Benodet August 2017: Premier Poste

To Brittany for a holiday with all, and I mean all, the family. Six adults and seven children on a camping site just outside of Benodet. One of the many joys of living where we do is that the Brittany ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff is just 30-odd minutes away so getting across the Channel is easy peasy. That, and a 90 minute drive the other side, means that not a lot of time needs to spent in the car hammering down French motor ways. A few photographs for the record.

A relatively early start gave us the chance to see Plymouth Hoe in the morning sun. It really is an impressive waterfront.

The seaward side of Drake's Island in the Sound showing the old Palmerston fortifications. The island has had a chequered recent history and is now destined to become a luxury/resort hotel. Seeing will be believing, I guess.

The ferry leaves the Sound to the west side of the Breakwater. Completed in 1844 after many years of construction (involving 4 million tons of rock), it provides shelter for the naval vessels entering and leaving Devonport. To the left can be seen the circular Palmerston fort which was added for additional fortification in the 1860s. Generally seen as a long, thin line from the shore, it's a lot bigger close up. I remember fishing off the Breakwater for conger eels a couple of times in the early '70s with some friends in a small boat. The congers find the nooks and crannies in amongst the granite boulders ideal places to inhabit.

The sad skeletons of old ships on the banks of the Odet just outside of Benodet. Linguists might be interested to know the derivation of Benodet: Ben - Breton for head, Odet - the river.

 A discarded propeller, which rather surprised me as the scrap metal value of it would have been an irresistible temptation to salvage merchants back in the UK.

Benodet: boats and a bridge.

A Grey Heron on the mudflats of the Odet. This one must have been approaching 6 foot in height.

 

This church, located at the port of Benodet, is dedicated to Saint Thomas Becket. Built in the XIII century, it originally consisted of just a nave and a small bell tower but was enlarged during the XVI century with reuse of the old elements.

I liked the light and shade of these devotional candles.

Ditto these.

I've never seen this one before - a Jersey Tiger Moth. The upper wings are completely covering the flamboyant reddy orange underwings. These were very visible as it was flying around but, as soon as it perched, they disappeared. A bit of a rarity back home but, apparently, its numbers are increasing.

I do like a nice sky and a good cloud formation. But these aren't any old clouds, these are French clouds or nuages, as we bilingual types call them.