bedtime we knew that we would be going back for second visit!

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London 2012 Paralympic Games - our visit on Day 1 to theswimming finals!01/09/2012

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A smiling Games Maker shows the way to the entrance

I just wanted to share with you some of our experiences from of our trip to see the swimming on the first day of theParalympic Games in London last Thursday.

We were lucky enough to get tickets for the swimming finals in the Aquatics Centre in the evening. We planned to

arrive early so we could explore the Olympic Park and soak up the atmosphere.

Despite been nearly being blown off our feet by some strong gusts of wind on arrival, there was a great feeling ofexcitement engendered by the smiling faces of the Games Makers as we made our way to the entrance from theStratford tube stop.

Us outside the Aquatics Centre at the Olympic Park

Having made sure that we only had one soft bag each without any liquids as instructed, we passed quickly throughthe security check point. There were no queues and they were manned by some charming soldiers who wished us agreat evening.

A cheery Games Maker kindly offered to take a photo of us outside the Aquatics Centre. As you can see it was a weebit grey and windy but that didn't dampen anyone's spirits!

Once inside I naturally headed to one of the smaller London 2012 stores to buy myself the obligatory souvenirs, in mycase a t-shirt and fridge magnet. Andy was content with a program as his souvenir. Glad that we didn't go to theMegastore after I saw the long queues for that on the telly!


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Andy took this great photo which shows the spirit of the crowds entering the Olympic Park

View down the River Lea towards the Orbit & Aquatics Centre

The 115 metre high Orbit, which we didn't manage to get tickets to despite much trying, dominates the Olympic Park.

It looks like a giant theme park ride and I'm sure that the view must be amazing. The lift takes just 30 seconds toreach the viewing platform which is 85 metres high.

If the weather allows, you can enjoy a self-guided walk around the beautifully landscaped waterways of the OlympicPark. The Parks is surrounded by meadows, trees and flowers.
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As you can see in the photo above, the skies were very threatening and they finally unleashed their burden. Wemade a quick dash to the Aquatics Centre, which fortunately just had just opened, not before getting a quick soakthough!
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Victory ceremony Women's 100m Backstroke - S6

The atmosphere was electric as the crowd counted down the last ten seconds to the kickoff of the evening's events.

Every race was a final so as you can imagine the air was zinging with anticipation.

The first race was the Men's 100m Backstroke - S6 final. This was won by Tao Zheng from China in a World Recordtime - what an exciting start to the evening! The next race, the Women's version of the preceding event, was alsowon by Chinese competitor, Dong Lu, again in World Record time. Neither of these gold medallists had arms and Taoused his head to stop - truly amazing stuff!

Great Britain also got their first swimming medal in the Women's 100m Backstroke - S6 race, a silver for NyreeKindred who is married to British Paralympic swimmer Sascha Kindred. She was the first British competitor in thepool that evening so you can imagine the roar as she came home to take her silver.

Women's 400m Freestyle -S12 Victory Ceremony

The next Paralympics GB interest was Hannah Russell who hails from our own neck of the woods in Guildford. Againthe crowd went wild as she made her entrance, though to be fair every swimmer was cheered and clappedenthusiastically as they emerged into the stadium.

Schoolgirl Hannah is only 16 and sat her GSCEs earlier this year. She had been aiming to compete at Rio 2016 buther natural talent and hard work had enabled her to compete in London. Hannah took silver in the Women's 400mFreestyle -S12 and I later read that, because she has a visual impairment, she didn't actually know how she hadplaced until she got out of the pool - though the reaction of the crowd gave her a hint that it might have beensomething special.


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Jonathan Fox in the red cap going for gold!

The highlight of the evening for us had to be when 22 year old Jonathan Fox sent the crowd into a frenzy by winningthe first gold medal for GB in the pool.

Now, despite being verbose on here, I am not what you would call a loud person. I found myself joining in with thecrowd yelling at the top of my lungs (and being drowned out!) as Jonathan drew towards the finishing line inthe Men's 100m Backstroke - S7 final. The noise was deafening and my ears were ringing afterwards as Jonathansaluted the crowd.

