Bretagne 2024 Review

Bretagne in Review - here are a few scattered thoughts about our trip ☺️ 

We drove a total of 4160 kilometers (about 2,500 miles) in just under 6 weeks - that included getting to and from Bretagne, as well as the many (many!) day-trips.

The countryside is beautiful! Lush green forest, clear blue seas, cove after cove.

Much more relaxed and laid back than I expected. Parking is easy and often free. No autoroutes (fast toll roads) once we arrived. It turns out that Bretagne is the *only* toll-free region in France!

The exceptions - any of the tourist sites! We got lucky in Dinan and Saint Malo, but parked way out in the sticks for Mont Saint Michel and Île de Bréhat.

There are actual backpackers! With the GR34 tracking the entire coast (over 2000 km), there are conveniently placed camp sites all along the way. I saw more backpackers and hikers just outside our apartment window than I've seen anywhere in Europe (including southwest Portugal).

The summer weather is a mixed bag - it rains often, but usually just a drizzle. The temperature was usually warm enough for shorts, but cool enough to appreciate a light blanket at night. We packed swimming suits, but they stayed in the suitcase! The August highs were around 22°C (72°F), with a couple of days of outliers (20°C to 28°C). It was rarely too humid, and then not for long. The forecasts are nearly worthless - I watched as the coming week went from rain nearly ever day to partly cloudy, back to 1-2 days of drizzle. Once we left the Côte d'Armor on the north side of Bretagne, things got downright dreary! We switched to pants (as in "trousers," not "underwear"), and spent much of our time driving along the coast. We also spent a lot of days huddled in our apartment, waiting for a break in the weather.

Unfortunately for those who are lactose intolerant, Bretagne is the proud land of dairy! Even in dishes that are dairy-free elsewhere, the Breton recipe calls for butter! Thai noodles, mussels marinière... At least our old friend, poulet rôti (rotisserie chicken) is still friendly 🥰. Of course, if you *can* have butter, this is fantastic!

We switched dining modes: asian restaurants in the bigger cities were fairly common, but we always had a backup sandwich in our cooler. We found a couple of choices in the microwaveable section of the grocery store - lucky for us, because our hotel on the way home had only one dairy-free option in their restaurant.

Over and over again, it was brought home to us just how beaten up this area was from wars - this city and that city were completely demolished in World War II. The other city was destroyed and rebuilt war after war after war. Most towns pointed out specifically the few buildings that survived through it all.

The Breton coast is known for huge tidal changes, especially the bay of Mont Saint Michel with it's common 14 meter tides!

We always seemed to catch the low tides...

We wondered why this would be - all our previous experiences with coasts have been tideless (Mediterranean Sea) or nearly so. Here's what I found: tides are affected by a combination of the Coriolis effect (due to the Earth's rotation), the geometry of the seabed, the shape of the coastline. The bay of Mont Saint Michel is formed by the two large peninsulas - Bretagne and Normandie, which collect and trap these currents - the waves have nowhere else to go, and they pile up. That explains the high tides enough for me; I haven't thought too much about why that makes very low tides...

We went to visit the westernmost point of continental France 

And saw soooo many lighthouses!

Got sick (cold, not COVID!), fell (bruised ribs, no fun coughing, but hiccups are worse!)

Bretagne has a *lot* of towns with "Lan" as part of the name - it indicates an ancient religious center, a holy place.

Overall, Bretagne was interesting to visit, and had some exciting times, but it's just not a good fit for us. We felt that 5-6 weeks was too long - we couldn't fully enjoy the local foods, it rained an awful lot, and the one big city we stayed in seemed generic (of course, most of it had been demolished by WWII).