Every year from 1992 we took our summer holidays on our boat and soon found some beautiful places that we returned to on a regular basis. We alternated between the south west of England, the Channel Islands and the north and west coasts of Brittany.
L'Aberwrach is at the western extremity just before you turn south to go down the chenal de Four towards Brest and beyond. It's a deep estuary with moorings close to a charming village with lots of lovely views in all directions.
This is the tallest lighthouse in France, Ile Vierge and it's visible from far out to sea. There are boat trips out to visit it but we never got around to going.
We usually spent a week of our holiday in this tranquil place, going ashore in the dinghy to shop and eat in the friendly creperie or pizzeria. As you can see from these early sketches I was busy practising with my fine pens, using the textures I learned from the Claudia Nice book.
The walking was fantastic, along the shores and over the sand dunes to many beautiful beaches. One day we discovered the plage Sainte Marguerite where the kite surfing championships take place every year and stopped to watch for a while and do a bit of sketching.
Another time it was almost deserted.
A favourite pastime of the French is 'peche à pied' which happens every low spring tide. Families come out with their buckets and spades and forks to search for shellfish and shrimps in the pools and rocks.
Here's another lovely white beach, this time close to home where we walked when we stayed on the boat in Perros marina before we came here to live. I can actually remember Bob looking in the estate agent's window and saying how nice it would be to retire to Perros, long before we decided to make the move.
Next time we're going to visit the Channel islands and the Isle of Wight, see you soon!
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