My daughter Nicola and my grandson Rufus (7) were taking a car trip round Brittany and planning to finish in the St Malo area and Nicola invited me to join them for the last few days. This was partly in memory of my parents as our last holiday with them before Dad died in 2009 was in Dinard, just outside St Malo. In the end, we booked a hotel in nearby Dinan, which is inland and about a 40-minute drive from St Malo. I wouldn’t need my own car there so the plan was I’d drive to Portsmouth and catch a ferry to St Malo as a foot passenger and Nicola would meet me there. The harbour has a car park – £13 a day – as well as there being a Portsmouth Harbour train station.

The crossing to St Malo with Brittany Ferries is always at night and it’s mandatory to have a cabin; the return trip is by day. They are very long trips as the route to France this way is long (not like the quick Dover to Calais crossing I’m used to). The night crossing leaves at 8.15pm and arrives in St Malo the following morning at 8.15am; the return trip leaves at 10.30am and arrives in Portsmouth at 6.20pm and I would return with Nicola in her car. We decided to book Club Lounge seats for a little more comfort. On the way out, this cost me £47 but included an evening meal. I was given a nice table by a window and there was a buffet of hot and cold dishes. I was given a welcome drink but other drinks were extra.

 

The return trip was more – £55 – but all food and drink was included, wine and beer as well as soft drinks, with a wonderful breakfast buffet available as soon as we boarded the ship, followed by an excellent lunch buffet with hot and cold dishes and then cakes and crêpes left for teatime with drinks – hot and cold – left out all the time.

There were cereals and delicious cakes and pastries for breakfast and big bowls of fresh pineapple, orange, pink grapefruit and fresh fruit salad; yogurts, cold meats and cheese and hot food if you wanted it. There was a coffee machine and various juices on offer.

 

For lunch there were gorgeous salads and cold meats and cheeses. This was supposed to be the ‘starter’ with hot dishes to follow as the main, but I just took a large plate of cold food and then had a plate of some tempting cakes for pudding.

 
 

All the staff were friendly and helpful and while we paid extra for the Club Lounge, we appreciated its comfort and that it was quieter and less crowded for the long journey (there are limited tickets available so it will never be crowded).

On my trip out, it was exciting to see us coming into St Malo early the next morning. I’ve been to St Malo a few times but the last time would have been 2009 with my parents, and I’d never arrived by ship before. I recognised the skyline immediately and stayed on deck for a while as we headed into the harbour.

Getting from the ferry to St Malo’s old town was very easy – just a 10-minute walk! (You can also easily get to St Malo from Paris on a high-speed TGV train which takes 2 hours 20 minutes.)

I arrived there just after 9am and Nicola would arrive around 10am, driving from where they’d spent the last couple of days. We agreed to meet near the tourist office by the seafront where there was also a large car park. I could offload my suitcase into the car and we’d spend the morning in St Malo before driving to Dinan.

ST MALO

St Malo was France’s foremost port at the end of the 17th century. Much of the city was destroyed by bombs during WW2 but fortunately a lot of the old city remained and buildings were repaired and rebuilt with their original stone. This fortified city has retained an independent spirit and its motto is: ‘Foremost a native of St Malo, a Breton perhaps, and a Frenchman last.’

I easily found the tourist office and with time to spare for a coffee, headed through an archway in the old city walls – Port Saint-Vincent, which was built in 1709. I was pleased to see a bakery in front of me. Perfect! I bought a coffee and croissant and sat at a table upstairs.

 

 

When Nicola and Rufus arrived, we decided to take a walk around the city walls from which we enjoyed great views. The ramparts – city walls – are a famous part of the old city and as you walk along them, apart from the fine views across the sea, they’re lined with huge elegant houses built by shipowners in St Malo’s heyday.

After a while we walked down some steps into the town and explored, finding a pretty square and a wonderful photographer’s shop – Guillaume R.Aussant.

 

Unfortunately by this time it was raining quite hard. After weeks of drought and hot weather in England and Europe, it was rather disappointing. But we were soon feeling happy again after stopping at a wonderful crêperie. There are crêperies all over Brittany selling gorgeous crêpes and galettes. This one was exceptionally good, everything organic (including the beer we had with it) and freshly made in front of us.

We sat right by the cook and I chose a galette with cheese and egg, which was delicious. The organic beer was delicious too. Cider is very popular in Brittany and served everywhere, but we’re not great fans of it so didn’t have any.

 

Crêpes and galettes are traditional, staple food in Brittany. Galettes are a type of pancake made with buckwheat flour (which also makes them gluten free). In Brittany’s wet climate with poor soil, buckwheat proved more hardy than ordinary wheat and was ground into flour when wheat failed. I love them for their distinctive and delicious flavour.

After lunch we decided to move on to Dinan. The weather was too bad to carry on walking and despite rain jackets and umbrellas, we were getting very wet. It was a shame as there’s a lot more to do in St Malo which has a château and a fine 12th century cathedral and is lovely just to walk round. However, we’d had a great time in our short time there with a delicious lunch and an enjoyable walk along the ramparts. But now it was back to the car, the satnav set and on to Dinan.