Off to Roscoff

We have just spent a week in Roscoff, the fishing port on the North coast of Brittany.   We had been suffering a bit of a drought up until the Tuesday we set off, so it was hard to begrudge the torrential rain that marked our journey out.  Also, my head cold could hardly have been better timed, since it started on the Monday.  None the less, we were in good spirits as we made our way.

It was Anne of Bretagne who ceded control of Brittany to the French nation, and as a condition, Bretons were never to have to pay to travel on their own roads.  This promise has been kept, and the Breton motorways are toll-free to this day, although the speed limit is kept to 110 instead of 130kph.

We stopped just past Rennes for lunch, in what would be a motorway service station if it were on a normal motorway.  We noticed that there were many local workers and artisans lunching there - they could access the café more easily than if it were on a toll road.  Then it struck me that there's no really good reason why locals shouldn't be able to access motorway service stations if they want to - as long as access is kept pedestrian only.   After all, it works in Brittany.

We got to the hotel in the early afternoon.  It was right on the harbour front - we got a good view of the activities during the week, and could see what the tide was doing.   We were on the 3rd floor and there were no lifts - that was a bit of a surprise, but we got used to it.