Josselin

There can be few more photogenic spots on the planet than Josselin, with its views of the medieval castle overlooking the Brest-Nantes river/canal basin. A new information site tries to spoil it by telling you of the suffering of the men, women and children who slaved over 9 years to compete the waterway in the Napoleonic era. Well worth the sacrifice I say to allow one to stroll down the river on a beautiful sunny day. See for yourself.

Now one odd feature here is that we were virtually the only walkers along this stretch to enjoy the butterflies and dragonflies fluttering about the verges. Yes quite a few cyclists passed us, and even a few joggers, but no one just walking. Indeed the peacefulness of the place was oustanding. If one compares it to an equivalent Saturday at say Windsor or Stratford the place would be thronged. But there was just one boat on the river owned by a German couple, and a few kids on canoes just under the castle walls. But otherwise nothing. We did come across one remarkably substantial, and ugly, footbridge, way too large for its purpose and clearly barely used, but proudly stating that it had been built with EU funds. As clearly no-one else would have bothered to waste the money.

The town above the castle is very attractive too, although the fine timbered houses are rather obscured by the pizzerias, souvenir shops and estate agents that now occupy their ground floors. Still, can't complain too much as at least they are being used and maintained, and we ate lunch at one of the creperies!

And finally to round off my week we headed down to Quiberon, a peninsula on the South Coast popular with water sports enthusiasts. On one side is the Cote Sauvage, a series of indented dune clad cliffs. Great place for a walk, especially on a bright warm day like this, with the fresh breeze coming off the Atlantic. Lots of little beaches here, some offering easy bathing for families, others down steep cliffs that would offer great privacy but probably need climbing equipment to reach. We stood and watched the surfers for a while. Better them than me. Suspect the water was cold. I will stick to the tropics if I want a dip.

Isle de Batz

Another offshore island job, but the last one I promise. A bit of a reflection of the fact that I have visited a lot of places in Brittany with Phil over the years, so we have had to venture "overseas!" to find new destinations. Isle de Batz (the "z" is silent, but if not pronounced why have it?) is a small island off the north coast, but with a larger and denser population than the others we visited. And less touristy.

Its best feature is a botanical garden at one end of the island. When we arrived it was, of course, shut. But only for lunch rather than it was a day with "y" in it, so we only needed to make a brief detour around the ruined abbey of St Anne's and the headland before circling back.

Now the church was lovely in its own right. Some churches so suit being ruins that we really ought to consider artfully bulldozing some bits of our redundant churches. The special interest of this one is the way it shows the encroachment of sand dunes. At present it looks as if they built the place in a hole.

The headland, with its cannon emplacement (long bereft of Napoleonic cannons but now with one Breton flag flying proudly in the breeze (no, its not white)) offers nice views all round.

But the gardens are the piece de resistence. Utterly stunning and incredibly well desigened with all sorts of tricks to delight the eye. Of course it helps having the sort of benign climate that allows one to grow palm trees and echiums for example. And not everywhere has a setting on a headland with sea views and a bronze age burial site which you can integrate into your lawn. But it certainly makes the most of its advantages, even though the total site is quite compâct. Features include "windows" in the hedges to allow one to see various sea-views, lots of "rooms" demarcated by hedges or walls (a feature I have seen in many English gardens but then there were regular rectangles or squares while here you never know what size or shape is just around the corner - unless you cheat by looking at the map) and a lovely view down to the mainland overlooking a mat of colourful flowers. Not so impressed with the the few bits of modern sculpture dotted around - apart from one set with a magnifying glass. Oh for a decent Henry Moore.

Then back to the village and its rather substantial church. And a well-deserved cider on a warm day.