Wet Pants in Normandy and Brittany

Journal writers are encouraged to start with the “highlights” in order to hook the reader and encourage them to read on. In the immediate aftermath of a two week family holiday, highlights are not necessarily at the forefront of the mind however.

On reflection, when traveling with a young family, highlights are moments, often short-lived, when things go right. More specifically we can describe these moments as points in time when none of the children are crying, moaning or have wet pants – being asleep doesn’t really count. These events cannot be planned or predicted, and as such, this journal may score poorly for utility. This journal will, nevertheless describe several places where things went right and that we would recommend.

Quick Tips:

The tips/suggestions section was probably not intended for this purpose but here goes…… What is it with guidebooks? They are obsessed with historical monuments. Our children quite like history if you can climb on it or shout in it and get a good echo. There really is a gap in the market for family-focused guidebooks. This is my tip for all the publishers reading this review. My second whinge is more specific. I get quite angry reading the Rough Guide to Normandy and Brittany. It is written in a negative and sarcastic style presumably aimed at traveling cynics. Tip two – don’t buy it.

Best Way To Get Around:

Like thousands of other British families, we traveled through France by car. We opted for the channel tunnel rather than the ferry this year. Last year we traveled on the fast ferry from Poole to Cherbourg. Although only 2.5 hours and cutting a lot of driving out we found this an uncomfortable ride and very crowded and claustrophobic. The channel tunnel was excellent, no seasickness, very quick (about 30 mins) and flexible in terms of alternative shuttles even in August if late for your allotted slot (on the way thanks to the M25) or early as we were on the return journey.

Le P’tit Bonheur is an old fashioned café offering galettes, crepes and ice creams. Galletes are a type of pancake made with buckwheat flour and are commonly eaten with a savoury filling, although sweet fillings are nice too. The café is found on the main street of Houlgate, a seaside resort near to the better known – by me anyway – town of Deauville. The Rue des Bains offers a wide range of eateries from traditional French pavement cafes, to pizzerias, to what appear to be excellent seafood restaurants. I look enviously at the people enjoying their meals in these restaurants, couples having conversations over a spectacular fruits de mer, and in amazement at French families and their well-behaved offspring. They have been brought up to sit quietly at the table, engage in an informed way in political debate, choose wine knowledgeably and consume unusual foodstuffs appreciatively. When selecting somewhere to eat we look for somewhere that looks like it might not eject us forcibly and where we can be tucked away in a quiet corner.

Le P’tit Bonheur was perfect. A small, not too busy café with quick and efficient service. The staff seemed to be cooking, waiting on tables and serving in the adjacent ice cream stall – whilst maintaining a smile and not incurring a delay. The décor was pleasingly old fashioned – looking as if it had not been refurbished since the 1950s. The staff either could not or would not speak in English - this is a good thing. It is irritating when ones albeit feeble attempts at French are responded to in English. Increasingly these days I persevere in French such that a standoff is reached in which neither party will speak their own language.

Anyway, back to the galettes. Excellent, savoury fillings and accompanied with a jug (pitcher) of local cider – superb. About 5-10 euros per galette depending upon the filling selected.

After a trip to the town of Concarneau we decided as it was sunny to go to the beach. We had spotted a beach from a tower at the Ville Close - the old walled town and from the map concluded it was Le Cabellou. Ten minutes later we were there. It's a small peninsula of rocky headlands and beaches. Judging by the grand villas this is a well-healed suburb of Concarneau. Despite it being a sunny day the beaches were relatively peaceful and we were able to part less than 100m from the "Grand Plage". This beautiful beach has views to the Iles Glenan, has a whitish gritty sand and has rounded, coarse rocks that the kids loved to climb on. It was possible to dive into the sea from the larger ones - thought the sea was much colder than on other beaches in the are for some reason. There are a couple of creperies but little other commercial activity that we came across. A lovely place for a couple of hours on the beach after a day in town.
http://www.concarneau.org/cabellou.php

Just a few miles from the Ty Nadan campsite is natural tourist attraction known as Les Roches du Diable, the devil’s rocks. Legend has it that St Guenole confronted and tricked the Devil at this site. The ensuing battle left a number of the features we can see today such as deep pools in the river bed and scars on the rocks. So nothing to do with weathering and erosion then.

