Holidays Part I: Heading South

Not all that far south, I’ll admit, but south nonetheless.

Friday the 10th saw a small but intrepid group of Millbrookians setting out for adventures aplenty in (what we hoped would be) sunny Brittany.

Without undue fuss or bother the frolicsome fivesome gathered aboard the good ship Pont Aven at Millbay Docks for the five and a half hour crossing to Roscoff. Thank goodness it was the Pont Aven, too. Mrs The Millbrooker and I have endured the privations of the abysmal alternative the “Armorique” and purposely booked to arrive in Brittany a day later than we could have to avoid having to use the floating piece of nonsensical, on-the-cheap design that is Brittany Ferries’ idea of innovation and advancement.

Soon enough, we found ourselves in one of the bars (oh, quelle surprise) and enjoying a start-of-holiday slurp. We also went to the waiter service restaurant for a slap up lunch-cum-tea and a bottle of rather decent red stuff. Here's Shazzerooneypoos mistakenly pouring water when there's wine to be had. Upon making landfall, it was straight to Le Bout de Sac in Trébrivan where general merriment and much talking of bollocks continued until much later than was wise for people of such advanced years; The Wizzers of Soz (claimant to considerably fewer years) was allowed to stay up late as well. You know what? Trébrivan had kindly given us one of its rather decent sunsets just to get us all in the mood. How kind. Here's Dong's back view as he admires Helios descending. Day Two started with an expedition to the boulangerie for bread and urgent breakfasting supplies; en-route I discovered a wedding taking place at the village church. I do like a good wedding (call me an old softy), so I summoned Dong and Shazzerooneypoos to watch the matrimonial party circle the church behind a pair of Breton pipers. Back at Le Bout de Sac, over breakfast we listened out for the church bells so we could catch them coming out again. This is three of us watching, just as Mrs The Millbrooker and The Wizzers of Soz arrived to enjoy the free show. Do I look like a tourist at all? And here's a shot of the happy couple surrounded by their people. All together now....aaah. Day Two also meant having to do hunting and gathering to feed the tribe, so an expedition was put together and we forayed into the depths of Eric Le Clerc’s kingdom, returning with much wine, cheese, pâté, vegetable matter, and plenty of protein.

Chores completed, Dong, Shazzerooneypoos, Mrs The Millbrooker, The Wizzers of Soz and yours truly crammed into the little pink jobber that serves as motorised transport for the Millbrooker Towers household and Mrs The Millbrooker drove us to the Landes de Locarn for a gentle four(ish) miler on a circuit incorporating the famed Gorge du Corong and a tramp through the Tolkien-esque ancient forest.

Dong was very happy to find a wild menhir to draw vibes from (man).

The Wizzers of Soz did gazelle impersonations on the tumbling boulders of the gorge.

Mrs The Millbrooker did some hoppitting about on the rocks, too. Here she is whilst the remainder of the party enjoy a breather.

Home again and the master chef of Trébrivan (that’ll be me, then) plopped some Lieu Noir (coley), inadvertently flambéed in pastis, (with braised fennel and roasted peppers in a pastis sauce) onto everyone’s plates and much munching was performed; followed by plenty more slurping of the old liver punisher. A fine beginning – onwards to day three…