The Union Jack takes centre stage for Jonathan Fox

Jonathan was given a Rubik's Cube by his gran when he competed in his first World Championships in 2006. Heuses it to help calm his nerves before competing in major events. Seems like a good for of distraction to me!

Hard on the heels of Jonathan's victory was a gold for Australia from Jacqueline Freney in the Women's 100mBackstroke - S7 final. Jacqueline, who was born with cerebral palsy, set a new Paralympic Record.

Subsquently I got to sing my second national anthem of the evening in quick succession, strangely enough most ofthe crowd around me didn't seem to know the words to Advance Australia Fair...


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Half empty Aquatics Centre for the last Victory Ceremony

One thing we were surprised by was the amount of empty seats. We estimated the the Aquatics Centre must havebeen around 80% full. Considering the trouble that I had actually getting hold of the tickets, I felt for the people whohad missed out on being there. I have quite a few friends who had tried for tickets without success.

The situation was made worse by spectators heading off early so that the last round of victory ceremonies were heldin front of a half full stadium. This must have been pretty disappointing for the medallists, though I have to say thenoise level seemed to remain the same - extra loud!

The Olympic Park in London at night

So, having had a fantastic evening, we were guided out of by lines of high-fiving Games Makers who had the crowdcheering as they poured towards the exits. Everyone was buzzing and the rain had stopped which was even better!

We approached the journey home with some trepidation due to the sheer number of people who were leaving. In theevent, the only delays were as we both stopped to take pictures. We got straight onto the Jubliee Line withoutqueuing, both a got a seat and waited about four minutes before the train left the station. Then it was straight onto theoverground at Waterloo, seated again - a very smooth and easy journey home.

If you are wanting to go to the Paralympics then I would highly recommend it - a truly moving and inspiring event.Keep an eye out for ticket releases on the officialLondon 2012 website- you never know - you just might get some!
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Heading home from the Olympic Park

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Return to our second property hunt in Brittany - finally!29/08/2012

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Winter in Brittany - Menhir Qulnec,Ctes-d'Armor

So after a hiatus of a few of months I am finally ready to return to our French property hunt. My last post on this, backin June, was about our second visit to Brittany as part of "The Search" for a place in France. We had just arrived inthe depths of winter and had already seen, and been disappointed by, our first property in the Cotes-d'Armor.
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We awoke to a dark and frosty morning on the second day of our trip. We had arranged to see a converted longre ina hamlet near Berrien which lies within theAmorique National Park. A Longre, which translates as longhouse, is along single storey rectangular property commonly found in the north of France. They are usually made out of granitewith a slate roof. This was a private sale and the vendor, who was based in the UK, had arranged for some friends ofhis to show us around.

To reach the property, which was tucked away behind another property so it took us a while to find, we had to use ashared driveway. It looked lovely from the outside but we had to step over some sandbags to gain entrance and therehad obviously been some flooding not a good start!

Lac St-Michel overlooked by Montagne-St-Michel

Unfortunately the conversion had been carried out cheaply and had not been finished off properly (this fact hadntbeen mentioned in the details, nor the shared driveway). The layout had not been well thought out and wasall higgledy-piggledy, it simply didn't flow. If the price had been right the best thing to do would have been to rip it allout and start again, but it was priced as a finished product. We told the couple then and there our thoughts to thiseffect and they agreed.

We thanked them for their time and headed off to do a bit of exploring starting with a picnic lunch by Lac St Michel.

The reservoir is overlooked by Montagne-St-Michel in theMonts d'Arre, a slight misnomer as the highest point isonly 384 metres, but that is just splitting hairs now isn't it? In the afternoon we stopped in Sizun where discovered ourfirst parish close orenclos paroissial.These impressive edifices are a feature of this area of Brittany.

A detail of the Ossuary or Charnel House at the Parish Close of Sizun
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The following morning we had arranged two appointments to see some more converted longeres. Both of these weremade up of two properties and they were at the very top of our budget. This time we were seeing them with a localestate agent based inHuelgoat.

