Saint-Quay-Portrieux, France

Hello everyone,
We are in Saint Quay Portrieux, a small town in Bretagne in France. Those few days we spent there were mainly family moments as it is where my sister-in-law (more my sister than anything else) Manue and her mum, Marie Claude, lives. Manon and Nathan (my niece and her boyfriend) were also there, then my dad and his girlfriend Laurence, came for a couple of days too.
We arrived on Sunday the 29th of June and had dinner at Manue and Marie Claude’s place. I love French dinner: starter, main, cheese and deserts! Not just a main! With wine and apéro first of course! As regular, a lot of catching up to do, a lot of chatting, remembering, asking news of people not seen for a while, a lot of laughing: just some time with my loved ones.
On Monday the 30th, we went to get some shoes. As the kids lost their shoes to jackal back in Namibia, they need closed in shoes, Andrew cheap thongs from India are dying and I need thongs as mine broke down a while back. So off to the shop we go! Once we all got what we needed, we went to visite a small animal farm for the kids on the way to Binic, another small town on the coastline. We walked around the town for a while, then ended up at the beach, where the kids and Manon and Nathan had a swim and a play in the sand! On the way back, we saw a lonely seal in the port sunning itself. We finish the day at Manue’s where my dad and Laurence meet us. We are getting into the habit of going to bed latter and latter! The average lately is probably around 11.30pm and the kids are getting tired (us too), but it is hard to leave early when it is family time and I’m not sure when we will be back in France next.
Anyway, the next day was the 1st of July and it was my dad’s birthday. The last time, I was with him for his birthday was for his 60th which were a while back! So it is good to be with him.
We did a bit of schoolwork in the morning, then headed to Manue’s again for the birthday lunch. We had a lot of food and drinks and laugh and good time. We took a little walk in Saint Quay after lunch where the kids went on a couple of carousel rides, paid by Papy Jean. Those kids have been incredibly spoiled since we are in France with lollies and ice creams and more! They really feel the love and we are very grateful for that.
After our walk, it was back to the table for ‘l’apero’ and another big dinner! Yes we do that a lot in France!!!
The next day was packing up and saying goodbye again. It is always hard as I don’t know when the next time I’ll see my family. Big hugs and a few tears and we were on our way for our next stop in France to see one of my best friends near Tours.
See you there.
Mel

30.6.2025. Andrew needs shoes. The pair of sandal things we bought in India, that already blew out and got glued up, blew out again. I blame the boy and his reckless running around shenanigans, not dodgy Indian merchandise. Manon and Nathan took us to a “cheap” clothing outlet. We found some hopefully better sandal things for Andrew, they look almost the same as the last pair. While we were there we bought him another pair of shoes too, since 50% of his last pair got donated to a hungry jackal. Oh yeah Emma doesn't have shoes either, jackals again. Another new pair. Mel has only had their shoes since a thong blowout in Africa, well, while we're here. Maybe this will be the last time we buy shoes on this trip, maybe not. Maybe it will be my turn next. After that we grabbed some baguette sandwiches and went to a farm/park. We saw a few animals, had a walk, ate our sandwiches and played on some playground equipment. Then we set off for Binic, a small town not far from St Quay. We walked along the beach, saw lots of big mullet swimming in the marina and the kids, Manon and Nathan went for a swim. Not me, too bloody cold. The kids played for ages and didn't want to stop when we had to leave. Back to Manue’s where we met with Pappy Jean and Laurence. Apéro started, which means drinks and snacks to the less cultured. A small whisky was had, along with chips and biscuits. I have learnt not to hit the chips too hard, even though it's delicious and you're probably hungry. Just remember there is lots more to come. We then switched to wine for the main course, shredded duck on a pastry thing, covered in mashed potatoes. Oh man was that good. Next is cheese, followed by desert. Once again, full as a goog. After a few beers and a fair bit of chatting, we said our goodbyes and headed back for sleep.
1.7.2025. Pappy Jean’s birthday! We started slow today, some breakfast and blogging before heading back to Manue's for lunch. We wished Jean a happy birthday and the kids gave him a drawing they had both done. We slipped into apéro, then onto lunch. Followed by cake for the birthday boy! Instead of putting 76 candles on a cake there were just a few which all the kids helped blow out. Add two big flame/sparkler things and it was quite spectacular. After dessert, some of us went for a walk. We found a carousel, Jean bought the kids a few rides. We grabbed a few postcards while the kids went round and round. Jean and Laurence went back, the rest of us had more of a walk along the St Quay coast. Quite a few lighthouses as there are lots of rocks in the ocean. We wandered back to Manue's and prepared for dinner. We're heading to our next stop tomorrow so after dinner we said our goodbyes, which was a bit sad as all these people are so lovely. I know Mel misses France and family. I know they only chose to stay in Australia because of me. I can't help feeling some guilt (a lot at times) that I am keeping them from all this. If only we won the lotto and could do 50/50 between the two countries. For that i'd have to play the lotto of course. Anyway, for the moment we have a gap year to finish. Off to bed before the next part of our trip.
2.7.2025. Today's drive takes us past Tours, to a small town near that called St Aignan, where a friend of Mel's lives. We got to Sophia's a bit after lunch. Sophia went to business school with Mel and everytime we are in France they catch up. As with all the people I know in France she is really nice and very accommodating. We have a few days here with Sophia and her daughter, Clara. Clara is a bit older than our kids but got along with them really well. They have a strange dog, who will come look for a pat, then growl at you. As always, we ate and talked and stayed up late. Stuff to do tomorrow so off to bed.
Kev

