As a boy I was eager to take up continental motoring, inspired by black and white TV news reports of Monte Carlo Rallies, images of deserted country roads lined with poplars stretching to the horizon and photos of palm-tree-fringed filling stations in exotic locations. I longed to see these things for myself but my dad could never be persuaded to take his Austin 1100 any further afield than the Isle of Wight. Over the years, though, I have been fortunate enough to drive abroad myself, travelling to many far-off places in my Minis. My latest trip to France, in September 2022, was somewhat more prosaic however as we encountered neither snowy mountain passes nor any exciting old-style petrol stations, fuelling up instead at workaday supermarket pumps. We did still get to motor along those long, straight roads and follow little-used country lanes to discover many surprising delights of rural France.
With a little hint of that youthful enthusiasm in mind I set off for Brittany with my long suffering wife Emilia in our 1996 1.3i Cooper,
