This summer has been a great one for dolphin escorts—always an occasion for considerable excitement. This video was taken August 22, along the north coast of Brittany, as we head back to our home port of St-Malo.
Walks in the woods
Kuzey showed a little excitement while out with his fellow crew members on a nature walk near Lorient …and you thought he saw a snake!
FWIW: There are six species of «serpents » found in Brittany, but only two are (mildly) venomous, and they are both rare. Be advised that it is illegal in France to kill snakes, even poisonous ones. You can be fined and even sent to prison for two years for dispatching one. So—some may ask—what are you supposed to do if you find yourself suddenly face to face with two beady eyes and a forked tongue? Faint? You know some people are going to resort to self-defense. Grandparents may remember that old Paul Revere and The Raiders’ song, “Him or Me, What’s It Gonna Be?”
August 2023 Expedition Update—Lorient
Today we’re in Lorient, in southern Brittany, for its famous Interceltic Festival. Brittany shares a Celtic heritage with Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, and—some maintain—Galicia and Asturias (both in Spain). It turns out Ireland is Lorient's country of honor this year, thus Irish dancing all over the place. French television asked us if they could use our boat decks for a video shoot featuring several dancers. Hmmmmm. A few dozen metal taps hammering away on our wooden decks? We decided to take a pass. But… we were happy to provide a photogenic Celtic background for a jig or two (our boats are reproductions of a classic 19th-century Breton cutter) and to give the presenter a stage from which to welcome the crowd and his TV audience.
So, is a QBE sailing expedition pretty out-of-the-ordinary summer enrichment or what?
August 2023 Expedition Update—The Lorient Interceltic Festival!
Here’s a video of one of the hallmark 2023 Interceltic Festival activities—The Parade of the Celtic Nations. The festival is an annual ten-day celebration of Celtic culture that features music, dancing, food, expositions, and more. We always try to drop in each August. It’s the sort of unique cultural experience that most teenage visitors to France don’t get to experience.
August 2023 Expedition Update—Île de Houat
2023 QBE sailing expeditions—Ile de Houat
We departed Pornichet on Monday, spent a day exploring the Ile de Houat, and now head to Lorient, where we’ll take part in the 2023 «Festival Interceltique» on Wednesday (9 August). French television inform us they intend to shoot video of our grand entrance (our boats are, after all, replicas of a 19th-century Breton pilot cutter), and we’ve been invited to march in the parade. Mairéad, one of our Irish crew members, brought along her “fiddle.”
In the past, we’ve had other participants bring their instruments, including Breton bagpipes. We make quite a spectacle when one of our teens stands up and pipes us into port. Everybody crowds around to get a good look and snap pics.
