Day 5- Ile de Groix and Interceltique Festival

It was a beautiful morning in Lorient and the lack of bugs made sleeping with the windows wide open, without even having screens, excellent sleeping weather.  You could hear the ocean birds in the distance as our wake up call.

Today was another adventure.  We met the Caucutts at their apartment for breakfast before setting off on our picnic at the Ile de Groix(pronounced “graw”).  Lorient is on the Atlantic coast of  France so we were headed to an island a few miles out from shore.  We walked to the ferry terminal and boarded a big ferry.  Alex and Nate gave us a history lesson of the port, which has a naval yard and a submarine base, that took heavy bombing in World War II.  The ferry took about an hour and of course Charlie fell asleep the last 20 minutes of the ride.  This time he decided to wake up for our hike to the le Grand Sables.

Le Grand Sables was a sight to be seen.  A HUGE beach that is one of the few convex beaches in the world.  It has the most crystal white sand that shimmered due to the rocks that formed the island.  The water was a beautiful turquiose and I have never seen water this clear.  It was quite cold, but after the hike it was wonderfully refreshing.  The kids(and parents) were loving it.

We ate a picnic lunch under trees at the top of cliff overlooking the beach.  Wonderful picnic of french ham and prosciutto, all kinds of cheeses, chips, etc.  Charlie decided it was time for nap so once again we were glad we lugged the stroller across the island so he could curl up for a 2 hours nap.  The other kids played in the sand and water until it was time to pack up.  Charlie decided he still wanted to sleep, so we was carried by his “porters” through many rocks and steep inclines.  Quite the life for this kid:)

We got back to the docks and got some gelato before getting on the boat.  On the boat we all just vegged out after a long day in the sun.  We went to our separate apartment to shower and get ready for dinner.  That shower felt so good after being in the hot sun all day.  After getting ready, we made our way back to Caucutts apartment.  On the way we heard a full French bagpipe band playing in the town square.  It just so happened that we picked a great weekend to visit as it is Lorient’s Interceltique Festival.  With all of the music and events steps away from the Caucutts apartment, we decided to eat dinner in the square.  The restaurant we chose was “El Cancun”, which had pizza, burgers and mexican food.  It was a good choice, since it had something for everyone.  After some great music and decent food we then let Alan and Hannah show our kids their favorite park (Elephant park).  We finally got them to leave at 10 pm, just as it was starting to be dusk.

An exhausting but spectacular day.