mars 7-9: Sick in St Malo

I took the train from Rennes to St Malo on March 7, arriving there in the mid-afternoon. I had booked myself a nice hotel for my last two nights before returning to farm time, a treat especially after the one in Rennes where I was kept awake by the loud drunk people in the street. Mireille, the proprietress, was warmly welcoming at Hotel San Pedro where I checked in and dropped my backpack before heading out for a walk on the beach.



The hotel was less than five minutes from the beach which was reached through a small opening in the ramparts that surround the old part of town. Old is a relative term here because almost all of St Malo was destroyed during WWII and rebuilt according to old photos of the town. The ramparts and fort at the corner of town were nearly all that remained. But the new buildings are pretty nice looking, though all very similar in their grey stone construction.

The beach, however, was absolutely lovely. One of the things to do in St Malo is to walk out to two small islands during low tide: Grand and Petit Be. They are connected to land and each other by skinny rocky causeways. Low tide is very low there, and high tide is very high, a difference of about 12m of water. (This whole area where Brittany meets Normandy in the bay of Mont St Michel has very very big tides.)



The islands are rocky bits, though the larger also had its grassy spots and even some wild arugula. But the most notable thing about the rocks is that they are covered in mussels. They're simply everywhere in huge numbers. There are also oysters and snails and cockles, but mussels above all. I had to take my shoes and socks off for the walk back since the tide was starting to come in, but it was good to get my feet in the ocean anyway.



After I warmed up with a coffee at an organic roastery and shop where I had a good chat with the owner, a German man who's been working in the organic industry for a long time. He also suggested the place I had dinner which was indeed very yummy.


However...

It also made me very sick, or at least I think that's what did it. Instead of heading to Mont St Michel on Saturday as I planned, I spent all day in bed napping, watching French tv (including some rugby which I don't understand), having a chat with Tim, and eating the tea and biscuits which Mireille had the cleaning lady bring up to me. She had, the day before, said she'd leave me out coffee and a croissant for my pre-trip early breakfast, but I left her a note of thanks letting her know I was sick. I was very happy to be in good hands and not in a hostel or less nice hotel while sick!

Feeling much better the following day, I could appreciate the delicious breakfast of breads, tea, jams, yogurt and more. I then had a walk on the other side of the beaches where I experienced again the ridiculously changeable weather of Brittany. It was sunny, calm, windy, cloudy and rainy in the course of my hour-long walk.


At the end of my three weeks of solo travel, I was happy to catch the train to St Lo where I would meet up with my next WWOOF farmers.