In the event, we were unable to see one of the properties as the owner (who was in residence) had been unwell andthus unable to tidy up the property in preparation for our visit could we delay it? Yes of course we could.Unfortunately she never was in a position to show us the property for the duration of our visit. Naturally our

conclusion was that she didnt really want to sell.

Those worrisome beams...

The second property, which we did manage to see, had really been a last minute addition to our list. Looking at thephotos on the immobilires website the beams in one of the bedrooms look rather low and Andy had dismissed it onthis basis. I thought it was worth a look so we had requested to see it the day before we caught the ferry.

When we arrived onsite, it was apparent that there was work being done in the smaller of the two houses, additionalinsulation was being installed - this seemed like good news!. We found both properties spacious and well situated

and the worrisome beams were not as low as they had appeared in the photos. We particularly liked the mezzaninefloor overlooking the lounge in the larger building and the exposed stonework and beams - and all the space, bothinside and outside!

The conversion appeared to have been well done and the garden was, if a bit of a wilderness at the back, a blankcanvas. We spent a good hour going over both properties, taking loads of pictures!
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Andy enjoys a picnic in Huelgoat Forest

We returned to Huelgoat with the agent, bought some baguettes at the boulangerie in the main square and headedinto the Forest of Huelgoat for another chilly picnic. We should have realised something was afoot by the number ofcars parked by our picnic site. The horns and the baying of dogs in the distance soon gave the game away therewas a hunt taking place in the forest! Soon a group of high visibility jacket clad hunters emerged from the forest,bemused by the sight of us happily picnicking as Ive previously mentioned on my blog back in May. Be warned, lachasse is a very common sight in the French countryside in winter!

After our encounter with the hunt, we headed off to Berrien to rendezvous with an independent agent by thechurchyard. He was to take us to view a property in a secret location! You will find that many agents will not tell youthe exact location of their properties in advance which makes things a bit difficult when you are trying to do researchin advance. I think this is because they are worried that you might find it privately and cut them out of the equationwhich I guess is fair enough, if not a little frustrating.

Winter sunset on the coast of northern Brittany

We met the agent at the appointed time and place, and proceeded to follow him to the large hamlet where we hadviewed the first longere the previous day. First thing we notice is that there was no proper off road parking, just a

small piece of land at the front of the house (which was actually the side as it was adjacent to the road). There was agated driveway but was too narrow to actually get a car through. The property was a stone farmhouse with anattached longere which had been converted into additional accommodation.

It was hemmed in on both sides by other houses and one looked directly into the farmhouse this is not what wewere looking for a in country property! Along with the property came a large field which, with no access other than viathe driveway that wasnt a driveway!

This being the last viewing of the day, we decided to head north and explore the coast around Morlaix. Weaccidentally discovered the Cairn de Barnenez, Europes oldest and largest megalithic mausoleum. Unfortunately itwas closed (being a Monday in winter) but we put it on our list for a return visit in the future. As the evening started todraw in we enjoyed a winter sunset on the coast before returning to enjoy the wood burner in our cosy apartment.

Cairn de Barnenez
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Lastly, on a very exciting note, theParalymics 2012 Opening Ceremony is just about to kick off so I am going toretire with a glass of wine. We will be able to sit up and enjoy the show as we are both off tomorrow as, after weeks oftrying, we have tickets to see the swimming finals tomorrow evening - yipee!

We have our flags at the ready and can't wait, we are so lucky to have a chance to join in this amazing event. Lookforward to a post about our trip in the next couple of days.

Bonne nuit!

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Boot Fairs, vide-greniers and a view in Avranches22/08/2012

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Sunday morning boot fair on the A3 near Guildford

Going slightly off piste today so to speak, as I want to talk about the subject of boot fairs. In the past we have done acouple of car boot stalls and they have been quite successful, if a little scary (the first one was quite unnerving when
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we had dealers swarming all over the car whilst we were trying to set up - not a fun experience!).

