Bayeux, a run and Saint-Malo

(Lesley) Samedi nous sommes allés voir la plage Juno et la tapisserie de Bayeux. C’était vraiment quelque chose à voir.  C’est une tapisserie qui raconte l’histoire de Guillaume le conquerant et la bataille de 1066 qui a eu lieu à Hastings.  Guillaume est partie de la France pour l’Angleterre et la tapisserie raconte, de façon visuelle, l’histoire de son voyage et ce qui s’est passé une fois qu’il est arrivé en Angleterre.  C’était intéressante et la vielle ville de Bayeux est très mignone.  Thought I’d try writing in French too.  I’m doing plenty of talking here daily.

A little sample

Mhari and Sam wrote about Juno beach and Bayeux on their blogs so see their blogs for those places.

Oct 11 -I had a lovely run this morning, mostly downhill into town, on a lovely trail. The trail was really fun and varied.  At first it was tunnel-like with the foliage growing right over top of me, but some sun shone through.  It was like running through a magical forest.  Well, it reminded me of forests depicted in movies like The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, (not that I’m sure I ever seen that one).   I could imagine catching glimpses of magical creatures or talking animals up ahead on the trail.  Later, the trail was a little more sinister, like a scene from Lord of the Rings (sort of JRR Tolken-ish).  The skinny trees were closely spaced and the path wound in and out and around.  It wouldn’t have surprised me to have been forced off the trail by knights on horseback galloping or chasing someone.  The trail generally followed the water around the estuary, but it went up and down a lot.  At one point I ran along the edge of the land with quite a drop off on the water side.  It was really a fun trail to run.  I think I will do the run again perhaps with Sam tomorrow.  Maybe it will counteract my daily dose of chocolate, baguettes, cheese, waffles, crêpes, and the list goes on.

Nice trail

Later today, after my run, we went to Saint-Malo.  

We packed a lunch, took the first available non-paying parking space in St-Servan, then walked into the walled city.  We walked all day long. I think we walked at least 8 kms, perhaps 10.  Sam and I swam in the Atlantic Ocean today too.

It was cold!!! However I will do it again, tomorrow, in a different spot, just because I can.  And the forecast is for more sunny weather, and after a first week in France with daily rain, I’m into making the most of things. 

When the tide went out we walked out to the Isle du Grand Bé, then Isle du Petit Bé, where we battled the wind at the top of the hill and played with shells left in the rock pools.  Mhari picked up a good shell that I’m sure my dad would have filled with Coquilles St-Jacques if he were over here with us.  We had a gauffre with sucre bought hot off the waffle iron. Mmm.

Photos: Awaiting low tide and at low tide.

We went into the Cathédrale St-Vincent where Jacques Cartier’s remains are buried in the chapel.  Well, only his head is left, but it is there; I saw the grave with his name.  There is also a mosaic plaque on the floor of the Cathédrale, where Cartier knelt to receive his blessing by the bishop of St–Malo before heading off, in 1535, to discover Canada.

So today was a very active and interesting day that didn’t cost us too much until we stopped at the grocery store (Cora hypermarché) en route home and bought a week’s worth of food and wine.  Actually we only spent  75€ there and that is cheap for groceries we spent 120€ last time we did a big shop.

We are finding France can cost quite a bit if we aren’t careful.  We have been picnic lunching most days and not eating out in restaurants.  We have also discovered that the vin de table is fine for most of our meals.