On the 30th we went to a little farm where there were some animals It was cool, there was one ginormous pig it could have been over 100 kilos, we kept going and then we saw rabbits the biggest one was 6 kilos, we saw a bunch of other animals, then we went back to the car and drove to Binic. When we got there, we went to the port and then to the beach we swam a bit, and then we dug a couple holes after that we were walking back and we saw a seal, it was cool. After that went back to Manues house to have some dinner and then we went to sleep.
On the 1st we started our day doing blog, at lunch we went over to Manues place and we had lunch, these are the stages of a French meal, drinks, starter, main meal, cheese then desert. It was also papy jeans birthday, me and Emma had made some drawings for him (I didn’t know what else to give him). We stayed there all day just chatting and talking, me and Emma played/wrestled. When it got late, we finally went home and slept.
On the 2nd we drove to Sophia place, Sophia is one of mum’s really good friend, Sophia’s house was in Saint Aignan we were going to stay with them for a bit. When we got there, mum and Sophia chatted a lot, while me and Emma went in the pool with Sophia’s child Clara. There was a water gun and I kept shotting Emma, after that we had dinner and went to sleep.
Andrew (10 years old)

Hi. Welcome back. This blog is about Saint Quay.
On the 29th we had booked an apartment, but they said they had cancelled our booking, so mum had to book another one last minute. We set up. And then went to Manue’s place for dinner. We had snacks, then the starter, then the main, then the cheese platter and then desert. I felt like I was going to explode. Every time we went there, I ate too much.
On the 30th we bought new shoes. Then we went to visit a farm. We saw a pig, some rabbits, a few donkeys and some sheep. I like seeing the animals roaming around in their paddock. We ate some sandwiches for lunch and then we went to Binic and played on the beach. Me and Andrew got seaweed and made a collection of it. after that we went back to Manue’s place for dinner, and I stuffed myself again. It was pappy jean’s birthday the next day, so me and Andrew made drawings for him. We got back way past our bedtime. Our heads hit the pillows and then all could hear are snores.
Today is a big day, its pappy jeans birthday!!! On the 1st we did blog in the morning, lunch at Manue’s place. More food. Me and Andrew gave him our drawings. We had a little walk around. Then we did a carousel. I was on a horse and Andrew was in a hot air balloon. We had dinner at Manue’s place. Oh my gosh so much bloody food.
On the 2nd we drove to Sophia’s place.
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Emma (8, almost 9 years old)Read more