Last week’s blog ended saying that we would have some exciting news about the route of the Tour de France in 2018 …
That news is that the Tour is coming to our commune and will pass through the centre of Sizun, only 7 kms from us.
The route for next year’s tour was published last week and it will spend 4 days in Brittany with 2 of them, Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th, passing very close to us making Kergudon the perfect place to come and witness the Tour close up.
On Wednesday the tour will leave Lorient and head to the departmental ‘capital’, Quimper. Quimper is a beautiful city in its own right and well worth a visit however, en route the tour passes through Châuteauneuf-du-Faou and Châteaulin, both of which are about 30 minutes from us.
On Thursday the route runs from Brest to Mûr-de-Bretagne and passes through Sizun and Commana – both 5 minutes from us. The Tour visited last visited Mûr-de-Bretagne in 2015 and, as a challenging hill climb, it was considered a great success for the tour and spectators so, while they only climbed once in 2015, next year they will be tackling the gradient twice.
The precise route details are to be determined but there will be lots of opportunity to see the Tour in all its glory using Kergudon as a base.
Last week’s blog also said that we were without family guests for the first time in a while – which was true – but last week we were joined for 3 days by some very good friends who we hadn’t seen in a few years and who hadn’t yet visited our new venture. As such, last week wasn’t the most productive (again).
Our friends are also spaniel owners and they brought their dog, Bosun, along to play with Garratt and Brandon. Having 3 spaniels was the perfect excuse for lots of fantastic walking including around the Lac du Drennec on a classically misty autumn day.
Our friends’ daughter, Millie, is 13 and she has an interest in photography. The pictures of the lake and dogs were all taken by her – I think they are excellent.
While our friends were here we took them to Locronan, the beautiful preserved ancient village a little to the south of us. While we were there we saw them putting up the Christmas lights which make the town the most magical place and a must see if you’re visiting Brittany. We also visited Morlaix, a larger but still beautiful town, a little to the north of us, and visited our favourite pub, Ty Coz, and found a fantastic new restaurant that we would definitely recommend, Les Bains Douches.
Having enjoyed our friends’ company for a few days meant that I haven’t made huge progress around Kergudon although I have finished the wood store. The single day that I thought (hoped) it would take was a little ambitious (again!) but I managed to complete it ready for stocking. I plan to protect the wood at the front with some waterproof fabric covers that I will make over the winter but in the short term I will use plastic when we fill it up. First I want to continue levelling around Grange so we can lay gravel and that will be my focus for the coming week which looks to be another dry and relatively warm one. Fingers crossed.
Salut.