When we bought the gites we noticed that they were lacking certain things, in particular thePetit Longre which wasmissing a dining table! As you can imagine, buying the gites had left our savings somewhat depleted and the additionof a second mortgage meant that we really needed spend our money wisely - thus a serious interest in boot fairs hasdeveloped over the last 18 months.You can find a lot of tat at boot fairs (I'd be fascinated to know if anyone ever buys a second hand video cassette - I

certainly see plenty of them lying forlornly in boxes), but there are also lots of good quality items to be had, usually atbargain prices. There are many stallholders who are downsizing or relocating so need to have a clear out. That's howwe found our dining table which conveniently just fitted in the back of my car - phew!

I love reading and haven't yet joined the e-book generation (though this may not be far off as old age kicks in andprint gets smaller!) so it's a great source of new reading material. It's wonderful to be introduced to new authors byenthusiastic car booters. The best bit is, once I've read the books, I take them to France so our guests can enjoythem too! We have found guide books, maps and dictionaries so the gites are now well supplied with these as well asloads of DVDs and CDs.

What I don't understand, is when stallholders have of gone to the trouble of getting up at the crack of dawn to loadtheir vehicles, only to dump their wares unceremoniously in bags and boxes on the ground so they can't be easilyseen. Admittedly, if you have the time and inclination to sift through these piles you can often uncover some hiddentreats, but why oh why go to all this trouble (and cost - it is usually around 10 for a stall) and then not make the effortto display things properly?

A vide-grenier or car boot fair in France

My tip regarding pricing to new stallholders is take a look around at other stalls and gauge what similar items areselling for. Many's the time I have seen newbies overpricing their books, CDs and DVDs, thinking in terms of whatthey paid for them originally and not what your average bargain hunter is willing to pay, only having to pack them upand take them back home again. These people are most likely to be the ones who will have spent any earnings onnick nacks they have found at the fair or down at the burger van. Still, it is a pleasant way to spend a sunny Sunday

morning, you never know what you are going to come home with!

A car boot sale is called a 'vide-grenier' in France. This means 'empty attic' and normally consistsof villagers selling unwanted, accumulated 'jumble' from their homes. It is atime for the whole village to socialize, catch up with local gossip, have a funday and maybe make a bob or two while doing it. They are often associated with a locatefete or festival.

We haven't actually made it to a vide-grenier yet. We had planned to visit one in June but the poor weather meant
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that was cancelled much to our disappointment. Our next trip to Brittany is in a few weeks time and we are armed and

ready with our copy of the'Calendrier des brocantes et vide-greniers - Bretagne 2012' which lists all of the secondhand events all over Brittany - easily available in newsagents and supermarkets. If you plan to hunt out a pre-lovedbargain when you visit France you will find a guide on where to find them on ourVide-greniers, Brocantes, Marchsaux Puces & Depot Ventespage.

Mont-St-Michel across the salt marshes

So very quickly back to the last day of our trip to Brittany in June. After our visit to Mont-St-Michel and lunch with thesheep, we slowly traced our way west around the huge bay, stopping to take in the differing vistas of the Mont as itreceded into the distance.

Notre Dame des Champs, Avranches

From the bay we climbed steeply to visit the hilltop town of Avranches. It is dominated by the twin towers of the 19thcentury Gothic Revial church of Notre Dame des Champs.

Avranches was bombed by the Allies as part of the Normandy Landings campaign in 1944 in order to cut off Germanreinforcements. A few days before the bombing, leaflets were dropped over Avranches, inviting people to "get awayfor a few days". On Wednesday, June 7 a squadron of Allied bombers dropped its deadly cargo on the city destroyinglarge areas including the Old Town. Fires ravaged the city and the roof of Notre-Dame-des-Champs was destroyed.
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There are pictures of this event displayed in the church which also has a beautiful pair of matching holy water fontsmade from giant clam shells.

Jardin des plantes d'Avranches

Just down the hill from the church is the lovely Jardin des plantes d'Avranches. This garden was created in 1766. In1800 two botanists, Jean Le Chevalier & Ren Le Berriays, who were responsible for the variety of pear called LaLuise-Bonne d'Avranches, introduced 800 new species and 2,400 plants.

In 1944 the garden was destroyed during the bombing raid. Since 1966 there has been a ongoing restoration projectin place. The highlight of a visit to the garden is a view point looking towards Mont St-Michel. A tranquil place to breakthe journey to the ferry at Cherbourg.

