When we got to the parking lot, there were way more cars than when we arrived.  They all looked the same and it took us quite awhile to find ours - at first we thought it was stolen.  For the remainder of the day, the weather constantly changed from sunny to cloudy to rainy to sunny, etc.

We then drove 60 km to Dinan.  Dinan, in northeast Brittany, is a magical, sometimes mystical, well restored, well preserved, walled medieval town, complete with imposing ramparts, towers and a Castle. It’s full of art, history and wonderful buildings.  The old town is most atmospheric, crammed full of half timbered buildings dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, with cobbled rambling streets all carefully restored and preserved. Interspersed throughout the old town are numerous individually owned cafes, bars, restaurants and the colourful shops of butchers, bakers and today scented candle-makers. The

shops of florists, artisans, craftsmen and weavers mingle with the ubiquitous gift and post card shops that thrive in any town that is a magnet to tourists. Dinan’s population is now around 11,000.  We wandered around the old town and into the Jardin Anglais (English Garden) behind St. Sauveur Church.  From the ramparts, the view looking down at the old port of Dinan in this panoramic photo is spectacular.

We then set out on the 45 km trip back to the Emerald Coast of Brittany which runs from Cap Frêhel to St. Malo.  coast.  We took the direct overland route to Cap Fréhel.

Lying at the end of 400 hectares of moorland, Cap Fréhel towers 70 m over the sea from its pink sandstone and porphyry cliffs. Boasting outstanding flora and fauna, Cap Fréhel is home to a large, nesting seabird reserve and it is easy to spot shags, gulls and guillemots.  It juts out into the Gulf of St. Malo and is one of the most spectacular sites in Brittany.  Unfortunately, we arrived about two minutes too photograph a huge beautiful rainbow.

Cap Fréhel photo from Internet

We drove back along the Emerald Coastline.  Our 45 km trip back to St. Malo took well over an hour as we enjoyed the scenery..  We passed through several fishing villages along the way.  The tide was out and we could see hundreds of boats of all sizes that were stranded in the mud flats formed by the retreating tides.  We drove through Dinard which Ken kept confusing on road signs all day with Dinan.  Some say that Dinard would be more at home on the Cote d'Azur than in Brittany. In actual fact, it would happily nest on the south coast of England, as it bears a striking resemblance to Bournemouth and Brighton in its

faded 19th-century seaside glamour and proliferation of the chronologically gifted.  We crossed over a bridge into St. Malo. St Malo is an extremely popular tourist destination in Brittany, and the tourists have good reason to flock there. An important port during the 17th and 18th centuries, St Malo was home to the Malouin privateers (essentially pirates sanctioned by the government) who terrorized the English ships in the Channel. St Malo was a military stronghold and the walled city on the mouth of the River Rance has protected the estuary and sea since the 12th century, although most of the remaining granite buildings (reminiscent of the Mont St Michel in style) are later additions. The walled citadelle contains more shops, restaurants and bars now than pirates' lairs, and plenty of hotels, and the clean beaches nearby make St Malo an ideal place to spend some time.  We drove into downtown and found an Internet cafe to check and send emails.
 

It was a short 15 km ride home to Saint Suliac, a quiet and picturesque former fishermen's village typically 'Old France' / 'Old Bretagne'.  It has been selected among the most beautiful villages in France. It is on the banks of the fjord-like Rance estuary, at only 10 km distance from the open sea.  We wandered through the narrower streets down to the Rance river and watched the sun set.  We found out that all of the restaurants in St. Malo and Chateneuf are closed on Mondays, so we had to drive back into St. Malo.  We had dinner

Kathryn in the streets of Saint Suliac

at a Cora restaurant, a French cafeteria style smorgasbord.  It wasn't exactly French cuisine but it was plentiful and cheap.