This August Ed and I spent ten days camping in France. The first half of our trip was spent in Brittany and then we drove south to Jard-sur-Mer in the Vendée. Two years ago we went on holiday to Brittany to make the most of travelling to Roscoff for a family wedding. It was a really lovely trip, so we wanted to go back again this year and stay for a little longer.
We didn’t book our travel or campsites until a few weeks before we travelled and by the end of July the ferries were really expensive so we took the Eurostar instead, and factored in a couple of extra days travelling across Normandy and northern France. In hindsight, we should have just booked sooner and taken the ferry. Once we’d included péage fees, fuel and the cost of a couple of budget hotels it wasn’t any cheaper. That said, I’ve no regrets. We wouldn’t ordinarily go on holiday to Normandy and we got to see some sights that we had both been looking forward to seeing. Next time though we’ll get the ferry if we’re going to western France. The following pictures are a mix of film and digital.
Up until this holiday, I hadn’t been to France since Ed and I spent a week by the ocean near Bordeaux for our honeymoon in 2010. I love France, but it’s quite expensive to visit as most self-catering places are for large groups. We like to be self-catered as it’s just easier that way since we’re both vegan. We went back this year for Ed’s cousin’s wedding in Roscoff, and stayed a few extra days camping down on the Quiberon peninsula. Our campsite was really good, though the emplacements could have done with a little shade. The whole peninsula is very exposed, with very little forest cover, so I guess it was to be expected. Next time we’ll take a tarp and some extra poles and rope to make sure we can have some shade by our tent.
The first few days of our trip to Brittany were spent in Roscoff and Saint-Pol-de-Léon for the wedding, and then we carried on further south in Brittany, enjoying the heatwave that made it feel like we were down in the South-West. On the last two evenings, we went to watch the sunset on the coast further up the peninsula from our campsite and filmed some footage together which I made into a short mood film. The first evening it was calm, and there were lots of children playing on the sand and surfers out on the water, but the second evening was much more wild and savage; a good reminder of why that stretch of coastline was named La Côte Sauvage.
