Dinan
The weather turned grey today but remained dry as I headed out to the nearby towns of Dinard and Dinan, which I keep getting mixed up.
I bought the bus ticket to Dinan on the app, which would require me to transfer in Dinard where I could explore briefly. The bus timings were too complicated to work out especially when I didn’t know how much time I would spend at each place, so I decided I would check the times for the next leg when I was ready.
With the 0830 bus from St Malo to Dinard running late, it was only a short wait at Dinard until the next bus to Dinan. I didn’t get the time to explore, so I saved it for the return journey.
Unfortunately, the driver didn’t accept my transfer ticket which was supposedly valid for 2h. With the language barrier, I just took his word and bought a new one in the app.
After a 40 min ride, some of which on the motorway, I got to Dinan. Dinan’s old centre had a collection of wonky old houses with wood accents, somewhat like Tudor homes, dotted around the cobbled streets.
I made my way to the St Sauveur church and continued to the English Garden behind. While the garden itself wasn’t stunning, it had a nice elevated spot which looked down at the Rance River and the lower parts of Dinan. My packed lunch was taken in the garden.
The St Catherine Tower in one corner of the park offered a slightly better view.
From the garden, I wandered to Dinan’s chateau. With a fee to enter and having seen enough of these this trip, I passed and went to wait for the bus. I had spent about 1h30 in Dinan including my lunch break.
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- Dinan’s old town.
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- Dinan’s old town.
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- Dinan’s old town.
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- Dinan’s old town.
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- St Catherine’s tower in the English Garden.
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- View from St Catherine’s Tower.
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- Chateau de Dinan.
Dinard
I retraced the route back by bus to Dinard which has a pretty seaside promenade which has an even prettier name “Promenade du Clair de Lune” (Moonlight promenade).
Arriving around 1230 I descended down to the promenade and walked along its whole length, admiring some of the gorgeous homes that sat above. There was also a large salt water swimming pool where I had started my walk.
Near the end of the walk, I could look across at St Malo but it would have been better if the sun had cooperated. There were ferries running across there but I had already purchased my bus ticket (which was far cheaper).
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- Looking down at the promenade.
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- At low tide, it is hard to capture nice photos of the promenade and the posh houses.
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- At low tide, it is hard to capture nice photos of the promenade and the posh houses.
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- Looking across to St Malo.
It took me about 40 mins to reach the end, after which, I cut inland a little. There, I could see a large beach Plage de l’Ecluse which also had a salt water pool nearby but had inadequate time nor interest to go down there.
It was a 20 min walk on the inland route back to the bus and I was back at the apartment around 1415.
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- Posh homes a little inland.
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- Looking down at l’Ecluse beach.
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- Posh homes in the distance.
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- Posh homes on the inland walk back to the bus.
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- Posh homes on the inland walk back to the bus.
After a rest, I used the second session at the gym and finished the day
I finished the day with a salad topped with pan-fried turkey breast. The latter is something I had never tried, thinking it would be dry, but it was deliciously tender.
My commitment to being healthy had wavered as I had bought a cheap bottle of grapefruit-flavoured wine-drink. Very nice!