Last Postcard from Brittany

Day 12
Friday 9th August

We drove to Auray.
It was near to lunch time so ....

....a spot of lunch first.

Dessert was three small goodies and an espresso coffee I ate the desserts and Hubby had the coffee!

We had parked the car in the centre so after eating we took a walk down to the river.

Across the river D'Auray is St-Goustan.

a really pretty place.

Auray had a castle built in 1201 but by the beginning of the 16th century it was abandoned and fell into disrepair.

The Port at St-Goustan has been there for as long as a castle.

Benjamin Franklin was forced to land at Auray in bad weather on 3r December 1776 on his way to Nantes.

St Goustan, Patron saint of sailors and fishermen

Then we walked back up the hill to the town.

We should of caught the train!

We then drove to Elven.

The gatehouse

To visit The Largoet Fortress.

An early 15th century castle.

we climbed the steps up the tower.
In the small sheet given to us about the history of the castle it states;
The summit of the dungeon is 57 metres high from the bottom of the moat. It is the highest in France. It has 177 steps. Going up the stairs is not recommended and visitors who wish to go up the stairs do so at their own risk. They will arrive at numerous gaping openings which makes this a dangerous venture.
Of course we went up!

On the 2nd floor and to the left is found a small room where the Count of Richemont was imprisoned for 18 months (1474-1475). He then became King of England under the name of Henry VII (1485-1509) after the Wars of the Roses.

Our Last Day
Saturday 10th August.

Up early and drive up to the Normandy coast.

On the way we called in at small War cemetery just outside Bayeux.

 To visit my Granddad's grave.

Then on to Arromanches

A bite to eat here.

No time for museums but a walk along the front. You can see the remains of the mulberry harbour in the bay.

And then it was time to head for the ferry and home.

Goodbye to France.
We had such a lovely time.....all a bit of a distant memory now.

We were meant to dock at 9.15pm...we did dock at 10.00pm and then it took two hours to get off the ferry and onto the road out of Portsmouth....then a very, very long drive home where we pulled up on the drive at 4.15am and went straight to bed.