Our weekly shop done and packed away we had coffee before heading north to Notre-Dame-le-Guildo. We parked up and followed a track along the foreshore of the estuary for a short distance. Here we came across the Pierres Sonnantes (singing stones) which are large rocks which ring when struck with a smaller piece of the same rock. The ringing varies depending on the rock and we spent a while testing them out. One in particular was most impressive sounding like a large bell or calypso drum. This strange phenomenon is because the rocks are high in metallic content (calcium & magnesium).
We had lunch with a great view of the estuary where surprise, surprise the tide was out leaving huge mud banks.
Next stop was the tidal barrage at the end of the Rance estuary. Here the Rance Tidal Power Station which opened in 1966 produces 500GWh per year - which is 0.1% of all the power generated in France! It was a little disappointing because apart from the huge boat lock at one end there was little to see of the 24 tide powered turbines buried in the barrage.
Turning south now, we were planning to stop for the night in the Aire de Camping Car at Dinan but unfortunately it was full and two others were waiting for a place. Continuing on we came to the Etang de Betineuc where there is another Aire. We parked up and had a cold drink (it’s gone very humid) and read our books for a while.
After our evening meal we went for a walk around the pretty little lake before settling down for the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment