Russethouse Posted August 9, 2006 Share Posted August 9, 2006 Other ways may be more economical, but wouldn't arriving in St Malo be a great way to start a new adventure in France ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meg Posted August 9, 2006 Share Posted August 9, 2006 Ld lines Portsmouth to Le Harve do good prices!http://www.ldlines.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egger Posted August 9, 2006 Author Share Posted August 9, 2006 Ok first what does 'Pute' mean. Mmm, I can see that i going to have my eyes open when i get there. No bar is fine, but no cafe, do you mean i never get to sit outside a cafe with my coffee watching the world go by [:'(]. Will have a look at other ferries, thanks for all the names.Had email telling me someone got gite for rent in Gemozac, did someone tell me how nice it was there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted August 9, 2006 Share Posted August 9, 2006 It means a lady of questionable morals...or perhaps a prostitute.If you want to sit outside a bar (which is the same as a cafe here, you can get coffeee etc), and watch the world go by, you will have to be in a very good sized town. It was me that said the Gemozac area is nice, and it is, but others pointed out it's dead off season. It could be a good base though, just to start looking around from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexis Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 St Malo is an awful place to arrive at. It is like sailing into a prison island. So very forbidding, all shuttered up. It isn't that nice to drive in either. I can never understand why people rave about it. Just compare it to Dinard or Dinan. The old town is all stripey jumpers and pottery. Egger will certainly find a cafe to sip coffee outside though.Some of the other ports are far more attractive. I can't recommend Calais perhaps, but Dieppe is pretty and Boulogne isn't that bad. We sail from Boulogne next week and we are sleeping there before we sail. I will be able to report back on all it's charms.I know it has a chip van on the quay side.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blanche Neige Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 "Had email telling me someone got gite for rent in Gemozac, did someone tell me how nice it was there?"I think you need to contact the tourist offices in the areas that interest you, get them to send you some info, have a good read and then decide where to go and start looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 >>>St Malo is an awful place to arrive at. It is like sailing into a prison island. So very forbidding, all shuttered up. It isn't that nice to drive in either. I can never understand why people rave about it<<<Where is your romance or sense of history ? In fact you get a lovely view when you come into port, one side the walled city, the other the river estuary..........Roscoff is OK (although all boats seem to have to do a horribly tummy churning manouevre just outside the harbour) but Calais or Le Havre. - pleeeze.....[:)][:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 [quote user="Alexis"]StMalo is an awful place to arrive at. It is like sailing into aprison island. So very forbidding, all shuttered up. Itisn't that nice to drive in either. I can never understand whypeople rave about it. Just compare it to Dinard or Dinan. The old town is all stripey jumpers and pottery. Egger willcertainly find a cafe to sip coffee outside though.[/quote][:D] [:D][:D]Alexis,Dieppe, the ferries no longer sail in to the centre, so not so sureabout it now. Boulogne & Calais are for happy shoppers in anindustrial setting, so that brings in Le Havre, Ouistreham has little going for it BUT you cheekymonkey, Saint Malo is the best ferry port by miles...shuttered upindeed, it is open and vibrant all year and do you know, parking this month hasbeen impossible for many, (cos the French don't like it either eh, one of, if not the most visited place in Brittany !!) in factwe couldn't even get a place to park to be able eat in Cancale earlythis week, so had to slum it at a gaff in La Gousnière [:D]P.S You know you can't sail the big ships in to Dinan [;-)]....Mmmm Dinard might beOK, then one could look at the glorious intra muros [;-)]PPS How is everything, did I read you were soon on the move...and Oh,if you need anything from IKEA Pacé in a couple of years, let me know ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexis Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 Don't worry, I realised long ago I was the only person in the world not to like St Malo. I just think it is grim.I like St. Servan though.I thought you were going to buy me a plate of meatballs when IKEA opened? We will have flitted by then I expect.Gilles is going from strength to strength thankfully. Touch wood and fingers crossed. All the leukaemia baddies have done a runner but it may, of course, come back. We don't think like that in this house though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 [quote user="Alexis"] We sail from Boulogne next week and we are sleeping there before we sail. I will be able to report back on all it's charms.I know it has a chip van on the quay side....[/quote]We used to like to go to Boulogne on our shopping trips in preference to Calais until P&O pulled out many moons ago. So good to see Speedferries using it now. The old town was quite nice - cobbled streets, lots of little restaurants, ramparts. Though I recall it being mainly British voices you heard there, naturally enough. I wonder if it is the same now. Nausicaa was quite interesting in a fishy sort of way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 Alexis, you can still have a plate of delicious meat balls and so can Gilles [:)]All you gotta do, is be there sometime around the time of theopening period. Not sure I want to be there on one of the first fewdays or weeks even, when all the ex Fly & Atlas peeps come burstingon the scene and see all those Scandinavian goodies on display [;-)]Great news for Gilles, positive thinking, that is the way for sure.I quite like St Servan as well, it is like Saint Malo, in the way onecan park up (although St Servan is far easier to find a place to parkin the high season) and then head off and seek a bar, a resto or simplyshop, something Tina has really got the hang off...mind you, haven'tmet a woman who hadn't got the hang of it yet!!How many houses now gone under the hammer but more the point how manymore to go !! Where exactly do you eventually hope to move to and when ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egger Posted August 10, 2006 Author Share Posted August 10, 2006 Hey you lot, is there anything good about France, stop putting me off, only joking. We are thinking Roscoff, mainly because its closer to vendee, my hubby wants to go down there, and also because we wont have to do as much driving. Very nervous about the driving, but am sure i will be ok.Is there really no cafes, oh i cannot believe there are no cafes, what do you do all day. Mmm going off my hubby, i will be ripping my hair out, unless i find someone to sit and have coffee with, will have to hunt someone out as soon as i get there.Oh how i love Wales lolMight have to do some hairdressing, that allways gets people on side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexis Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 Blimey! What made you think of Roscoff? That REALLY is the end of the world! Sorry Val! Surely you would have to drive almost to St. Malo to turn down south? Or cut across the badlands[;-)] The road from Roscoff/Brest/Lorient/Vannes is a bit too busy and fast for me now.Driving in France is a doddle. Don't worry about that.I'm a bit worried about you spending all your day in the bar. Strong stuff, coffee here. You could start shaking.... I have been waiting for IKEA to open in Rennes for ages and they wait for me to flit...anyway, nothing left for me to buy as I have it all. We would be better going to the Indian.We haven't sold anything yet. I am going to put this place on the market in a few weeks...with a heavy heart but hey, can't leave it empty.Or can I????