Today we fell in love with Dinan and we think it is up there with York as a wonderful place to visit.
First up today we negotiated successfully to post a box and a large envelope back home with the lady who told us yesterday she spoke no English. Today when Malcolm kept throwing French words at her she answered back with English ones. We told her as we left that her English was good and she managed a giggle in response.
Across the road was a Coiffure, so we went in and tried to communicate with the two young hairdressers. They gave us just what we needed, including a beard trim for Malcolm, but they had some difficulty telling Lyn how much she should pay. In the end they had a giggle too at Malcolm's French farewell words.We found another grocery store and obtained some more food for lunch and dinner.
A visit to the Tourism Office was worthwhile as the woman helping us spoke fluent English and provided us with a very good map when we said we were in town for 12 days. She showed us how to get to the Ramparts, so we followed her directions and had our first view of the River Rance and the Viaduct from the town centre.
This brought us also to the famous English garden.
We went past the town clock tower which is regarded as the proper centre.
The little tourist train starts from there and was quite full.
The Church of Saint Saviour has the highest spire and is visible all along the river.
After lunch of pain de la campagne and cheese we thought the weather was good enough to walk along the river to Lehon. To descend to the river port we came down a steep hill called Little Fort Street. We took many photos here as it typified all the most interesting features of the old town: the gate through the wall of the ramparts, the ramshackle wooden buildings, the stone walls with flowers growing randomly from them, cobbled streets and art studios by the dozen.
A busker was playing his harp in this street, so Malcolm asked permission to take a movie for his street music collection. He consented but then said "You filmed me for one minute, now you play the harp for one minute."
The port was a delight to walk around with the low bridge and the high traffic bridge nearby.
The town of Lehon was two kilometres away and we were able to walk along one bank and back along the other. It was a very lovely walk and we were able to watch the big launch go through a lock.
We had crepes and drinks at the port cafe then headed back up the hill to find the chemin de ronde, which a kind lady directed us to. It turned out to be the main walk along the ramparts that we looked for this morning and it was like being back in York or Southampton.
It was actually a short way home for us, and just across the road from our street we watched men playing petanque in the grande fosse (great ditch) between the inner and outer walls. They were very good at it.
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