St. Enogat and St. Lunaire
The beach beneath the house we rented in 2019-2020, very quiet in October.
St Enogat
On our last afternoon at our Dinard rental house Rick and I took a walk on the St. Enogat beach for old times sake. Our friends had other plans. It was in St. Enogat that we lived for seven months in 2019-20. It remains one of the most happy times, despite the pandemic, of our years together.
St. Enogat is the historic cradle of what is now the upscale vacation town of Dinard, The city grew up and out from there, which in the nineteenth century was a thriving fishing hamlet. St. Enogat was the name of the city until 1921, when it changed its name to Dinard. St. Enogat is now just a district of the town, located west of Dinard center. Dinard has 407 listed villas and St. Enogat has its share, All traces of the fishing village it once was have vanished and been replaced by beautiful and extravagant homes on the cliffs overlooking the sea.
One of the many villas in St. Enogat, here shut down and empty.
Although the house we stay at with our friends Cass and Billy is without doubt in the most privileged location in Dinard, in terms of beaches, St. Enogat is by far our favorite, around the cliff and separate from the main one. It is more private, a lot less touristic. On the day we were there, only residents, of which there are few, strolled past. One woman sat in the sand and motionlessly contemplated the sea for many minutes. Some other women dressed in wet suits did their water walking, as they had done every day when we lived there.
The islands of Cézembre and Harbour, directly seaward from the St. Enogat beach.
Turning your back to the view above, you see houses on the cliffside, over looking this view. These were constructed at the end of the nineteenth century by wealthy Brits. Dinard had only just become a seaside vacation destination and the British descended upon this location and basically took it over. Seaside vacationing only became popular at the end of the seventeenth century when British doctors started recommending ocean air for good health. Dinard remains one of the most British towns in France.
The apartment we rented is the middle one in this photo. We lived on the top floor, and could walk through the garden, down some stone steps right on to the beach. We had a marvelous view of the beach, islands and sea. It is called “Rockwell.”
Lawrence of Arabia, Agatha Christie, Winston Churchill and Oscar Wilde are just a few of the famous Brits who spent time in Dinard. Of course when transportation became easier and faster, the British aristocracy abandoned their mansions in Dinard and headed south to the Côte d’Azur. Still, their influence remains. There is even a British film festival held in Dinard every year.
Rick standing on. the cement pier where we often walked when we lived here. High tide completely covers it.
The perfect time to visit the Brittany coast, one of the most beautiful ones I know of, is the fall. The crowds have left, the beaches are clean and inviting, the weather is still mild. We spent a very pleasant afternoon revisiting this intimate beach we had known so well.
Looking back towards St Malo.
The St. Enogat neighborhood, which I didn’t photograph, is also charming. We found a little oyster bar on the corner there, but when we tried to buy some we found it was closed. However the restaurant next door which was associated with it was generous enough to fill a bag from their stock just for us. It’s that kind of town.
I watched these two for quite a long time. They seemed to have a very close bond.
St. Lunaire
Look out into the English Channel.
Just down the road is the Pointe du Décollé, (the unstuck point) a spit of land in St. Lunaire which provides a very lovely view out to sea. Before heading back home for our last evening in Dinard, we stopped here to enjoy the moody sea and sky.
Next week I’ll take you somewhere completely different.