Go west young man...

Tuesday 24^th May

Today we decided to visit the city of Quimper and then the furthest point west in France – Pointe du Raz. We took the back roads to Quimper and passed through some lovely little villages. It took quite a while to travel the 140k because of the number of villages along the road which require a speed limit of 70 or 50.

Quimper is a really lovely city with a large pedestrian area. In a lot of places the old fortification walls are still standing and inside the walls are many medieval buildings. We took a ride on the little train which gave us a quick overview of the buildings and the history of Quimper. The cathedral (yes, another church) was interesting in that the nave (main part) of the church had a bend about half way down. No one is really sure why this is. It looks quite strange when you stand in the doorway and look down the aisle.

The cathedral at Quimper.

You can see the bend in the church in this photo.

Part of the walls of the city.

One of the maze of streets in the pedestrian only section of the city.

Was an interesting curve in the roof of the building above the white umbrella.

We found this amazing chocolate shop with these fantastic chocolates - the whole thing is edible. We resisted the urge to buy one of these special pieces and bought just a few pieces of nougat.

Ceramic and porcelain painting seems to be the art form of this part of France. Not sure that these plates come up clearly in this photo.

More of the city walls and a watchtower.

I found a wool and fabric shop and this was the decoration on the footpath out the front. Didn't buy anything.

From Quimper we drove out to Pointe du Raz. A slow drive following lots of cars – a bit like a drive down to Ocean Grove I guess. You park at the end and then walk (through the touristy shops) out to the point. The weather was OK but it was a bit cool and breezy out at the point.

The town of Audierne as we drove to Pointe du Raz. Had a lovely little harbour but we couldn't get a photo as we just drove through.

The lighthouse of Pointe du Raz.

A  WWII bunker at Pointe du Raz.

After this we pointed the car towards home via the lesser roads and via Pontivy for tea. Last time we were in France we discovered Chinese buffet restaurants where they have plenty of dishes on the buffet but also you can pick your fresh ingredients and have them cooked with the sauce of your choice. I had satay chicken and garlic prawns. Rob had a mix of meats with garlic sauce and then seafood with Thai curry sauce. We both left there feeling that we’d eaten one dish too many.

We are finding it hard to adjust to the daylight here. It seems to get light by 6 and it is still light at 10pm. We feel like we need to at least stay up until it gets dark. Even when I get up in the middle of the night it doesn't seem to be really dark.