22 | June | 2026 | The Cannon Family's travel blog

Even though it was quite a warm night in our cottage with no AC, we both slept well. In the morning we successfully navigated yet another tiny cooking area and figured out how to make an awesome fried egg sandwich for breakfast. Then it was off to find things that are open in France on a Sunday. When in doubt, go to a tourist destination where savvy local authorities are willing to suspend necessary rules to let the merchants take visitor’s cash.

Even though this is our last overnight stop in Normandy, we crossed the line and spent the day in neighbouring Brittany. First to Cancale, the so called oyster capital of France. (Not a Google Gemini hallucination – backed up by Wikipedia. Unless they are in cahoots. 🤔) Oysters weren’t the only draw though – it was market day! Another fantastic street market to explore. We made several purchases including a new tablecloth and local sausages and strawberries from the food stalls.

This wasn’t the only market in town. The oyster market operates in the seafront every day and sells local, freshly shucked oysters for what we would consider a pittance. Two dozen for about £22/$30. And if you were willing to do the work yourself, you could get two dozen No 3 size for about half that! So with half bottle of Chardonnay and our two platters of oysters, we joined the dozens of others on the waterfront enjoying the very warm day. With only a squeeze of lemon, the fresh briny taste really came through. Once done, we were told to throw the shells onto the small beach. It was covered in layers of oyster shells being carefully inspected by the local seagulls, some of which were Aberdeen worthy – think rugby ball with wings. The bonus was that we could throw shells AT the flying rats and make it look innocent! Best target practice ever!

We wandered about a bit more before heading across the headlands to another tourist hotspot: Saint Malo. It’s a port city with the old town surrounded by high walls that was once home to privateers – pirates with the royal seal of approval. Like Cancale, this place was jumping! All of the shops and restaurants inside the old town were open for business and there were plenty of people there to take advantage of it. It was a beautiful little spot and we thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the cobbled streets, popping in and out of shops, and looking over the wall to the receding tide. There were several stages set up where bands were playing and a variety of street acts performing in different places. This included the obligatory hen party who decided they really needed to do the Macarena in the middle of the street.

Because there is a beach accessible from the edge of the old town, we did the obligatory walk along the sand. It was broad and flat and sparkled with silica, beauty marred only by the vast amount of seaweed washed up on shore.

Eventually it was time to head out. While being close to the water helped with the intense heat, the sun had taken it out of us. We were hoping to stop at a less urban beach for a swim on the way home but the tide was going out. And when I say out, I mean WAY out. Like a kilometre out from the main part of the beach. So no swim today. 😢

Because it’s Sunday, the grocery options are severely limited so it was back to the local convenience store. As a Father’s Day treat, we decided not to walk back into town in the intense heat when the cafes finally opened at 7pm but instead picked up a rotisserie chicken and fixings to dine at home. (Side note on poulet rôti – they are EVERYWHERE here! There have been multiple stands at every market we have been too and every grocery store and corner shop sells them as well! Mental.)

I hope all the dads enjoyed their Father’s Day as much as Frank did!

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