4 -Bretagne— Île de Batz

 May 27– Monday— Île de Batz 

While most of you were celebrating Memorial Day, I was enjoying an incredible day on an island with stone houses painted in moss and vines, lush fields, thick forests, brilliantly colored flowers —where even weeds sprout beautiful brilliant flowers. Above us hung cloudy skies with spots of blue. (Sylvie remarked about the blue whenever it showed through the clouds.) Boats and sailboats dotted the bay like a Winslow Homer painting. It was idyllic.

Île de Batz.

We got up early, left at 8:00 am and arrived at the dock just in time to take the 10:15 boat from Roscoff to the island. 

Have you ever been someplace where you just wanted to capture the moment—every moment to remember the experience forever? So, you take about a thousand pictures thinking that the photos will “capture the moment” when, in fact, you want to capture the feeling, the experience itself? Well, that describes this day. I have photo after photo of seascapes and old stone buildings and sailboats and lighthouses and churches and, and, and. I will just post the photos here and you can scroll as you want…or not. They don’t really capture the feeling or the experience but imagine that we are wandering along a path on this small island and taking in an ambience of calm and beauty. (Insert imaginary sounds of the waves of the sea and the birds soaring over the rocks…)

When it was time for lunch, we found a picnic table next to the road, overlooking the sea. Sylvie went up the road and found a boulangerie for some bread.

As we looked out over the sea, we saw this teeny tiny boat and wondered what it was.

Here it is zoomed in…. So cute.

Later on, we saw other teeny tiny boats along the trail and decided that they anchored crab pots. At least that’s what Sylvie said.

After lunch we moved on….

We came upon a creperie and decided to stop to enjoy traditional galettes. Mine is the one aflame with grand mariner.

OK, back to the wander. Some of these photos might be similar since we were heading back on the loop.

These little curlicues of sand are places where you can find razor clams. Sylvie said that you pour salt over the curlicue and the clam will come out of the sand and you can snatch it up.

We wound our way to the old phare (aka lighthouse) and intended to climb to the top, but….

It is closed on Mondays. 

This next photo is the remains of a soda mine. A certain kind of seaweed was dried and pressed into large blocks and sent off to the iodine fractory. I can’t see how this trench was actually used but the sign explained it all.

This lonely manor captured my imagination and Fabi and I began telling each other a tale of love and tragedy about this place….

In times past, one could see the young dame of the manor, dressed in a long white dress (made by Sylvie), climb the steps of the round tower to wait, yet again, for her husband, the love of her life. She looks out to sea, straining to see the sails of his ship on the horizon. Alas, she comes to realize that the siren of the sea has lured him to his death with seductive songs that tempted him beyond resistance. She is forever doomed to mourn him from that tower from season to season as the rain and the wind whips around her broken heart until she rejoins him in the after life.

….and even this cow, standing near the lonely manor, looks lonely and forlorn as it chews its cud.

to continue….

Finally, we saw the “eye” of he island and found the harbor with the boat waiting for us.

We took the 4:00 boat back to civilization and Fabi drove the 2 hours to Laudéac.  

We decided to go out to eat. Apparently, many restaurants are closed on Mondays so we ended up at the Buffalo Grill for some good ole American cuisine.

…and so it goes