Quite a lot of beaches, actually. Beaches are my bag. (Interesting expression that, 'my bag', and I made a detour to look it up.
The OED says: A preoccupation, mode of behaviour or experience; a distinctive style or category; esp. a characteristic manner of playing jazz or similar music.
1960 J. Hendricks in D. Cerulli et al.140 Lack of acceptance is a drag... Man, that's really in another bag.
‘Bag’ is a current piece of trade jargon for hip musicians, and means something between a personal style and a body of work.
Back to beaches.
My favourite beach here in Brittany is la plage Tourony.
I discovered it by chance when I was searching for a certain pink castle, a picture of which I had on my bedroom wall in the house in England for several years: it now hangs above the piano here. It is one of those iconic images of (for me) the loveliest place in Brittany - La Côte Granit Rose, and so it frequently features on postcards, tourist websites. even place mats. I have not yet gone so far as to buy the latter, I did recently purchase the mug though.
It was sometime in 2014, I think, and I was back for a brief visit to check the house, tackle the overgrown garden, catch up with friends, that kind of five-day break, and I'd driven to Trégastel for lunch and a walk on the sand, and thought, 'While I'm here I'll look for that pink castle', spotted this sign, et voilà. The rest is history.
Plage de Tourony is not especially large, nor does it benefit from restaurants, cafés or bars, although on Mondays and Wednesdays in summer a lady arrives with a converted horsebox and makes fresh galettes and crépes to order.
It does have parking right by the sand.
And it does have is a toilet although when the weather is hot the walls are covered in flies.
And it does have this view:
and this one:
The lighthouse on the much-loved Sentier des Douaniers, the old path used by customs officers to catch smugglers, that goes from the beach at Trestraou to the small town (village) of Ploumanac'h.
and in places the pink granite on the beach looks like this:
The plage Tourony is my No 1 Playground to which I return at least twice a week, sometimes daily if the mood takes me. It's a forty minute drive from my house along decent roads that are fast and usually empty so it's not an arduous journey. And it's well worth it. As soon as I see the sea I start to smile, as soon as I drive into Trégastel I start to grin, and as soon as I pull into the parking at Tourony I sigh with contentment.
At low tide I can walk right out to the castle and there is a little beach round the side where I can swim safely. It's half a mile walking over mud, sand and rocks.
At high tide I swim from the beach. During the year since I came back to Brittany I've been getting stronger and stronger and swimming futher and further with the aim of reaching the castle at high tide. Last Sunday I did it. I walked into the sea, started swimming and didn't stop until I'd made it to l'Île de Costaérès.
I sat on the beach and wished I'd been with friends who could have witnessed my success.
And then, of course, I had to swim back. I could have waited: the tide was ebbing, a few more hours and it would have been possible to walk but, well, I am sometimes impatient and my lunch was in my rucksack on Tourony and so I swam again.
Admittedly I rock-hopped a little: pausing to catch my breath on the pink granite which was, by then, emerging from the water. And by the time I returned the tide was well on the way out and this was the view.
More importantly, this was the lunch that awaited me:
Those cakes - kouign amman - are a Breton speciality and delicious but loaded with fat and sugar and so I ration them. I think I earned that one last Sunday though!
N'est-ce pas?
More Info:
Le chateau de Costaérès
If you'd like to rent the pink castle (15,000 euros per week, good luck, let me know and I'll swim over and say Hi!)
Trégastel Tourism
Kouign Amman
