Running a Gite in Brittany

Gite season ends

Apart from one gite, on Saturday the last of our guests for this year left. The good news was no changeovers, but the place is now going to seem a little quiet. We do have one or two weeks bookings for the remainder of the year, but basically the gite / holiday, season is over.

We've been very lucky this year and been mostly full from Easter up until last week. Much better than the average apparently.

So, plenty of opportunity for those of you that fancy a romantic long weekend break in France. Gites available for rent.

 brittany gites

|   6:08:13 PM   Gite season ends   

Gite heating

Installed the electric radiators and towels rails in the new gite. We've got a booking in Fraise gite at Christmas so they will definitely need heating, unlike in the Summer. Fortunately we had planned to install heaters, so installation was very easy. Just a simple connection to an existing heating socket. However the towel radiators we forgot about, so I had to run some new circuits behind existing walls. Not an easy job threading cable behind plasterboard etc. Lots of string, bendy bits of plastic and another person poised by a small hole in the wall ready to grab anything that moves.

Electric heating (well electric) is very expensive to run in France and we did consider other forms of heating the gites. The downside of the alternatives is that the capital outlay (installation cost) is much much higher than for electric heaters, and for the most part the gites are unoccupied during the winter months. So the electric heaters seemed a reasonable trade-off in terms of installation cost versus running costs.

 brittany gites

|   5:52:51 PM   Gite heating   

Holes in the roof

Intentional holes I would add. After shopping all day Monday to buy heaters, towels rails and roof vents today seemed like as good a time as any to get on the roof. I'm not that keen on heights but the only way to install the roof vents was from the outside. Two vents, one for the septic tank (waste gas from the bacteria) and the other for the VMC. The VMC is a small extractor fan unit that sits in the loft and extracts moist air from the bathrooms and the kitchen via a network of ducting. It's a standard fitting in French houses (and gites) and quietly runs 24 hours a day sucking out damp air. There is a detector in the unit so that if the moisture content increases (during a bath or cooking for example) it sucks harder.

The vents are about the same size as a slate tile and are almost a direct replacement for a slate and fit flush with the roof line. The previous owner of the house left a home made cat ladder that rests on the roof with the bottom of the ladder sticking into the guttering. I've seen the French roofers doing the same thing, using the guttering to support the cat ladder on the roof. Fortunately all our guttering is zinc and very securely fixed to the gite. I'm not sure I'd do the same with plastic guttering.

Once the first slate (the hardest) is off the roof the others just slide out because they are all held on with stainless steel hooks. One end hooks onto a batten and the other to the bottom of the tile. You need to remove about 10 tiles from around the proposed site so you can slot the vent in place and get the flashing under the adjacent tiles. Replacing the tiles is as simple as removal, just hook them over the hooks working from the bottom up. The last couple of tiles are the hardest as they sliding up under the existing tiles. It was much easier having someone inside the loft space to coax the last couple of tiles into place.

Now my knees have stopped knocking I can have that glass of wine postponed from lunch.

 brittany gites

|   7:09:15 PM   Holes in the roof   

Back from the GR34

The blisters finally got to me and I'm back home. The problem was, I think I overdid the second day and just walked too far. Even with painful feet I still had a really good time and would do it again, but maybe with a little more preparation to harden up the feet.

The section of the route that I followed is known as the 'Pink Granite Coast'. Now I know why, everything is pink. The shoreline is littered with huge 'pink' boulders and rocks and all along the coast everything seems to made from pink granite, from houses and sea defences right down to park benches and roadside kerb stones. Following the route was fairly easy, you just need to keep your eyes peeled for the red and white painted GR34 route marks. Generally they are painted on various posts and rocks marking the way. Some sections are better marked than others, but even for my first time it was fairly easy, especially with a map for reassurance.

I think at this time of year it would be fine to walk the GR34 without a tent and camping equipment and just stay in Chambres D'Hotes (Bed and Breakfast) or Hotels en-route. I passed lots of places that had vacancies although some places had closed for winter. In the summer months it's highly likely that most places would be full so camping is most probably the only option.

Holiday over and back to work Monday.

 brittany gr34

|   10:08:33 AM   Back from the GR34   

Port-Blanc

Ian has gone all the way from Perros-Guirec to Port Blanc today, which is maybe 20km, quite impressive! Unsurprisingly he has now got blisters on his feet.

|   7:23:02 PM   Port-Blanc   

Yesterday Landrellec, today Perros Guirec, tomorrow ??

Spoke to Ian tonight, he's aching and wet - it's been raining where he is, but it's been really hot and sunny here - I'm not sure which is better. Anyway, he's caming in Perros Guirec tonight, the biggest town on his route - a bit like the Nice of Brittany - hopefully he'll have dry weather for tommorrow.

I managed to get a coat of oil on the stairs and mowed all the lawns, then went for a swim with the children

|   9:08:05 PM   Yesterday Landrellec, today Perros Guirec, tomorrow ??   

Ian reaches Landrellec

Caroline here - I'm just standing in on the blog whilst Ian is away. I dropped him off yesterday at 11am at Trébeurden, just north-west of Lannion, I received a text message from him at 5pm to say that he had reached a campsite at Landrellec, just south of Trégastel, which is further than he had hoped to get. He has no blisters (yet!) The weather today is beautiful, and he is about to embark on the most picturesque part of the coastline, I just hope that he doesn't get too hot.

