Sable d'Or les Pins

This half-term break, we opted for the northwest coast of France mainly because we still had a credit through 30 June with the ferry company from the Christmas blizzard fiasco. Craig chose a small beach town in Brittany, France called Sables d'Or les Pins which means literally "sands of gold, the pines". We rented a very nice and roomy traditional house. The location was gorgeous and very secluded and relaxing, but also very close to all required amenities. There was plenty of room for the kids to explore and the view of the coast from the front of the house was fantastic.

The beach was awesome. At low tide, it ran on forever. We think that perhaps we have lived in England too long because everyone of us got a pretty decent sunburn the first day. We just didn't expect to get so much sun.
The water was warm enough for boogie boarding with a short wetsuit.
The shell hunting was amazing!
We made a pretty mermaid out of all of the shells we found.
Here's a visual of how far the tide receded everyday.
One day, I decided to walk over across a small spit of land that gets covered over at high tide to visit La Petite Chapelle de Saint Michel. It was based on the larger Mont Saint Michel which was located east of us. It was a pretty amazing place because it was a fairly remote location and to think someone lugged all of the materials over a small spit of land that was only there for part of the day... that's dedication.
Here are some dawn photos that Craig shot:
And just some more nice photos:
This photo might not actually be all that nice. It is a snapshot of dead eels tangled in a fishing net.Finn's self-sculpture
We only went sightseeing on one day because it was sort of rainy. We visited Cap Frehel, a lighthouse right up the coast and Fort La Latte which was just up the coast from that. Owen enjoyed the day; the other two tolerated it.
Fort la Latte was very photogenic.
This tower was pretty scary to climb. We had to pull ourselves up really steep and uneven steps using that thick fraying rope which totally would not be allowed in the US. We descended on our bums.
This cow carved into the wall was hidden around an unobtrusive corner.
While driving, we saw some fun things:
An awesome bridge in Honfleur with a dramatic sky
A fire bucket at a petrol station in the UK
At this rest stop, you can get information, make a phone call and eat 'FRITES' under a pine tree.
And finally, my obligatory animal-related photos:
This was our resident chat which had chatons hidden in the bois de feu.
No Airedales allowed on the beach - sorry Pete and Michele.
Instructions regarding clean-up of 'les dejections' from all of the beagles with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer noses on the beach