Caen to St Malo

After an easy morning we caught a regional train to Brittany. Toward the end of the journey I caught sight of Mont St Michel on the horizon, but I was not quick enough with my phone before it was gone. After nearly three hours of very green, very attractive farmland we arrived at our waypoint Dol de Bretagne. (Dol is a Breton term meaning "low and fertile place in the flood plain of a waterway”). Our nearest exit was blocked by four bicycles, their owners and baggage, but we managed to find another door with only two bikes!

We changed to another train for a 15 minutes ride to St Malo.

What a stunning place! And the hotel - “Golden Tulip Hotel Le Grand Bé” - is lovely, especially after the Ibis Styles in Caen which could only be described as “mean”.

We were drawn to St Malo by its exciting history and spectacular setting. Sited on a rocky outcrop on the coast of Brittany, in the west of France, St Malo, surrounded by strong walls and fortified with cannons, was impossible to attack. Its hardy sailors provided the crews for fishing boats, long-range explorers (the Northern Canada fur trade was pioneered by Jaques Cartier from St Malo), and in times of war, pirates and privateers. Privateers obtained “Letters of Marque” from the King. These were an official licence to capture the ships and cargoes of countries you were fighting. For the shipowners of St Malo, this was a highly profitable business. Proceeds were split with the king. And in case you think this was an underhand French trick, the English had been doing the same thing from the time of Queen Elizabeth the First, with naval heroes like Francis Drake.

The two most famous privateers of St Malo were René Duguay-Trouin (1673-1736), who captured more than 300 ships and 16 warships, and ended up as the lieutenant-general of Louis XIV’s navy, and the dashing Robert Surcouf, (1773-1827), who created havoc among English merchant ships during the Revolutionary Wars with France. Surcouf became so wealthy that he paved the entrance to his house with solid gold Napoleon coins. When he came to visit, Napoleon was not impressed! With his captures, Surcouf drove up ship insurance so much that Lloyds of London put a 10,000 pound bounty on his head! The exploits of privateers like Duguay-Trouin and Surcouf are well worth reading about.

St Malo has a considerable variation in tides. As an example I have included a picture of people swimming in a tidal pool - note the diving board on the seaward side, The next picture shows the same location at high tide - only the diving board is showing! Also in the photos (after the glass snail) is a picture of the shot from our hotel window showing a very busy playground..Читать далее