For me a day with the children ( no school on Wednesdays in France) - yesterday I put the first coat of stain on the staircase in the gite, if the children are good then I may get to put a coat of oil on today.

|   9:56:38 AM   Ian reaches Landrellec   

Bon Voyage

Rucksack packed, (only 16kg) and ready to go. Caroline is going to drop me off and stay back at home running the gites. I'm not sure who's got the best deal yet. I'll let you know in a week or so.

A+

|   8:33:08 AM   Bon Voyage   

Brittany Coastal Path GR34

The second gite is now tidy and ready for the next onslaught. But I'm not going to start, I'm going on a solo walking and camping holiday on the GR34. The Brittany Coastal Path.

The GR34, Grande Randonnee number 34, is a long distance footpath that follows the northern coastline of Brittany from Morlaix to Mont St Michel in Normandy. The walk is approximately 580 km (360 miles) and takes about 4 weeks or so to complete.

Map of the North Brittany coast. The trail starts in Morlaix (left of map) and finishes at Mont St Michel (on the coast just North of Dol-de-Bretangne. Another map of Brittany.

A friend has lent me the book The Brittany Coastal Path along with a rucksack and small tent. I had a practice this afternoon putting up the tent and fortunately it was fairly easy. I've already got some walking boots and clothes so I've only bought some basic camping stuff - cooking set, water bottle, etc. I expect most of the time I'll eat out in small cafes and restaurants en-route and if the weather turns inclement I can always duck into a B&B, chambre d'hote, or something. I don't fancy carrying half-a-ton of food around with me.

The plan is to go on Tuesday and start in Trebeurden (just north of Lannion and about 100 kms into the path) and then head East for a week and see how things go. I think it's very unlikely I'll make Mont St Michel. I'll blog my adventures when I get back, unless I find an Internet Cafe on a cliff top.

|   6:09:49 PM   Brittany Coastal Path GR34   

Consolidation

With the first gite (Fraise) finished and the guests installed, it's back to work. However there was a major amount of tidying up and sorting out to do in the second gite (Abricot). As we neared completion over the final week we just dumped all the spare materials, packing, off-cuts and all the various tools and equipment into the gite next door. By Sunday it was choc-a-block full of stuff. You could hardly walk across the floor.

The last couple of days I've been to the tip (rubbish dump) with three van loads of junk and had a major clearout of my workshop and barn. Once I'd made space in the barn and workshop it meant I could move everything out of the second gite and sort out all my tools etc. and make a clean fresh start.

Amazingly I've only lost one screwdriver in the whole eight months, but seem to have gained about ten 5mm drill bits. All the spare electrical, plumbing, screws, nails, etc. are nicely sorted into boxes and easy to hand. It did get to the point at the end where it was quicker to go to the shops for a much needed part than rummage through the debris looking for a piece. I think this time I'll be a little tidier and more organised.

|   4:17:00 PM   Consolidation   

Fraise gite finished

That's it, the first gite is finally finished, with guests in residence. Phew!

The last couple of days have been a marathon cleaning exercise. The tiled floors downstairs needed a hands-and-knees scrubbing several times. We did have dust sheets down, but somehow the muck gets through. Next time I think I'll be a little more careful about protecting the floor. All the curtains and net curtains Caroline made have been hung, pictures on walls, furniture moved in and everything finally ready. We really really need a holiday, we are both completely physically and mentally exhausted.

Below are photos of the new gite showing the living room, dining area, kitchen and the two upstairs bedrooms. We are trying to find a traditional old fashioned wooden bed in a Breton style for the master bedroom. Once we do the pine bed will move to the downstairs bedroom.

|   12:18:59 PM   Fraise gite finished   

One day left

It's been a hectic week trying to finish off the gite ready for our first paying guests on Sunday. I thought they were arriving on Saturday, but fortunately we've got an extra day!

The downstairs disabled bathroom is finally finished. Ian, myself and Caroline have been tiling, grouting, painting, etc. furiously to complete the room. I'm really pleased with the walk in shower, I just wish I had one myself. Hopefully having the wheelchair/disabled access should help with out of season business for the gite.

One bug bear is that almost without exception the fittings supplied by the manufacturers for things like toilet roll holders, shower curtains, coat hooks, etc. are woefully inadequate. I usually throw away the tiny screws and plugs they supply and go and find something about twice the size.

An unexpected and pleasant surprise was the arrival this morning of three window barriers. We asked the local firm that fitted our stairs to give us a quote to make, supply and fit three window barriers for the upstairs windows. It being August at the time, and the whole of France on holiday, we didn't hold out much hope for them to arrive on time. However by lunchtime three new garde corps installed and looking splendid. A coat of finish needed, but a necessary safety addition and one more job ticked off the list.

It seems to happen quite regularly that French firms and businesses just seem to come up trumps and pull everything together at the last minute. It's happened on many occasions with this project, the roofer, the gas fitter, the electrician, ... nothing happens for months, then a quick phone call and they arrive the next day and sort it all out. It's just something you have to get used to and not get stressed out about. It turns out OK in the end.

|   7:22:05 PM   One day left