Brittany to Britain

June 17

The GPS once again helped Peter find the train station in Vannes, a small city loaded with round-abouts (traffic circles). France drives on the right, like us. For a person driving a right hand drive vehicle, and who is used to driving on the left side, he did a great job despite the GPS often saying ‘Turn right’ without warning.

Train travel is fairly inexpensive in France, and the TGV trains are fast and quiet. We bought a baguette sandwich and coffee at the station, and were good for the duration. The hard part was when we arrived in Nantes. Due to our lack of internet the previous week, we had no idea of the layout of the city or where we were going to stay. So, with our limited French, we found the info kiosk…a’qui….and got a tourist map of Nantes, a quick orientation, info re the bus ‘Navette a aeroport” for the next day, and off we went. Of course, it started to rain. Thinking… hmmm… here’s a hotel right at the station, we checked it out, only to find it cost 180 Euros ($250) per night - just a bit over budget. Luckily, the station is only 5 minutes from town, so off we trundled, suitcases in tow, until we found ourselves in front of a hotel. Hotels in France post their prices at the door. This one was 58 Euros/night. Alright… so it’s not the Ritz…. But it’s clean, has free WiFi, a comfy bed, and a room with a view…of the train station. We’re in.






Nantes is amazing. It is a very historic port town built on the Loire River. Home of Dukes and Duchesses who built fabulous homes, moated castles, cathedrals. And the town has many small pedestrian streets lined with cafes, shops and restaurants. We took the tram and crossed the river to see the ‘La Machine’ exhibit, which features, among many other contraptions, a mechanical elephant that must have been at least 30 feet tall; it can ‘walk’ around, and carries about 35 people in its saddle coach.

The city set has set up a bicycle use system, with many outdoor stations where you can pick up a bike and ride it, then drop it off at any one of 89 other stops. When ready to ride again, use your card to unlock the bike, (or more likely a different one because yours has been taken out by another rider), and head over to your next destination and find a nearby drop off station. If you limit your rides to 30 minutes or less, there’s no additional charge to the daily basic rate which you pay up front. Total cost for riding around all day in half hour or less stints is just one Euro ($1.40) per day. Such a great use of tax money, and we would have given it a whirl, but the system didn’t work with our bank card so we just had to walk.

June 18

Next morning, feeling like old hands, we trotted into town for café et croissants at a sidewalk café, and then a quick tour of Duchess Ann‘s 17^th century moated castle. At one time it provided the walled-in protection from the French King’s army, who constantly tried to annex Brittany.

Our plan to catch the Navette Aeroport bus…..Only 7 Euros each…….worked flawlessly. Each airport seems to have a different method of organizing check-in. Nante’s departure display tells you which ‘hall’ and wicket number you go to. OK. Our flight to Manchester was on a Dash 8. Seems fine from Victoria to Vancouver, but a bit trying on a 1 ½ hour flight. My ears took forever to recover.

We arrived at Manchester airport / train station - huge place, but Terminal 1 and 2 both have decent food, so the time went quickly as we waited for our train. We had booked train tickets online and found a special deal: 1^st class fare for the price of 2^nd class . Doesn’t mean much - seats are comfy and there’s tea/coffee and sandwiches. Better than standing and sitting on the floor, as many did. The scenery was fascinating. Every city was a different colour. All the houses and buildings are brick or stone, and varied from one town to the next by the colour of their local stone. … A church in every town. Sheep everywhere. Bridges of stone.. Not steel or wood.

Peter picked us up at the Oxenholme station, and we were treated to our first drive through the English lake district countryside. Roads are very narrow, lined with ubiquitous dry-stone (no mortar) fences. The fences also surround properties and divide fields, make enclosures and laneways. The fields are irregular and rolling, and most are filled with sheep. Farm buildings and houses, outbuildings and bridges are all stone, too, giving the place a sense of age, history and permanence.

Ulverston is a pretty little town, and Peter and Ann’s place is on a little street, Chittery Lane, that leads up into the hills….. Hoad Hill, to be exact. Their house is an updated and beautifully renovated 1920’s house, built on the grounds of an old school, so part of their property is still bordered by the original school’s big stone wall. To greet us was their dog Ceri, (Welsh for ‘love’), a border collie. The next two days we’ll spend seeing some local sites, including some abbey ruins,Hee-lund koos (highland cows), herdwick sheep and the factory where Peter's invention, a guidance tool for getting oil drilling rigs to drill around around corners is made.  His tools were used in drilling the relief wells for the Gulf of Mexico disaster.