20-22 June

After those three very hot days in Connelles, we anticipated some cooler weather as we moved back in the direction of Rennes from where our flight would take us back to Spain on Sunday.

Our first stop along the way was Honfleur, a little village on the other side of the Seine opposite Le Havre. When were were cruising the north of France, Honfleur had been on our list. Very picturesque with a tiny inner harbour with a lock. We arrived in time for lunch, and, unfortunately, the hottest moment of the day — mid 90F with absolutely still air, not a breath. The restaurant we picked had a glass wind break and overhead heaters for cold weather, but no fans — our sweat was puddling on our seats.

Shan’s two fish, salmon and a white fish, was delicious, but my pork was overdone. We watched as others were served gigantic seafood platters with lobsters, bullots, shrimp, oysters, and mussels. We watched as they ate everything! After lunch we walked around the village, shopping and attempting to stay in the shade of the buildings where it was cooler.

We had reservations at a B&B with Madam Theresa in Pleudihen-sur-Rance near our friends, Philippe and Sheena with whom were to dine that evening and who had planned a BBQ on Thursday, Shan’s birthday. Pleudihen-sur-Rance is a tiny Breton village of grey stone buildings, walls, and narrow streets, very unforgiving for automobile paint. We arrived at Madam Theresa’s when we said we would but couldn’t find a sign and there was no response to Shan’s knock on the door. She started toward a neighboring house and I attempted to turn around in the narrow close. As I started to drive out of the close, a small boy came running to the car followed closely by Madam Theresa — very distraught, asking: “What do you want? Have you reservations? Do you want see-catering or B&B?” All this and more in very fast French! She had apparently lost track of which day it was and had not planned on opening the B&B until July, but did especially for us (Philippe and Sheena’s friends). The B&B was not at the same level as those where we stayed in Bourges and Amboise, straight out of the 1960’s, tiny rooms, no AC, too much furniture, but great wifi!

We enjoyed a wonderful two days with our friends and will cherish every moment visiting with Philipe, Sheena, and their extended family from England and Sweden. Philippe just happened to have sold his boat and had a set of international signal flags. I needed the signal flags for dressing North Star for our crossing with the ARC, so other than the minor problem of carrying the bag of flags back to North Star, one problem was solved.

We decided to stay in Dinan for Friday and Saturday. So off we go again.