Seas The Day

I t's not often we go to a city, especially one as big as Rennes which is one of  the biggest cities in Brittany. Despite doing lots of research before we left, we were  surprised  by how large it was and it was an awful lot bigger than we anticipated. This is definatly a visit for 2 days if you get the chance. We could have spend the whole day just in the park! Some beautiful half-timbered houses of Rennes The Parc Du Thabor spans over 10 hectares and it has a French style garden, an English style park, a cave, bandstand, aviary, rose garden and an open air theatre.  What more could you want!  This park was the former vegetable and pleasure garden of the monks of Saint-Melaine Benedictine Abbey which is right on the edge of the park. The park is so named because it refers to the mountain overlooking Lake Tiberias in Israel, Mount Tabor.  This mountain is significant because it has been linked to the transfiguration of christ and there are th...

T origni-sur-Vire, (pronounced to us English as Tour-i-nee) is a beautiful little town located in the Manche department of Normandy France.  This spectacular town is steeped with lots of history dating back hundreds of years so we were eager to have a look around.  The name of this town is misleading. Its not actually along the river Vire, but running through the town is a tributary of it feeding these beautiful lakes.  The river itself is about a 10 minute drive away and has footpaths all along it from the town of Vire, all the way to the sea at Isigny-sur-Mer (about 80 miles). There is plenty of parking in this town, although I had done my research in advance, we ended up parking along the roadside opposite this beautiful lake and fountain. You can't see it, but just over the road is a play park.  If you saw our video about La Chapelle Sur Vire, you'll see that we love a play park. We are definatly big kids at heart and Matt is even planning on building us a s...

T his week was a bit different, we didn't actually have any plans to visit Utah beach.  Matt has bought a Sigma 150-600 lens for his camera and was desperate to try it out, so I found a bird sanctuary over on the coast which looked like the perfect place.  After this, we were going to have a look around a small local village and grab a coffee (we didn't get around to going to the village but we will go back). So, this lens.  It's a supersonic lens you might see a paparazzi or a bird watcher going around with.  It is described as a compact and light lens. I am defiantly no expert but this is not compact or light! Im sure it is compared to the alternatives out there, again, I am no expert (should have left this part up to Matt). But he was like a kid at Christmas when it finally arrived. We managed to get a great deal through London Camera Exchange who had £100 off this whopper and it arrived really quickly and even came with a free piece of equipment, although deliver...

B y bath in the title, we mean Gallo-Roman bath but... before we get started on this weeks blog, Matt and I (Jess) have always had a bit of a dispute as to how to say bath along with path, castle, laugh, France etc the list goes and and on.  I am from the south of England, have lived there all my life until moving to Europe, whereas Matt spent most of his time in the north of England, venturing into Ireland for extended holidays and living in Scotland for a few years as a teenager. So, I say ba rr th with an emphasis on the non existent r , whereas Matt says b aa th, with an emphasis on the a .  Help us settle the debate! Who is right (obviously me) and let us know in the comments.  We will come onto the Gallo-Roman baths a bit later in the blog. Where is Valognes? So, Valognes (pronounced val-o-nees).  If you have ever got the ferry into Cherbourg, chances are you've skirted around the edges of this town. It is smack bang in the middle of Cotentin, the peninsula of ...

W hat a view point!  We have heard from friends this is the place to go in the area and it defiantly didn't disappoint. This week was a little different for us, we just wanted a day out, with no buildings or distractions.  A lovely country walk!  This is Les Roches de Ham.   What makes Les Roches de Ham so special I hear you asking.  Well, this place started with a beautiful viewpoint looking over the river Vire.  Yes, back along the Vire again and it won't be the last time.  This place has a lot of walking a hiking trails and even somewhere for cyclists and joggers.  We decided to go for a walk that was a tad under 5 kilometres.  We weren't looking for anything too strenuous.  There was a sign just nearby that described Les Roches de Ham and what it meant.  Roches translates in French as rocks and Ham is actually Gaelic and translates to curve.  As you can see from the pictures, this place is on a curve of the river up high on...