View of Mont St-Michel from le Jardin des plantes d'Avranches

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Le Mont-Saint-Michel - ooh la la!15/08/2012

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The Grand Longre at Ty Hir

Firstly, I would like to mention that we are currently offering 10% off our normal rates for any stays at our gites at TyHir in September and October. This is for both theGrand Longreand thePetit Longre. You can check ourremaining free dates here:Availability.

Autumn is the perfect time to explore this lovely part of Brittany. We have wood burners in each property just in case

it should get a bit nippy in the evening - of course a glass or two of red wouldn't hurt either...

We have a dedicated board onPinterestwhich is regularly updated with our special offers and late deals which youcan find here:Special Offers & Late Deals at Ty Hir.

Le Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy

Returning to our trip to Brittany in June, on the very last day on our way to catch the ferry at Cherbourg, we visited thestunning Mont-St-Michel just over the border in Normandy. This was one of the first sites to obtain a UNESCO WorldHeritage listing.

The Mont is dominated by anabbeydedicated to St Michael which has existed on the 80 m high outcrop since the 8thcentury. It is located at the end of a 2 km causeway in the middle of a wide sweeping bay.

La Baie du Mont-Saint-Michelis famous for its highly prized plumpBouchot mussels. 'Moules de bouchot de la baiedu Mont-Saint-Michel' have been granted protected origin status by the EU and are shipped throughout France.
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La Baie du Mont Saint-Michel

View over Mont-St-Michel bay to the salt marshes

The Mont is one of France's most popular tourist destinations, welcoming around three and a half million visitors ayear. Things had changed somewhat since our last (and first) visit to the Mont back in November 2010. That was aflying visit on our way back to Caen for the ferry and all we had time for was a quick walk to the main entrance to takefew photos. We were mightly impressed and planned a return visit. On that visit, we were able to drive along thecauseway to the foot of the rock, carefully noting the signs warning us which car parks were liable to flooding by theincoming tides!

This time, well before we reached the Mont itself, there were signs directing us to a brand new car park on themainland. The new parking facilities are part of a multi-million euro project to restore the maritime character of theMont. The plan is that it will eventually once again become an island at high tide. To facilitate this, they areremoving the sediment that has accumulated around Mont-Saint-Michel over many years. They are also improvingthe flow of the Couesnon river which enters the bay here by constructing hydraulic weirs which work with the tides. A

new dam has already been created. Work began in 2005 and it due to be completed by 2015. It will be interesting tosee it progress over the next few years.


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A view of Mont-St-Michel in the distance from the new car park

The causeway to Mont-St-Michel that is to be demolished

The current causeway will be replaced by a footbridge which will allow the tide to f low naturally. The Mont itself is now

reached either by foot from the new car park or via a shuttle bus. Private vehicles are no longer allowed direct accessto the island.

We caught one of the new buses to the Mont. These had piqued our interest as they have a drivers cab at each end -I had been puzzling over how they would turn these around on the narrow causeway road, thinking that it wouldprobably take me a 10 point turn. We watched, fascinated, as a bus drew up and the driver got out, walked to theother end of the bus and then hopped into the second driver's seat - genius!

If you want to find out more about this amazing project then take a look at their website:Projet Mont-Saint-Michel.
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Monument, St-Pierre cemetery, Mt-St-Michel

We arrived at the Mont around 10am on a Sunday morning and it was already busy. You enter the medieval town viathe Boulevard Gate and then after passing through the Kings Gate, fortified with its portcullis, you will find the'Grande Rue' which despite its name, is a narrow street that is lined with museums, shops and houses dating fromthe 15th and 16th centuries.

The small parish church of St-Pierre, the patron saint of fishermen, can be found on your left as you climb up towardsthe abbey which sits majestically at the top of the rocky outcrop.

The steep 'Grande Degre' or grand staircase leads you on up towards the entrance of the Abbey church. From hereyou can enjoy panoramic views over the bay and ramparts.

