{"id":6986,"date":"2022-07-31T17:27:15","date_gmt":"2022-07-31T17:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kergudon.com\/?p=6986"},"modified":"2022-07-31T17:27:19","modified_gmt":"2022-07-31T17:27:19","slug":"sunday-31-july-the-perfect-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/sunday-31-july-the-perfect-location\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday 31 July – The Perfect Location"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week\u2019s blog<\/a> was solely about the fires we had experienced in the Monts D\u2019Arr\u00e9e and their impact on the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully this week has been much less dramatic \u2013 although 3 fire engines driving at speed down Hent Gorreker with their blue lights flashing at 2300 yesterday caused some concern!  We couldn\u2019t see where the eventually ended up but, as Hent Gorreker is not a short cut to anywhere, we feared that something bad had started again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That fear was in part possible as, during the week, the Gendarmes had confirmed their initial suspicions that some of the original fires had been started deliberately, was accurate.  Whether they will ever discover the individual or individuals who were responsible remains to be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, the fires are now all extinguished and the roads previously closed have been re-opened.\u00a0 The Monts D\u2019Arr\u00e9e look very different now to a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For work, I have managed to progress a few annual tasks including continuing with some weeding \u2013 why is it that even when everything else is suffering so badly from a lack of rain, the weeds happily continue growing?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have given the wisteria its summer prune, an activity that becomes bigger, more difficult and a little bit more daunting each year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t take a before picture but, as the wisteria gets bigger each year, the amount of new growth it puts on also gets more.\u00a0 It is amazing how quickly its tendrils grown and get under the slates and between the stones. \u00a0I am very keen to cut these out each year but more to retain, and control, its shape which we\u2019re happy with now as we train it across the front of Priory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I have carried on with some more hedge cutting, one side of one leg around the petanque pitch, which I hope to continue next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Something else I\u2019m continuing to do is \u2018clear\u2019 the garage.  Three of the items that are in there are old cider barrels that we bought to make tables for the new party barn \/ petanque pitch area.  They were delivered a year ago and I have been using them as stands \/ benches for other projects since, but now I want to actually finish those so they can be clear of the garage.  (David would argue I could just store them elsewhere before actually working on them, so emptying the garage faster!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I wanted to sand them and re-stain the barrels, I thought it would be a better job if I removed the  hoops to make it easier and give a better finish, especially as we want to paint the hoops a different colour too.  Of course, when the hoops are removed, there is nothing to hold the staves against the heads so I had to devise a way to prevent them falling apart and into make-your-own-barrel kits!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This proved a little harder than I expected but I managed to get to a point where, as long as I handle them gently, they are staying together but I will be happier when I have replaced and secured the hoops again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We have also been a little more active in the last couple of weeks as lots of events occur in the summer season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We initially set ourselves a goal of trying to do something \u2018cultural\u2019 each month, although haven\u2019t been great at achieving that.\u00a0 A couple of weeks ago we went to a small concert at a local bar \u2013 which was brilliant, and last week we went to Morlaix for dinner.\u00a0 Having our pre-dinner drinks at one of our favourite bars, Ty Coz which overlooks the old market square, we could see they were setting up for an evening show.\u00a0 Sadly, because we had a dinner reservation we couldn\u2019t stay and watch but we need to be better at getting out and about and taking advantage of the huge number of events around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of weeks ago, you will have seen that we made a list of the best places to stay in Northern France in the national media.\u00a0 I don\u2019t mean to keep bringing this up(!) but, in the last week there have also been media articles on the best beaches in France \u2013 and a couple of them are within easy reach of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we are not \u2018on the coast\u2019, where you would generally visit the same beach all the time, one of the beauties of our location is that there are so many different beaches you can visit on the north, west or south coast of Brittany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Grauniad<\/a> newspaper lists 3 beaches in Brittany amongst the best \u2013 2 of them actually are in Brittany but that\u2019s a minor detail \u2013 one of them is Carantec, between Morlaix and Roscoff and a great family-friendly beach.\u00a0 Brittany Ferries<\/a> has the Ile Vierge beach on the Crozon peninsular as its top choice which is also fabulous \u2013 although for the more adventurous to get to.\u00a0 On top those selected in the articles there are miles and miles of safe and accessible beaches with white sand, shale or pebble to suit absolutely everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brittany Ferries have also released all their sailing dates up to November<\/a> next year too \u2013 so while it is still summer holiday season 2022, it\u2019s not too early to be thinking about next year \u2026 I have to point out that we\u2019re not sponsored by Brittany Ferries in anyway but for a means of crossing the channel, they don\u2019t seem to have been impacted at all in the way Dover has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a child we invariably holidayed in France and the sailing was all part of the holiday adventure.  Being based in western France, Brittany Ferries ports are closer to us (Roscoff \u2013 45 minutes; St. Malo \u2013 2 \u00bd hours; Caen \u2013 4 hours) and all are attractive towns worth a visit in their own right.  Driving in France is so much more pleasurable (not to say predictable and reliable) than in the UK, if Portsmouth or Plymouth are easy to get to \u2013 there is always a better option than Dover!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have I sown a seed of thought for your summer holiday 2023?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See you then!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week\u2019s blog was solely about the fires we had experienced in the Monts D\u2019Arr\u00e9e and their impact on the area. Thankfully this week has been much less dramatic \u2013 although 3 fire engines driving at speed down Hent Gorreker with their blue lights flashing at 2300 yesterday caused some concern!  We couldn\u2019t see where…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6983,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ben-and-daves-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kergudon.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}