A Nice Sunday Drive

I would have liked to entitle this 'A Nice Sunday Ride,' but, Betsy's in her garage awaiting the recall repair I received a couple of months ago. Since I wasn't riding during the cold months I saw no reason to pay for expensive insurance, so she's just been waiting patiently since our last ride in late October. But the weather's getting better and better and I'm getting anxious to start riding again. Of course, I dropped my recall notice off at the Kawasaki dealer and he promised to talk to the factory folks (I'm sure about being reimbursed for fixing this) and, as to be expected here in France, he's not breaking a pick trying to get it done. I expect that's because the factory knows how long it should take to do the service and they can't "boost" the time on them.

Anyway...the weather's a little cool, 4°C ( 39°F) when I left the apartment this morning, reaching about 9°C (48°F) by the time I returned. But, it was brilliantly sunny and clear...a great day for a ride through the woods. So, to the woods I went.

After my morning café and email and FB catchup, I head out of Nantes toward Rennes. My destination is Paimpont, a small village located in the center of the Forêt du Paimpont, reputed to be the famous Forêt du Brocéliande of Authurian (as in King) legend (Paimpont_Forest). Local legend has it that this is the home of King Arthur, Merlin, and the famous Lady of the Lake. Of course, no one knows, but the local tourism and artifact salespeople. They have kith and kin in England selling the same things and willing to argue the point.

One of the first things you have to come to grips with when discussing ol' Arthur and his court is whether or not they really existed. According to pro-believers, he was a great king who fought against the Anglo-Saxon invaders of England during the late 5th and early 6th century (475-550 AD?). There is considerable mention of him in Breton and Welsh legend. Of course, it's the Breton part which puts him in this section of France. I don't know about the rest of my American friends, but until coming over here and studying local history in much more depth, I, somehow, missed how interconnected and "woven-together" the French and the English are. Of course, I knew they'd fought each other for about 1,500 years; even having one war which lasted over a hundred years by itself (1337-1453). But there is, I think, as much to draw them together as to wedge them apart. They would deny it, both sides, of course; that many years of strife certainly leave a desire for segregation...but they are definitely builders and molders of each others' civilizations. Point? Well, ol' Authur could well have existed and could easily have been a Breton.

As related on my Hail Bretagne post (September 2010) the Breton people were anti-dated by the Celts. And the Druids were a priestly, or religious, class of Celts. They ended up populating England, Wales, and Britagne across the channel. The earliest mentions of Arthur appear in the early 12th century. But the sources, though written in latin, the lingua-franca of the time, are not clerical in nature. They are reporting of legends and mythological events from previous times. And, the absence of mention in Catholic writings, at least, from my point of view, could well be a leading indicator of his actual existence. During the purported period of Arthurian reign, Christianity was spreading throughout Europe and, obviously, a mortal enemy to Druid or any other form of belief not associated with Catholicism. One can easily suppose that church writings would not legitimize his, or his people's suzerainty over anything. Especially, when faced, later, with peoples nostalgic for some of the old beliefs. Based my experience, one can be sure some looked backwards to some of the more pagan rituals; for cryin' out loud, we're still doing it.

Just south of Rennes I turn back west toward Paimpont.

Some roads are just better than others. Among my favorites are these little country lanes.

Abbey of Paimpont

Did the Lady of the Lake live nearby?

If I throw a sword into the water here will a hand reach out and catch it?
Or, must it be Excalibur?

Downtown Paimpont


Square behind the Abbey

Memorial to Paimpont fallen in WWI. I've never thought Americans could relate to the human losses experienced by France and England in that war, or the Russians in WWII. We always managed to trade implements of war for their bodies.
(I know we fought and participated, and our service was honorable. But it was July 1944 before we had more troops engaged than did Britain in WWII. In WWI France and England lost an entire generation of young men; and Russia 20,000,000 people in WWII. It's staggering to consider.)