LAbbaye du Mont Saint Michel

We decided to give the Abbey a miss as it was rather busy. We know that we can always come back at a quieter timeof year now we have our place in France. Instead, we worked our way around the ramparts, the crowds thinning thefurther up we climbed. I was going mad with the camera, stopping every few minutes as another fantastic view


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revealed itself.

I exchanged a few words with another snap happy tourist from Canada. He hadn't been to the Mont for over 20 years- we agreed that the we were lucky to have such a lovely cornflower blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds to frameour shots.

Andy captures the view. There are plenty of steps to keep you fit!

After an hour or so of soaking up the views we started to wend our way slowly back down to the entrance via amyriad of narrow stone stairs.

Rejoining the massed throngs at the main gate we caught the packed shuttle bus back to the mainland, stoppingatLa Brioche Doreat the entrance to the causeway to pick up our supplies for lunch, which surprisingly, if you haveread my previous posts, included baguettes! The great thing about La Brioche Dore is that they have viennoiseries

so you can also indulge your sweet tooth (in this a case a tarte au citron et pain au chocolat) if you so desire!

Leaving the car park, having paid the8,50 parking fee, we headed east in the general direction of the CotentinPeninsula, at the top of which lies the port of Cherbourg. We were keeping an eye out for somewhere to have ourpicnic lunch with a view of the island we had just left. We soon found the perfect place with picnic benches lookingtowards the Mont - what more could you ask for?

After our Francophile feast, we went for a stroll over the beckoning salt marshes. Normandy is famous for its 'Agneaude Pr-sal' or Salt Marsh Lamb which graze on these seemingly endless salt marshes. The meat from the lamb hasa unique flavour and tenderness (apparently, we haven't tried it yet - next time!). Except for the inquisitive and slightlynervous sheep, we had the place to ourselves as the no-one else ventured further than the picnic area, some noteven leaving their cars to eat their lunch. This seemed slightly silly to us as their view was blocked by a hedge buthey, each to their own as they say...

We had a fantastic view of the Mont looming on the horizon accompanied only by our woolly companions. We felt so

lucky as it's not everyday you get to see a sight like this, though we do hope to see it a few more times as we travel toand from Brittany in the coming years - hopefully some of you will get to see it too!
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Mont-Saint-Michel across the salt marshes surrounded by the famous 'pr-sal' lambs

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Bye bye Brittany, again and Team GB Goldrush!08/08/2012

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Preparing a Breton lobster - by Jude

For my return to the UK from my most recent trip to Brittany, I decided to take the overnight ferry from Roscoff toPlymouth so I could get the benefit of nearly a whole day at the gites.Roscoffis only an hour's drive from Ty Hir andit was a great chance to see what the drive from Plymouth back to Surrey was like.

My friend Jude, who has a holiday home in Roscoff, kindly invited me to stop for dinner with her lovely family on myway to the ferry. Jude writes a cookery blog where she shares her favourite recipes, in particular Breton seafoodspecialities. You can read her delicious blog here:A Trifle Rushed.
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A place to sit in the garden and enjoy the view over our valley

After spending my last morning trying to find some plugs to replace some broken ones in theGrand Longere(notnecessarily an easy task in France as I found out!), I used my remaining time to do a final clear up of the garden.John, our caretaker, kindly reassembled the garden table that I had lugged over (and out of the car by myself!) from

the UK and set it up in a shady spot at the front of the property.

It's great that we can now finally take advantage of the view that John opened up in March when he cleared out all ofthe rubbish that had been dumped there over many years.

Saint-Herbot, Plonvez-du-Faou, Finistere

I had to vacate thePetit Longereas we had our first French guests for the season arriving at 4pm, so I decided to do

a little sightseeing on the way to the Roscoff.

My first stop was the beautiful 15th century chapel of Saint-Herbot which lies at the heart of a picturesque village. Anannual butter festival is held here each November, Saint-Herbot being the patron saint of cattle. It is less than a 15minute drive from the gites

Saint-Herbot is a tradtional Parish Close orenclos paroissiaux. These are characteristic ofrural religious architecture in Brittany. A parish close, usually enclosed by awall, generally includes a church, a calvary, an ossuary, a cemetery and a
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A Potter Along the Pointe Du Raz