Monday, April 24th, 2006 sunrise-07:03 sunset-21:04 low/high temp:7-16C (44.5-61F)
Scott and I surprised Kate and the girls with a box of fresh made pastries.
Kate glommed onto the strawberry tarts quite quickly. Of course, the fresh
baked croissant, pain-au-chocolate and baguette were a must as well. We
seem to be buying more pain-au-chocolate each day, and we suspect Danielle is
consuming them faster than we can purchase them...
Today we're off for one of the long boat ride days. We
were told there's not much to see other than countryside until we arrive at La
Roche-Bernard. They were pretty accurate. We did see several
steeples and one large Chateau in the distance, unfortunately, they were either
too far for walking or there was no accessible docking area.
That's OK, though. We spent the day on the boat,
traveling towards the Atlantic Ocean. The girls caught some rays, played bunko,
cards, chatted & laughed while Gilligan and I kept track of our progress and looked for
anything interesting to see.
There were no locks for us to pass through today. The
only lock left on the Vilaine going South is the single lock to the Atlantic,
which we will obviously not being passing through.
Here's where we entered yesterday and then departed the port this morning. Folks sit out on the
port peninsula and enjoy their
picnic lunches while the boats come and go, waving to them all. The kids
are very enthusiastic about this! Below is the
harbor cross and the speed limit, not that that was a problem for our boat.
Grant, here's proof Danielle did practice when she was in France. She was
definitely happier when
she got some time in on the keys. This shop was on a side street. On
the main shopping street the weekly market was happening this morning. This was a very
good opportunity for the girls to exercise their shopping muscles.
Anything and everything was for sale, from music to clothes, fresh produce to
cooked meats, mushrooms & truffles, wine, beer and spirits.
Kate is lovin' life!
The Cindys catch some rays on the decks.
Gotta watch those Italian
A couple of those steeples in the distance.
girls, they're trouble!
Cindy (G) works on her
Danielle works on some ZZzzs. Nice chateau in the distance.
journal.
A fair amount of sailing craft Just a nice photo.
More of those rapeseed plots.
were heading to or from the
Ocean.
A nice waterfront home.
An impressive Chateau in the
These folks have a heck of a walk
distance.
to their home form their yacht.
Notice the switchbacks.
We passed this very large ship, St. Germain, as it was being loaded, when we
departed Redon. She passed us several hours later. It was impressive
to see her captained through some of the tight turns with sailboats moorings and
such on each side. We were later told that when she passes through the
lock for the Atlantic Ocean, crowds always form for the show because it is such
a tight fit into the lock, less than 1 foot on each side!
Nah, she's not havin' any fun. I thought the
architecture of this bridge was pretty cool.
The old and new bridges shoulder to shoulder near
Great colors for the shutters and
La Roche-Bernard.
door. Matches the sail cover.
(The Rock of Bernard) This small village is about 1000 years old. It was
chosen by the Vikings for its strategic significance.
Many wars and centuries later, the infamous Cardinal Richelieu, transformed the
simple port into a significant shipyard.
Gilligan at the helm.
On arrival, Danielle caught some shots of these ducks on the shore.
A little romantic stroll for us on our way into town.
Lovely cottage...
Cindy (G) enjoys the harbor Cindy waves on
her way up to the
view.
cannon.
One of the defense mechanisms for the French port back in the days of enemy
Spanish and British Navy ships!
Off we go into town.
Danielle gets more daring On the way into town, the
for her shots!
view of the old harbor.
The pathway leading into town from the harbor.
The roadway leading into town.
Visible steeple.
Yup, Cindy LOVES her purple accents and doors and windows!
While the girls were finishing some shopping, Scott and I stopped at the local
tap and tested the temperature of the beer. It was cooled properly, so we
decided to have another. While chatting about the town, Scott noticed an
image of a guillotine, and went to take a photo. It was at this point a
Scottish gentleman, Edward 'Eddie' John Crockett, sitting nearby explained that the guillotine was actually not in
front of the correct house. Further, the house that would make the image
historically correct, the bottom right photo above, was visible from our vantage point, as it was the
original Mayoral home. He knows this because he now owns it. While chatting, we discovered that he is actually a
writer, and he writes historical fiction. We both bought a copy of his
latest book,
Condottiere A Knight's Tale, on the
condition that he sign them. I honestly enjoyed the book. I was
afraid to read much on the boat, fearing water damage, but have since finished
and found it an enjoyable read.
The girls chat over drinks as The view of
the bar and little View from the bar towards the
well after some 'grueling'
shop next door.
other end of the square.
shopping.
He also explained that the Inn of the 2 Monkeys (Auberge des 2 Magots) was
to be the home of a retired naval officer.
Direction sign...
Nice architecture on a chapel and the description of the interior of
Chapelle
Notre Dame.
And you thought Scott wasn't Two views of the
local Church of Saint Michael (Eglise
Saint Michel).
the romantic sort! Once again, not open, but had we
thought of it earlier, we probably
could have asked Eddie if he knew how to have it opened for us.
He seemed to know most of the town.
Some views above and below of the town as we started to wander back to the boat.
And some more pretty nice photos of the town.
We stopped in the artist shop, but she was near to closing for the day. We
then stopped in a honey (miel) shop,
La Maison de l’Abeille, and found an amazing array of honey and bee
based products. They also had an active bee hive in the store, with access
for the bees to the outside via the back of the building. We have a little
video of it, but it's too large for this site.
I noticed this lovely French lady had Wranglers on, the first I'd ever noticed in
France, so I complimented her, in French, on her choice of Western Jeans. She
laughed and then noticed mine, so I asked her to model them for me, and this is the
pose I got. I'm not complaining. They called adieu and waved as they
walked by the boat with their sons so I got this photo of them. They were
quite fun to talk with and their children were amazingly well behaved.
At this point we wandered back to the boat and started
cooking up a lot of the food we had leftover in the fridge. Salad,
sausage, foie gras, pâté, fresh fruit, wine and cheese and crackers....
Danielle noticed a group of swans & geese swimming near the
boat and fed them a little of the crackers and such.
The next morning, I noticed a sign and had to take a photo.
Check it out on the next page...