Market Day in Quiberon

So far we seemed to have had a knack of arriving at places the day after market day. On Saturday 8 September, however, we woke up early because it was market day in Quiberon. 

After a light breakfast we inflated the dinghy and rowed ashore. Leaving the dinghy chained to a fence on the edge of the beach, we unfolded the bikes and set off on the 7km cycle ride to Quiberon. It was a lovely sunny morning and we followed the small roads, which allowed great views of the beaches on the east side of the Quiberon peninsula. We also saw another Megalith site en-route.

The market was much larger than we expected and was already buzzing with people by the time we got there. The French do very good markets with fabulous looking food of all sorts. We soaked up the atmosphere munching some delicious freshly baked pain au chocolat.

The air was filled with the cooking smells of meat grilling on the rotisseries and enormous paella pans gently simmering.

To accompany our sun-downers we bought 3 kinds of dried saucisson, a selection of olives and some small peppers stuffed with tapenade which is a French delicacy made from anchovies, olives, herbs, olive oil and vinegar; very tasty. Laden down with other purchases from the vegetable and cheese stalls we reluctantly passed the well stocked poissonèries without indulging, reasoning that fresh fish would not be at its best after several hours being lugged around in a backpack in the hot sunshine.

Bike, baguette and BV

After enjoying the market we wandered around Port Maria. It’s both a vibrant holiday resort with some nice beaches and a busy transport hub. Lots of passengers were either enjoying the cafés on the seafront waiting for their ferries to the outlying islands or rushing to catch one. With such a transient population Port Maria must have been manic in high season.

Taking a tip from the Frenchman we saw on Île aux Moines we tried out a new way to transport our bread back to BV.

After all of the morning’s exertions the priorities for the afternoon were cold beer and a swim.

By late afternoon the time had come to raise the anchor and sail across to the eastern end of Île de Groix. It was to be a short trip of only 13 nautical miles but it signalled the start of our journey back to the UK.