The Belon River

We visited Belon twice we liked it so much – once on our own and then a few days later with our friends Nick and Lindy who came to sail with us for 3 days. Belon is famous for its flat oysters (different from Creuse and Pacific oysters). Belons have a delicate sandy coloured flesh with a velvety texture and a lingering hazelnut flavour – a distinctive gout de noisette. We ate at Chez Jacky’s – the place to eat Belon oysters. Belon is not really much of a village – there are no shops and the only thing one can buy is fish – but its great unbelievably fresh fish. Its also a very friendly, quiet (except when the fishing boats go out at 4am!) and relaxed place and has a wonderful Breton fete which was on when we visited. We enjoyed Breton music and dancing – some similarities with Scottish/Irish dancing and music. I was very impressed with how friendly people were - we were invited to coffee the next morning by one couple, Daniel and Daniella (who also kindly went on the internet to get the weather forecast for us – as we had no reception on wireless) and when we were in the shop in the next village (a 2 to 3 k walk) we were offered a lift back to the boat by another customer! Wonderful.

Also walked a bit more of the French coastal path GR34 – great views. But came across a sad memorial to 15 local resistance fighters and one English para – captured and shot only days before this area was liberated at the end of WWII. Terribly sad. we’ve seen a lot of similar memorials around France and mostly very well kept with fresh flowers still laid each year. Feelings must still be strong.

Only slight downside to visiting Belon when we were with Nick and Lindy was that high tide was 0515am so we had to get up at 0530 and be away by 0615 just as it was getting light – and it was raining! However, we got over the bar at the mouth of the river with 1.4m under the keel so all OK. The weather improved and we set off to visit the Iles de Glenans.