Helles with the Brits in Brittany, Breton Party and Keroc n'Roll.

Friday 25^th May.

We were on the last leg of our trip heading for the coast somewhere not to far from Roscof and he ferry back to the U.K. on Monday. We left Laval and skirted around Renes then stopped in a small commune called Josselin and had coffee and a baguette sandwich. This was an attractive small French town with a large square obviously used as a market on Samedis but the rest of the time was a free “camper-stop” and indeed there were probably 10 campers / motor-homes parked there. We arrived in Beg Mail as we had previously had a family holiday here but recognising nothing and feeling it now had little to commend it went on to Benodet. This town was more developed then we remembered it but there were no camping facilities open near the centre. Our GPS then found a site called Le Helles on the opposite side of the estuary from Benodet in a village called Sainte Marine. A nice reasonable sized site quiet and access to the beach 600 metres from the little port.

Saturday 26^th May.

Cloudy morning and looked as if rain was imminent. We decided to cycle to Loctudy as we had camped there before with the children. Our mission today was haircuts. Somehow, we failed to take a turning and on the edge of Ille Tudy we found a hairdresser called “Au tour de fauteille” where a very helpful lady fitted us both in – I was done in 10 minutes and then sent away for an hour and a half while Liz had her more protracted coiffure. I cycled on into the centre ville where I had a coffee and a beer and watched the boats in the rain. On returning to meet up with Liz the heavens opened, and it was a somewhat damp ride back to base camp. In the afternoon it was down to Sainte Marine port for a Bretton Party. This involved an ambulatory group of what I would guess were professional actors who re-enacted what we guess was a Bretton Wedding and scenes from Breton life – lots of black skirts white head dresses and Sunday best embroidered aprons. There was music accompaniment from some Brittany bag pipes, an accordion, a copper recorder/small trumpet like instrument a lady playing fiddle. Lots of dancing a scene involving boats and French dialog which I think at times lapsed into Breton.

We then killed a couple of hours doing a café crawl comparing prices suspecting a cartel but no definite evidence just confirming that the pound is a pretty rubbish currency these days.

The evening entertainment was a concert in the Keréol Park, hence “Keroc nRoll”, advertised starting at 18.30. We made our way to a superbly set park looking out over the estuary. There was a bar set up, frites and sausage counter as well as freshly made “kouin” (crepes). Placed around the site was welded sculptures which really looked like piles of scrap iron until it was dark and the illuminations brought them to life. To one side of the stage were trestle tables and benches where we sat and eat our supper the kouin was delicious. Several wines/beers later a double act went on stage, and they were some sort of French Rap artists. At 9.30pm we were feeling restless and were almost about to go home when the main act came on a four piece band – drums, 2 guitars and a fiddle player who also played guitar. The vocalist could perform in French and English. They were very good the fiddle player was brilliant and they went from Rock Folk to hard rock – all in all a good day.