After the previous long day of driving and heat we endeavoured to keep our route simpler on our sixth day, and headed straight to Concarneau stopping only at Quimper along the way.

We loved staying at the quirky old house called Tyrbourg, though the staircase was a bit tricky to navigate with our bulky luggage.

  

  

The house is full of weird and wonderful things, like this lit-clos or Breton box bed. Apparently old superstition had it that only the dead slept lying down and the living had to sleep in a sitting position. The beds also served to create privacy in open plan homes which were often shared with farm animals. Totally fascinating.

In Quimper the weather was cloudy but still warm, quite humid but better than the relentless heat and sun of the previous day. We found parking in a quiet road which was quite close to the church square, and then stood in awe of the biggest and most impressive church we’d seen yet.

On our way back to the car, later, we would see a couple arriving in a white car for their wedding at the church which was really cool (and good luck!).

  

  

    

  

  

  

    

  

Quimper is famous for the distinctive Henriot pottery, and we saw plenty of it all around.

  

  

  

 

    

  

    

  

  

    

  

  

Arriving in Concarneau was exciting – we came in over a big bridge and saw the ocean for the first time on our trip. It hit me way harder than I expected. I have always lived by the sea and it is a constant presence in my daily life, to the point where I miss it when I’m landlocked.

My excitement was short-lived however as we came into the town and left the view behind. The GPS went haywire and our turn-off (which was a very non-road-looking road) was very sneaky and a pain to navigate in the traffic. But we eventually made it to our accommodation – a wonderful gypsy caravan.

  

Our host Andrea was lovely and gave us loads of advice on a beautiful walk in the area and directions to the supermarket. We did the shopping first, which was a miserable experience. Already we’d decided our favourite store chain was Super-U, and after this trip we’d decided our worst: Intermarché.

Getting there was awful part 1 – the GPS straight up lied and made us U-turn twice in peak traffic and kept directing us into someone’s backyard. Eventually we found the shop and that was awful part 2 – it was just yucky. The worst though was the ‘fresh’ produce: the vegetables were literally growing mould and to add insult to injury, were vastly overpriced. Still we managed to spend ages in the store, mostly laughing at some of the quirky regional products like ‘breizh Cola’ and an energy drink that featured a be-wimpled old lady, the Gwenn-ha-du, some menhirs and the promise of taurine on the can. Even though the old lady seemed to be a radioactive zombie for some reason, it was still the most Breton thing ever.

When we eventually left the awful shop it was already quite late, but the long evenings meant we had a few hours before sunset so we headed out for a walk and found the most beautiful forested trail along the cove. It was low tide, which hilariously would become a hallmark of our trip (for some reason we kept showing up to beautiful harbours, ports etc. at the perfect time for them to be looking rather lame during the mer basse) but by the time we returned the water had come in quite a lot.

  

  

 

The path led out to a road and houses, and we followed the slope back down towards the sea.

  

As with earlier, I was overcome with a surprising rush of emotions seeing the sea. It felt comforting and soothing and made me realise how in such a short time I’d already come to miss it so much. There were no waves and it was a beautifully calm night. Sitting on the bench and watching the water was wonderful. We also saw our first Breton lighthouse – not sure if it was a functioning one but it was cute none-the-less.

  

  

  

  

Around the corner the path around the water continued, and we retraced our steps through the forest back to our cosy roulotte.

  

  

  

  

– – –

BZH 2017: Intro  |  Pt 1  |  Pt 2  |  Pt 3  |  Pt 4  |  Paimpol 2017 – Festival du Chant de Marin 
Pt 5  |  Pt 6  |  Pt 7  |  Pt 8  |  Pt 9 |  Pt 10  | Pt 11  |  Pt 12  |  Saint-Malo: La Route du Rock Festival
Pt 13  |  Pt 14  |  Pt 15  |  pt 16  |  Pt 17  |  Pt 18

If you travel and you don’t use Booking.com you really should it’s the best! I’m not 100% sure how the referral codes work but try mine if you haven’t used one before for a discount after your first trip: https://www.booking.com/s/35_6/rattsi32