I woke up happy to be alive! I stretched and looked out the window to see a glass-like Rance in the early morning dusk.
Downstairs, Olivier was preparing an omelet for breakfast.
The view from the dining room was simply stunning.
This photo gives you some idea of the house's location.
I was so captivated by the view that, after breakfast, I went down and took a picture of the bridge's span, the river, boats, and the reflection.
One of the ways that Olivier works in the community is to preside over funerals and give eulogies. While he isn't a cleric, he is in demand for this service. In the morning, he had to officiate at a funeral and left for about 2 hours. I spent the time on the internet dealing with email and other tasks.
Unlike Monday (the day before), this day was rainy. Olivier had planned another sightseeing trip. We left a bit in the early afternoon. Since I hadn't had my camera the previous day, I asked if we could drive by Dinan again. He kindly obliged me.
Dinan is an very attractive and old town whose main industry is tourism, and rightly so. It has a good-sized church that newer parts added onto older ones. This picture is dark because there is no sunshine at all. In fact, right after I took this picture, it hailed!
Olivier and Couscous standing in the parking lot in front of the church.
Dinan had lots of buildings that extended over the sidewalk. We sought refuge under this one when it hailed.
Here is a pretty Dinan view and a threatening sky.
We walked to small park with pretty flowers everywhere.
The park was onto of the city's walls where are high above the river and have allowed Dinan to survive all this time.
The same view only turned a bit more to the right.
Here are some more picturesque Dinan street scenes. Unfortunately, it was rainy and windy enough that some water got on the camera lens and it took me a while to realize it so a few photos are a bit distorted.
We drove for about 40 minutes to the beach. It was odd seeing all the boats "buried" in the sand.
The beaches were empty (it was cold and windy).
Here is a view looking back at St. Malo over the bay.
This point was a pretty place. Here are several other shots from there.
We drove east along the coast toward Dinard, which faces St. Malo across the Rance. Here are some coastal rock views.
I believe that this is the house of the guy who developed Dinard into the resort town it has become.
This location was windy, cold, and not someplace I'd want to be in a big storm. That said, on a rainy, windy Tuesday the views were really something. This is the shoreline right below the house.
A look at St. Malo across the mouth of the Rance.
The port of Dinard.
To get back home, we made our way down the eastern bank of the Rance esturary visiting coves, bays, beaches and anchorages.
We hit the local supermarket (on the outskirts of Plouer-sur-Rance) and got food for dinner. I also stocked up for my next day's ride.
When we got home, we were tired and Couscous needed to be fed. As we relaxed, Olivier brought out some calvados, a distilled beverage that tasted like brandy (I didn't like it). We continued drinking; Olivier wine, cider for me and by dinner time I was a quite tipsy.
I made a vegetarian stir-fry for dinner that included tofu. Olivier clearly didn't like it and while I chowed down, he just picked at his. This lead to a very enlightening discussion about hospitality. Olivier insisted that it was far more important to treat guests properly by allowing them to do whatever they wanted, which included eating anything they might serve you. He said that eventhough he abhorred smoking, that he would never ask someone to leave his house in order to smoke. I wasn't sure how to respond to his points. I don't want someone smoking in my house and I'm not going to compromise my beliefs just to make someone else feel good. In fact, as I pointed out, I believe that one of the ways people are motivated to change their lives is by seeing what it take to live in accord with their beliefs. It was a challenging meal for both of us. Nothing was resolved but it did provide something for me to mull over and over for the rest of the tour.
Eventually, one of Olivier's daughter called with some bad news. We talked a bit about the vagaries of life and eventually we fell silent and went to bed.