The Summer Solstice

Last night was very special because our Swedish friends, Peter and Elizabeth, invited us to their boat to celebrate the summer solstice, a very traditional event in their culture. We had all of the typical food and drinks for such an occasion, which is herrings with sour cream and chopped onions, plus smoked salmon with mustard sauce and boiled tiny potatoes, then cooked salmon with mixed vegetables that have been finely sliced and cooked in butter plus slices of a Swedish cheese on crisp dry biscuits. Dessert is fresh  strawberries and pieces of dark chocolate. At intervals the Swedish people sing a song and then everyone has to drink some schnapps. Peter and Elizabeth played their part by singing Swedish songs and we obliged by drinking the schnapps! We are very fortunate to have met such lovely people and Peter and Greg are excellent sailing companions, having someone to chew over the decisions with and to travel in convoy with. 

This is the most amazing area to have a boat because of the tidal changes, with 10 metres difference between low and high tide. So at high tide we can just step off our boat and walk across a ramp to the marina office and restaurants and then at low tide we have to walk up a very, very steep long ramp to reach land. There are also a lot of local boats in a harbour alongside this one and they just tip on their side when the tide goes out or have stilts to hold them up. It is a very pretty village where people from Paris have a holiday home and it joins a similar village called St-Quay.

Today we walked along a path, following the shore line, from this village to the next and then walked back again along the road. It is a vary scenic area, with tiny islands off shore, wide sandy coves for swimming, attractive two-storey houses built with local stone and big shutters to lock up the houses when people are away, a wide variety of wild flowers growing along the cliff path and the clean and tidy villages circling the port or beaches.     We found an outstanding butcher on the way back so I stocked up on meat and charcuterie items. We had dinner at Victoria Restaurant on the dock, enjoying local oysters and langoustines, plus veal cutlet and pommes frittes and a traditional Breton dessert of crepes with lemon juice. The restaurant was full of families enjoying a Saturday night out.