codicil – île de sieck

 

mv armorique approaches la gare maritime after the overnight crossing from plymouth

Why Brittany Ferries don't do night sailings to Plymouth anymore is a bit of a puzzle. We used to use them: it is a 100 mile crossing and takes time. Time that hangs heavy.  I prefer to sleep through. No matter, we still book a (day) cabin and retreat there to snooze, once the novelty of sailing out of Roscoff has worn off or when the hordes of the things (other passengers) become intolerable. Today our sailing does not get going until 1430 which gives us a half day spare. Can't be bad, no rushing off to enship this morning. Cool!

So down to the hotel for our p'tit déj (very good crispy bacon in generous supply) and down to the map shop for that missing Morlaix sheet. Lovely morning, that it is. Mme Melling did try to bribe me to take a trip to the Île de Batz with the chance to climb the phare (you can, sometimes …) but I feel by the time we'd walked from ferry to phare on the island I'd be in trouble (lumbar stenosis, you don't want to know) and probably not up to the ascent, or much else. So we plump for M's second idea, a walk round a private island, only accessible two hours either side of low water. Good choice! It is low water and it is a lovely day and I fancy more shore. We've been to Dossen before and looked across to Île de Sieck but couldn't make the time to walk over to it, unsure of the tides, etc. This time the flat grey/white sand is fully exposed and gives our walk a great start. 

the granite sands joining dossen to the island 

One can walk round most of this granite island freely, as long as you stick to the paths, which we do. Others are also doing similar but it is hardly busy. Rich in plants and animals, clearly. Lovely. Views across to Moguériec where we once risked a private hotel when first we found the night sailings had ceased (hmm, not brilliant). The really good thing for me is the trouble free round, comfortable walking (as you know, I'm not one to complain and what is more I didn't have to). Space. Light. Air. Joy. And the breathing sea. 

arrival and departure point on the île de sieck

It is a simple enough walk round Île de Sieck. Undulating, passing the little port which was associated with a sardine processing business which once was at work here. The buildings are largely in ruins, scenically succumbing to natural reclamation.

At the western extremity one looks across to the minor island of Golhédec before bending round to walk east with views toward

Île de Batz. Just a little short of the complete circuit the path cuts across the island, through dense but passable gorse, leaving the island owners to enjoy the south eastern portion of the island in private. You can't take it with you though . . .

Lucky them, it is quite a place, not remote but isolated, at the whim of tide times. The whole is bursting today with fresh growth, blossom, spring spring spring. All on a granite platform. What is not to like?

Reluctantly we return to Roscoff, by diverse ways, take refeshment for a final time at the Ty Pierre bar, stroll down the quays a bit, buy some milk…… then get on over to the gare maritime. After check in we encounter a French official who wants to inspect our boot and our bonnet (the motor's that is) comments how clean the engine looks (it is, having only done some 3.5k of our English miles from new) and waves us through, straight onto the ship, no stopping. We've eaten a passable lunch before our barque makes a move. After a suitable interval of refreshment we retire. 

At the Plymouth end it takes 50 minutes to get off, get through, and out onto the dark streets of the port with its attendant road works and road lane chaos. Unaccountably I make two wrong turns, both rapidly retrieved, and we are back at the ranch at about 2300. My how the grass has grown (trad response upon return—ed)

CODICIL: As I have made clear on numerous occasions, this post, in common with the majority of the others in this blog and on the other two I subscribe my talents too, are essentially to provide a reckoning that fortifies my memory, as and when I need such enlightenment. I am very happy to share with my public, of course I am, especially after the clamour for more and yet more shows no sign of abating (or starting?—ed) – the deluge of comment, both positive and negative – forever ringing in my ears (maybe that is just your tinnitus?—ed). 

Anyway anyway, if you have been, thank you for your attention, it is all over and you can pick up the pieces now and get on with stuff: the guilt of the time you have invested in the above will probably not leave any lasting scars… I trust. 

île de batz

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