On Tuesday June, 29 I hopped the ferry in Plymouth, England for a 7 hour voyage to Roscoff in the Brittany region of France. I was feeling better and thinking clearer. Before I even left for this trip I had been toying quite seriously with the idea of taking on the GR10 in the French Pyrenees. It’s an approximate 600 mile 6 week trek. I considered my equipment appropriately before leaving so I’d be fully prepared to take on the challenge. The decision not to walk the Cornwall coast path actually set me up better for the GR10. The GR10 can be quite taxing and having more than enough time is a good idea.
It was an easy train trip from St. Ives to Plymouth. Yes, the Plymouth that the original American Pilgrims set off from. On the train ride from St. Ives I seriously questioned why I was leaving lovely Cornwall but I was definitely driven to move. My ferry was due to take off at 8am so I booked an inexpensive B&B located a 10 minute walk from the Plymouth ferry terminal. As in the past I’ve found that B&B’s can be a really good value in the UK. I paid 30 pounds ($45 USD) for a really nice room, a proper full English breakfast, and friendly helpful hospitality.
The ferry ride was a breeze. Smooth sailing on a very large boat with very few people. It was a French boat and the reasonably price food was some of the best boat food I’ve ever had. Once in Roscoff I walked through story book streets, just like you would expect in France, and continued on for a couple of miles to a campground. The campground was pretty nice and next to a beach. Town was a bit far to walk back to for dinner so I just walked along the beach until I came to an open air restaurant. Nice view, seemingly reasonable prices, and nowhere else nearby so I stopped.
There were two people working at the restaurant and just a few customers. The waitress was middle aged woman with a hyper personality and every bit French. The cook/chef looked like he was in the zone and very concentrated on the task at hand, cooking. I couldn’t understand much of the menu so I just ordered. A nice German couple arrived and sat next to me. They spoke pretty good English. I ordered a large beer. The Germans ordered beer and wine. I sat back and enjoyed the view while conversing with my new German friends. A beer arrived. A little while later a bread basket arrived. A little while later a large empty bowl arrived. A little more time passed and a very large bowl of mussels with curry mint sauce showed up on my table along with a plate of French Fries. As it turned out I had ordered a traditional local dish and couldn’t see how I was going to eat so many mussels, however, I did. They were absolutely excellent. The Germans food arrived and contrary to what you might thing the portions were huge Texas sized. The chef came by and personally asked us if everything was ok which was a nice touch. Everyone appeared very happy with the food.
After dinner I noticed the waitress was getting more and more wired. She seemed quite stressed waiting on 8 or so people. She frantically cleared a table as if there were a line to get in, but there wasn’t, and broke some dishes in the process. She rushed over to clear the Germans table for desert and spilt glasses. Fortunately it was just water and not the wine. Not sure what the rush was? I have noticed though how a lot of French people have a quick and jumpy way of doing things. It took quite awhile to pay but everyone was smiles. Dinner turned out to be pleasantly quirky French experience.
With a stomach full of mussels and a good campsite I thought more and more about the GR10 and going for it. I had originally backed off from the idea because I thought 6 weeks would be too long and that certain sections might not really appeal to me but as a long distance hiker there’s a real attraction to walking from point A to Z………
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