Travelling in France: Normandy and Brittany

	*Travels in France - Normandy/Brittany*
Copyright 2002

Pages on this site: The Maritime Alps and the Riviera Normandy/Brittany	Alpine Walks
Cherbourg to Aix En Provence: A two week tour through Brittany, the Loire, the Dordogne and Languedoc


Places:	Normandy/Brittany
	Barneville-Cartaret (June 2002): A quick easy drive from Cherbourg and typical of the Cotentin peninsular - little traffic, pleasant rolling countryside and villages. Barneville and Cartaret are actually two towns, about 4 km apart. Cartaret is a beach resort and Barneville is a small port. The Hotel that we had booked - L'Hermitage - was close to the headland at the entrance to the port. We had booked into L'Hermitage with no trouble, surprising given that this was the Jubilee bank holiday in England. However, once we saw the room we realised why - it was tiny and directly over the kitchen at the back of the building. The toilet and shower unit had been built into a fitted wardrobe along one side of the room, the lumpy looking bed filled the rest. The exhaust pipe from the kitchen ran up through back wall. Needless to say, it was hot and noisy, and at times very smelly, though we never figured out whether this was from the kitchen or the sea. Still it was only €36 for the night. The restaurant was very popular, with nearly all the diners being English and the food/service was good.
The next morning we decided to go for a short walk up to the headland and light house. Having reached the head land, a great beach came into view overlooked by a small ruined church. No roads, and only a couple of people.

Bricquebac (June 2002) A quiet country town, reminding us of Yorkshire and Cotswold towns, with a partly ruined castle in it's centre. One of the castle buildings is now Le Vieux Chateau hotel, so after the previous night's meagre accommodation, we decided to see whether there was room at the inn - not in luck for that night, but there we made a booking for the following night. And it was well worth it - a huge room making use of several features of the medieval structure. The "walk in wardrobe" was a narrow corridor reached via an arch and beyond a walled off spiral staircase. The bathroom certainly was not mediveal and contained the most hi-tech shower that I've ever encountered, with eight well placed, powerful jets. Dinner was served in a large hall, containing a vast fireplace and the odd suit of armour. We hadn't booked and luckily turned up early. Those who came later had to wait for a "second sitting". Again the food was good. Suprisingly, our bedroom turned out to be quite noisy, due to being above the kitchen or serving area.

	St Sauveur leVicomte (June 2002) A smaller, quieter version of Bricquebac, about half an hour south. Lunch in a restaurant below the castle - a great casserole pot of home made pate to start, chicken and fish for main with cheese and sorbets to follow.
	Chateaux de Pirou A very picturesque miniature castle, just inland from the coastal road south of Lessay. Well worth a visit, although the countryside and coast line is not as attractive around here as in other parts of the peninsular

	St Lo and Chateau d'Agneaux (June 2002) Booked accommodation in the 13th Century Chateau d'Agneaux. A bit dubious on arrival as it appeared to be just behind a sports ground in the suburbs of St-Lo, but once in the castle grounds, the only views were of a rural river valley. Our room was one floor of the castle keep, separate from the main building. The room was huge with a four poster bed. We settled in to the sound of continuous distant thunder and some heavy rain - very atmospheric. A superb dinner in the main castle - the best of the holiday. Breakfast was however a bit of a let down - a small part of a French stick and a croissant each. A quick look around the impressively restored cathedral in St Lo. There's a small exhibition inside the cathedral graphically showing the devastation suffered by the town during the liberation. Over 90% of the buildings were destroyed, but it's very hard to believe now.

The Vire valley and the Roche de Ham(June 2002): Following the D999 and DD551 south from St Lo along the river valley, we were aiming for a walk at Roche de Ham. Unfortunately, the description in our guide book meant that the reality was a bit of a let down. The "rocks" are at the top of a steep wooded incline above a bend in the river - nice views over the valley and a pleasant walk down through the woods, but not overly impressive. On to la Chappelle-sur-Vire a very clean little town where we hoped to stop for lunch at the Auberge de la Chappelle, but which turned out to be closed.

	Villedieu-les-Poeles and Abbey d'Hambye(June 2002): The "City of God the Frying pans", and, yes there were lots of shops selling various copper pots, pans and other more unusual items. A pleasant town for an amble and with a good Creperie on the main road - excellent local sausage with the savoury crepe. A view kilometres north of Villedieu-les-Poeles and set below woods in a small valley, the ruins of the Abbey d'Hambye are quite atmospheric with many crows nesting in the broken tops of the arches.Pleasant walks in the woods.

	Valognes, St-Vaast, Barfleur and to Nez de Joburg (June 2002): Awful weather, cold, windy and very wet. Although heavily bombed, there's still a fair amount to see in Valognes. The rain let up slightly and we spent a couple of hours following three town walks from a map supplied by the tourist office.
On to St-Vaast, a small port. As the rain was now heavy again, we didn't wander too far from the front. Three choices for lunch, a bar, a nice looking restaurant and another more touristy restaurant on the front. As we were looking for a quick and relatively cheap lunch, we went for the touristy choice and regretted it as soon as we sat down. A woman nearby seemed to be having a lot of trouble with her steak and the other dishes did not look too promising. Decided to abandon St-Vaast and head on to Barfleur another actractive small port. Managed to park on the harbour front and headed straight to a creperie facing the harbour. A good choice - warm, friendly and fast service and good food. We originally intended to try a short walk to a light house to the north of the port before heading back to the ferry, but only got as far as the end of the harbour before turning back, soaked. Instead, drove west across the top of the peninsular to Nez de Joburg where we finally managed to get a short walk to the clifftop headland. Good views north and south along the cliffs. On the way passed the huge Cap Hague nuclear reprocessing complex.