[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 Honestly egger - have you checked the mileage Roscoff - Vendee versus St Malo - Vendee. The St Malo - Rennes - Nantes road is very fast (mainly motorway I think) where as the voie Express Brest - Quimper - Lorient etc is dual carriage way and can be very busy, I suppose it would be more scenicCorrect me if I'm wrong someone !!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egger Posted August 10, 2006 Author Share Posted August 10, 2006 Well i guess thats my map reading up the spout,(good job i have sat nav). Didnt think it would be easyier from St.Malo, but just had a look at the map and can see what you mean, (banging head against wall).Has for Ikea,Rennes and selling up, sorry dont understand. What have you not sold? why you leaving your house? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 I think you need to way up the pros and cons, Portsmouth - St Malo is overnight only, so you would arrive fairly early in the morning (but don't forget to add an hour when you get off the boat). I think there will still be crossings at other times of the day for Plymouth - Roscoff, Plymouth is further for you, the UK side but if you arrived in Brittany in the afternoon in might be nice to stop in Roscoff or St Pol de Leon to get your bearings and take a leisurely drive to the Vendee the next day. Whats the rush - it's an adventure ........[:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 Correct me if I'm wrong someone !!.No motorways in Brittany R.H. I know they might look like it but as no one pays, they arebasically quatre voies (dual carriageways) the speed is limited to 110kph not 130 kph. I haven't been over to the West so cannot guaranteethe speed over there but it is my belief that Brittany, not havingofficial pèages, is therefore 110 kph all over. The roads are thesame though as the autoroutes one picks up after Nantes forinstance.I have always been led to believe it was all due to Queen Annede Bretagne marrying the King of France, it was under the proviso that Bretons wouldn't have to pay tolls in Bretagne and alsoany tolls on bridges once sufficient payement has been made to pay forthe bridge, then it is freebut............... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 Well, all I can say is they look like motorways ! I'll tell the OH to take his foot of the accelerator [:)][:)]I think the thing to do with Anne de Bretagne either was to do with salt tax or was 'also' to do with salt tax..........I wrote an article about 'Breton salt' once, I'll have to look it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egger Posted August 10, 2006 Author Share Posted August 10, 2006 well my hubby might want to go to vendee, but i think brittany would suit me better, i wonder who will win,[Www].Great i just sold my car tonight, she bringing money tomorrow.[:D] Things are looking up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexis Posted August 11, 2006 Share Posted August 11, 2006 I thought that the motorway thing was because we were too poor here inBrittany?No. Surely it was to bring people here. If people had to pay, they wouldn't come! In fact, there is talk of charging. They must be going to either widen some of the roads or build new ones. All the little lanes will be crammed full then.Gilles says it is because of Anne de Bretagne...she was a forward planner then.Don't worry egger, we have know one another for so long on here it seems like we are talking another language. I'm going back to the UK. We are going to rent first to see if my husband can cope with the weather. I decided to put this place on the market so if it sold the money would be in the bank and if we didn't like Scotland, we could go somewhere else with the money on standby to buy if the perfect place came up.You know what it is like though...if the money is in your purse, you can never find anything to spend it on but if you are skint....always something! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppy Posted August 11, 2006 Share Posted August 11, 2006 Brrrr Alexis Scotland. It is beautiful though [:D]Anything in particular prompted the move [I]The Other Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egger Posted August 11, 2006 Author Share Posted August 11, 2006 Well if you rented your house, you would have the best of both worlds.Why you leaving?Mmm now then, if only you could fine someone who wants to rent a house in Brittany, say for about 3 months [Www], with a veiw to buying it, i wonder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexis Posted August 11, 2006 Share Posted August 11, 2006 ha ha ha good thinking egger. I used to rent it out too. It was last year when we visited that gave Gilles the idea to live in Scotland. He was bowled over.Then, of course, the troubles arrived so everything went up in smoke.I don't know what you mean by cold...it is 25° there at the moment...11° the morning and 14° the afternoon!!!!!ha ha ha ha ha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted August 11, 2006 Share Posted August 11, 2006 [quote user="Miki"]I have always been led to believe it was all due to Queen Annede Bretagne marrying the King of France, it was under the proviso that Bretons wouldn't have to pay tolls in Bretagne and alsoany tolls on bridges once sufficient payement has been made to pay forthe bridge, then it is freebut...............[/quote]Anyone remember the UK Govt saying the same thing about the QE2 bridge (M25 Dartford) - tolls until it was paid for, then it would be free? Evidently a promise made by a French king (Charles VIII or Louis XII?) in the 15th century is a lot more durable than that of a modern government! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppy Posted August 11, 2006 Share Posted August 11, 2006 OOOOPS just a bit cooler than SW France. 8 this morning and 24 now thats only 32.Think you will have to wear something under the kilt in the Winter; but there again you have to here.French friends of ours always go to Scotland for their holidays, have done for 16 years and plan to retire there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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