Just Loved St, Malo in Brittany - France.

Just Loved St. Malo in Brittany – France.

We decided to go to a place called St. Malo so we could use it as a base and do a special day trip to Mont St-Michel but to our pleasant surprise St. Malo was a gem of its own and just a delightful place to stay. It was just so beautiful that we ended up staying 4 days in a little B&B overlooking the sea and loved everything that we did there.

 

View of the beach area from our B&B window. Note that the water is a distance behind the rocks. At full tide these rocks are completely covered by the sea.

 

 

 

Walking on the beach and looking back at the retaining wall and some of the lovely houses.

 

The most surprising thing about St. Malo was its great variation in tides. The sea shore in this area varied by up to 14 mts with each change of tide. When we arrived on Sunday afternoon and looked at the sea it would have been at least 250mts from where we were standing. There were stacks of wind surfers and large kites pulling people at great speed along the vast expanse of sand on small wheeled carts. There were people playing soccer and lots of people walking and doing other activities on this vast expanse of beach.

We were staying at one end of this large stretch of sandy beach and for as far as you could see there was a giant solid retaining stone wall about 4mts high with a wide walk way on top and looking over the bay were beautiful old French houses, holiday apartments and hotels. In the distance was the outline of the old city of St. Malo with its Cathedral steeple and a fortress sitting on the sand. It was just a magical site.

But in 6 hours’ time we had waves hitting the retaining wall near our B&B and it was a completely different scene. You could walk along the retaining wall and you would now get wet from the sea spray from the waves. I have seen tides in the North of Western Australia as high as this but to actually see so many people’s fun and relaxation revolve around such a change in tides was fascinating.

The first full day we were in St Malo we went to Mont St Michelle and I consider that deserves its own blog – this will come later.

The second day we travelled south and further into Brittany. We travelled along the Cote d’Emeraude or the Emerald Coast. We wove are way in and out along this beautiful coast line visiting all the sandy beaches, rocky headlands and classic seaside resorts. The magical thing about this area was again the tides and the huge variations. On the way up the coast the tide was high but on the way home it was low and the views we had were totally different.

                                            A chateau in one of the villages along the coast.

 

                                                           An old restored windmill in Brittany.

The highlight of the day was a visit to the medieval fortress - Fort La Latte which stands in a very prominent position on a small rocky outcrop joined to the mainland by two draw bridges. We had a wonderful time climbing the ancient watchtower and exploring the fortress and other interesting buildings. The views along the coast and out to sea from the fortress were outstanding. I just loved our visit here –this is just the kind of place we have come to France to see.

 

Fort la Latte as we approached. There were very few visitors to the Fortress when we were there.

 

The Fortress had its own gardens both inside and out side the walls. These are red poppies which we have seen a lot of during our travels.

 

                      Inside the Fortress Grounds -lavender and also part of a great vegetable garden.

On our way back to St Malo we made a slight diversion and ended up exploring a derelict castle/fortress overlooking a river which was a major shipping river back in the middle ages. We had this site all to ourselves and it was just great to wonder through the ruins and to think what might have taken place in this building all those many years ago.

The old derelict castle that we explored and the view over the river that it overlooks. Note the mud and how far out the water has gone.

 

Next day we visited the Chateau de St-Malo a castle that dates back to the 14^th century and walked around the foreshore near the city admiring the fantastic views and looking at the many German gun batteries that made up part of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall during the 2^nd World War. We also visited the old city of St. Malo which is encircled by ramparts and is full of cobblestone streets. We also rode the small tourist train through the old city and as the tide was going out in the afternoon we walked along the vast expanse of sandy beach and out to the fortress - Fort National that is usually surrounded by the sea.

 

St. Malo's very own castle/fortress situated near the mouth of the River Ranch. The water is right up to the castles foundations at this time of day. In the last picture in this blog you can see the castle again this time a low tide.

The main beach in St. Malo. The poles are there as a barricade to lessen the amount of damage and erosion down by the strength of the sea. At high tode they are covered by the sea.

This Fortress situated close to the Old City is surrounded by the sea for half of every day but during the low tide you can actually walk right out and into the fortress.

 

St Malo was once a fortified island and stands in a commanding position at the mouth of the river Rance. It was extensively damaged by heavy bombing in 1944 but it has been scrumptiously restored and is now a major port, ferry terminal and holiday resort. In my opinion it has everything – history, architecture, beautiful beaches, an old town and wonderful places to explore and visit.

Allan had a swim, mainly to say that he had been in the Atlantic Ocean, but the water was very cold and he was out very quickly.