Slept well last night and woke about 8. We wondered why we have been “sleeping in” since we started this trip and then it dawned on us. Firstly, we’re a hour ahead so really it’s 7.00am GMT which is our normal time to wake up and secondly, the large hound who sleeps with us has stopped setting her alarm to ungodly hour and booping us for breakfast.
Today, we have a plan. First on the agenda is to do some laundry so I lugged our bag for the far side of the site (of course it would be), got some tokens, bunged the whole lot in the washer (coloured and whites so hope nothing runs) and pressed start. The washer whirred into life and flashed 45 mins on its little display. I waddled back to The Van where hubby was giving it a bit of a deep clean and put a timer on. Another waddle back to the laundry to put it in the dryer (the whites were still white, but now hoping nothing shrunk) and headed back for another 45 minutes. Basically it took all morning, I think I nearly did my daily quota of 10,000 steps, but at least we had clean clothes for another week and mission accomplished.
We decided to walk to the Intra-Muros, or the Old Town of St Malo, some 20 minutes away. We walked through the marina, skirted the little beach, negotiated the port entrance and finally ended up in front of the walled city. There was an archway that led into the streets, but we turned and took the steps up, so we could wander along the top of the walls and appreciate the splendid views across the bay. Various ships were crossing the estuary of the River Rance – catamarans, small sailing boats, a huge cruise ship, schooners, a DFDS ferry followed by a Brittany Ferry car ferry – it was very busy and they all had to negotiate the many outcrops of rocks and islands scattered around in the bay. We peered over the ramparts and watched people on the beach below – there didn’t seem to be any dogs, so The Pup was denied again. We wandered most of the way round, before we had to go down steps and back to the street level. Here it was very busy with restaurants and bars – their tables and chairs spilling out on the wide street. We stopped at one and ordered two beers which came with some peanuts and little biscuits and a pot of fish paste, relaxed in the sunshine and did a spot of people watching. The architecture was beautiful – it dates back to the 17th century, so there’s a lot of history. We carried on through the ancient streets, full of high end clothes shops, gift shops, patisseries, restaurants and much more. After a wander we came across a creperie and asked for a table for two. We ended up with a lemon and sugar crepe and a banana and chocolate washed down with coffee – again we sat outside and watched people. It was another fine day, weatherwise and quite warm. We had another little wander around and decided to head back to the campsite, but needed to visit a supermarket for food for The Pup. So we walked down the road into a small neighbourhood with a lovely little High Street, where we found a Carrefour City mini supermarket and bobbed in there. Then we wandered through the back streets back to the seafront -it was nice to see a local area rather than a tourist area – and sauntered back to the site. We checked out a couple of restaurants for a possible evening meal too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Malo
Once back at the Van, we plopped into our chairs and enjoyed the late afternoon sun – so much that some of us had a little nap. Our little plan of walking back down the road and eating out didn’t seem so exciting now we were comfy, so we decided to cook in the Van – very glamourous: fish fingers, homegrown potatoes and a tin of baked beans. We know how to live it up!
A cat tried its chances and one of its nine lives, by sauntering past our Van’s side door, not realising there was 25kg of canine lying inside. The cat jumped and The Pup went to chase – heck! We shouted at Pup to stop and bless her, she did and I grabbed her collar, though I felt her pull a couple of times. A little bit of excitement! Thank goodness, The Pup is so obedient!
After tea and a cuppa, and the night closing in at 8:30, we shut up shop. We’re binge watching a TV series at the moment, so it’s nice to curl up. Tomorrow we plan to catch the ferry over to Dinard, across the River Rance, and spend the day over there.
