Bird watching - Brittany, France

After losing over 8 kilos mountaineering, it didn’t take long – 2 weeks in fact - for Nic and I to become roly poly after we arrived in France. We spent a lovely relaxing 2 weeks at Nics parents, Michelle and Raymond in Bretagne eating The Best Bretagne food, if not The Best food. Bretagne – Brittany in the northwest of France is particularly famous for its fruits de la mer or fruits/food of the sea – seafood! We indulged in langistinne something like a cross between a crab and a prawn, ultra fresh rock oysters, rays and spiders. Then some wild oiseaux - pronounced “wazu” and meaning bird, and pork from the farm; pork patte, fresh jambon, and saussicon, (although not all on the same day…) Michelle makes The Best gateaux Bretagne (kinda like shortbread) and The Best strawberry gateau which we helped decorate for Llelwyn’s (Nic’s neice’s) birthday. (As well as being a bon cuisiner , Michelle also has other talents like painting and embroidery and best of all, sorcery; her homeopathic concoctions worked a treat!) Ohhhhhh, all this tres bon food and I haven’t even started mentioning the wine and the cheese! We also spent the two weeks in Bretagne checking out Jocelyn’s photos – all of them of “wazu”. He really has taken a liking to “wazu” watching and photographing, and wears a camouflage suit to hide amongst the trees. There he waits in his hideous green plastic outfit and army green balaclava with his foot long telescopic lens until some poor person wonders through the forest track and suddenly… “Bonjour!” cries the tree. But his photos were quite brilliant and the lens so powerful I also used it to take photos of Nic and Jos surfing more than 100 metres away. They went surfing a few times out near the western most points of La Plue. The waves are some of the best in France, but the water was so cold and frigid Nic’ sensitive toes (after being almost frostbitten on our expedition in the Himalayas) couldn’t bear it. Anyway, the last weekend we stayed in Bretagne was The Best. Whilst Jos went off to chase another type of bird at a uni party, we went to a traditional Bretagne “fesnos” with the folks. At the fesnos the musos played their pipes, which are like a one pipe bagpipe, and the singers did a question-response type song. Everyone joined hands in a circle and danced the particular dance that goes together with the song. I really really wanted to join in… but Michelle and Raymond, even after years of dancing lessons were not taking part. This had to be a sign. With deceptively simple looking footwork it was best left to the pros. So, even though those 8 kilos were truly back on by then, off we went to enjoy more of Bretagne and eat crepes and drink apple cider.