En route to Dinan, we saw the Buffalo Grill and thought it might be somewhat quieter than earlier. It was 4ish, but we’d yet to have lunch. Despite trying to avoid going by inadvertently taking the wrong turning, Sophie was insistent, even though to get there now would involve driving to Saint Jouan des Guérets before we could turn off the main road. This time the place was completely devoid of customers, and to be fair, the food and service were good

Next stop was Dinan, where we looked forward to walking around the town enjoying the Christmas lights. Dinan always looks a treat at this time of year, and we were not disappointed. As we approached the town centre, it was jam-packed with traffic from all directions. Being it was 6pm it was clear that Dinan must also be having a Christmas market, but this also meant that parking would be very unlikely, so I was having to prepare Sophie for a walk up the steep road from Dinan Port, where the motorhome aire is situated.

As it worked out, the event had already reached its peak, and most of the families were beginning to dissipate, and parking was available. The central barriered car park in Dinan is ideal for motorhomes and we’ve never had problems parking there in any seasons, and we’re very regular visitors to this town. We’ve pretty much travelled the length and breadth of France, and have yet to come across a town to match it. If you’ve never been, then you must.

We had a lovely stroll around the beautifully illuminated Dinan streets, and Christmas market. We also took in the panoramic views from the gardens behind the Basilique Saint Sauveur. From here we were disappointed to see that our intended night stop was empty, being due to the access road down to the port being closed. Fortunately, Sophie reminded me that there was still the aire in Lehon, which was only 5 minutes down some backroads in the other direction. This is where we ended up for the night and enjoyed this peaceful place to ourselves, with the illuminated castle ruins watching over us.

We had a relaxed morning on our final day, keeping an eye on the weather, boat updates, and sailing conditions. We then took a leisurely drive back to St Malo hopeful that the normal ferry service might be resumed by now.

On arrival we were warned that the sea conditions were so poor that we would likely be sat on the boat in port until the captain deemed the storm had passed sufficiently to ensure a bearable ride. Anyway, we hunkered down on board, and were pleasantly surprised to actually leave on time, but not without dire warnings from the captain that it would not be a pleasant crossing.

Actually, he managed our expectations well, letting us know when it was about to get particularly “lumpy”, and so despite our worst concerns about maybe feeling ill, it wasn’t too bad after all, and we’ve definitely had much worse crossings.

So, a successful Winter trip that exceeded our expectations on a number of fronts. Thanks for sharing the journey with us, and watch this space for our next random motorhome adventure.

Michael & Sophie