Whether you are of a religious or a scientific bent, this is a surprisingly dramatic rocky outcrop in an otherwise quite gentle landscape. On a sunny day this is a great place for a paddle or swim in the river. The braver traveler will enjoy jumping off some of the enormous boulders into the deep pools. We sat and watched transfixed as a steady stream of skinny youth and thick-set olds launched themselves into oblivion, with no casualties on our watch. The site is well signposted from the village of Locunole. Be careful not to approach from the western side of the river Elle, as it leads to a viewing platform that, although has good views, does not permit access to the river.
http://www.guilligomarch.com/indexeng.htm

I am not entirely sure if I am calling this place by its right name – but let’s call it Guidel Plages. This is a stretch of sandy beaches, rocky headlands and inlets between the communities of Guidel Plages and Fort Bloque. Here the coast road runs right next to the sea for a few miles. For us, staying on a campsite near to Quimperle it was a 20-minute drive and was our nearest beach. It is likely to be an option for anyone holidaying east of Concarneau and west of Vannes. On the road from Quimperle you pass through the pleasing town of Guidel with its whacky roundabout statues. A favourite of ours is a form of Robocop/dog which served as a useful landmark to get the kids to look out for.

A couple of miles on from Guidel is the community of Guidel Plages. Here there are sheltered beaches that were popular with families with small children – probably because those further along the coast are quite windy and waves bigger. Drive west out of Guidel Plages on the coast road to find a series of sandy beaches, some of which have good surf. We enjoyed watching the surfers and boogie-boarders and playing in the waves. If you get there before lunch it’s possible to park on the roadside, leaving just a short walk down to the beach – very convenient with the kids and all of the paraphernalia that seems to be required. We found that beaches didn’t get too busy until the mid afternoon. If the roadside parking is full there are also rough and ready car parks at intervals along the road. Aim to park as near as possible to one of the lifeguard stations as these are situated at access points to the beach. There are basic toilets by the lifeguard stations and slightly less basic ones at Fort Bloque on the left as you go into town. There are few outlets for food along this stretch so come prepared. There is one stall offering ice creams and crepes.

After about 3km you will come to Fort Bloque where there are shops and restaurants. There is a small private island with a castle on it here. It’s possible at low tide to walk out to it. Apparently there is rental accommodation on this island – an amazing place to stay I imagine.

British travelers have considered the provision of public toilets in France to be a laughing matter for years. There are a small number of areas in which the British can feel superior….OK I can’t think of any at the moment....how about motorway service stations….anyway, we have better public conveniences. Can anything new be added to a subject that has been reported on for decades? No. In a way it is like wife beating or road deaths – we know it happens but it’s not news. But this is no excuse for tacit acceptance of the unacceptable. Two examples of this national inadequacy can be found on the otherwise excellent French autoroute system. Two types of rest station (aire) can be found – one in which there is a picnic area and toilet facility and the other where there is a petrol station, restaurant and toilet. In both cases the toilet facilities are in our experience somewhere on the scale from woefully inadequate to affront to humanity. In some cases, the service stations have art galleries, excellent shops, excellent restaurants, playgrounds for children and in one case a constructed wetland. However, it seems like the job of designing the toilet facilities is an afterthought rather than a priority – which it is for me when I am desperate and have three desperate children by my side. We resorted to pulling off the autoroute and urinating in the open air up country lanes.

Top tip:
Our favourite French service station is the Baie de Somme near Abbeville on the autoroute between Calais and Le Havre. It has a viewing tower with great views across to the estuary of the River Somme to St Valery and Le Crotoy. It has a wetland that you can walk around and a good playground and picnic area. The toilets get busy on holidays…