La Trinité-sur-Mer

Holidays in La TrinitÉ-sur-Mer & Carnac

Text: Monica Vincent née Pease.(1909-1987)
Photos: Joan Hyde née Hudleston. (1907-1992)

Monica Vincent (née Pease) wrote:
In the year 1924, my parents (Gerald and Winifred (Hudleston) Pease) decided that we ought to have a change from Penally, as I have said. They said that we girls (Purefoy Pease, Monica Pease and Joan Hudleston) were getting "insular", which no doubt was true.

So they took us abroad to a little fishing village (as it was then) called La Trinite, on the south coast of Brittany not far from Quiberon, and east of Carnac. We went there for four consecutive years, from 1924 to 1927, and we kept a boat there, in which we sailed every day.

I've heard that La Trinité-sur-Mer is now (1979) a fashionable yachting centre, but in the 1920's it was largely unknown to English people and to yachtsmen. The Gwel Moor was a small open boat with blue sails. She measured about 23 feet from bow to stern, was broad in the beam and weighed about two tons.

We had bought her from Hugh Webster's parents when they had to give up sailing for health reasons. We adored that boat. The name means "Queen of the Sea", which she was far from being, but she was sturdy and reliable, and virtually unsinkable.

Joan (Hudleston) loved all things French and could speak the language quite well, so she was very happy at La Trinite. Purefoy, for some reason, spoke it very little, and I spoke it very little because I was shy even about speaking English, and how much worse was a foreign language!

However, as I have said, we made friends with some of the French holiday people, who spoke English more or less well. More than the language, I enjoyed the un-English countryside with its aromatic scents, the look of the little white houses with their shutters and black corner-stones, and, of course, the sea and the river.

La Trinité-sur-Mer was on the estuary on the river Crac'h. If the tide was right you could sail up the river quite a long way, and have a picnic on the bank near the top of the navigable part, but more usually we sailed down the estuary and out to sea.

Round the corner on your right was a good bathing beach called La Grande Plage, unfrequented of course; nearer the village, on the estuary, was La Petite Plage, which we rather despised because French families with small children used to go there, and the water wasn't real sea, and nobody swam - only paddled.

Source: Portraits of the Fry Family, Volume Two
www.frenchaymuseumarchives.co.uk/Archives/FryBooks/Vol-2/FryVol-2.htm

The first close friend Bertrand Russel made was Charles Sanger, who, like Russell, was at Trinity on a minor scholarship to read mathematics. Sanger’s rooms were close to Russell’s in Whewell’s Court, and, according to Russell, the two became ‘lifelong friends’ after half an hour’s conversation.

They talked about mathematics, metaphysics, theology, politics and history. On most things they agreed, but that was far less important to Russell than the mere fact of their talking, of their mutual pleasure in each other’s conversation.

Reference: Bertrand Russell: The Spirit of Solitude, 1872-1921. P43.
Author: Ray Monk

Bertrand Russel was the (7th) Wrangler in the 1893 Moral Science Tripos. Many mathematicians who later became famous and had sat the Cambridge examinations were not Senior Wranglers - eg. John Maynard Keynes (12th).

Reference: www.wikiwand.com/en/Senior_Wrangler_(University_of_Cambridge)

WHITE ISLAND HOBBITON WAIOTAPU HELLS GATE GEN-1 ⇩ ROUTH'S THEOREM PYTHAGOROUS PROPOSITION 47 DANDELIN SPHERES AND A CONE STRING AND TRIANGLES E=MC2 SYD-85 CROCODILES NGABEN VILLAGE ⇩ BRAIN WATKINS PRINTS OF TAURANGA HUTTON JOHN ⇩ ABBÉ FOURÉ LA TRINITÉ MADAME LITVINOV TOKELAU LINKS COPYRIGHT IMAGES-A4 ADYAR TS

Holidays in La TrinitÉ-sur-Mer & Carnac Text: Monica Vincent née Pease.(1909-1987) Photos: Joan Hyde née Hudleston. (1907-1992) Monica Vincent (née Pease) wrote: In the year 1924, my parents (Gerald and Winifred (Hudleston) Pease) decided that we ought to have a change from Penally, as I have said. They said that we girls (Purefoy Pease, Monica Pease and Joan Hudleston) were getting "insular", which no doubt was true. So they took us abroad to a little fishing village (as it was then) called La Trinite, on the south coast of Brittany not far from Quiberon, and east of Carnac. We went there for four consecutive years, from 1924 to 1927, and we kept a boat there, in which we sailed every day. I've heard that La Trinité-sur-Mer is now (1979) a fashionable yachting centre, but in the 1920's it was largely unknown to English people and to yachtsmen. The Gwel Moor was a small open boat with blue sails. She measured about 23 feet from bow to stern, was broad in the beam and weighed about two tons. We had bought her from Hugh Webster's parents when they had to give up sailing for health reasons. We adored that boat. The name means "Queen of the Sea", which she was far from being, but she was sturdy and reliable, and virtually unsinkable. Joan (Hudleston) loved all things French and could speak the language quite well, so she was very happy at La Trinite. Purefoy, for some reason, spoke it very little, and I spoke it very little because I was shy even about speaking English, and how much worse was a foreign language! However, as I have said, we made friends with some of the French holiday people, who spoke English more or less well. More than the language, I enjoyed the un-English countryside with its aromatic scents, the look of the little white houses with their shutters and black corner-stones, and, of course, the sea and the river. La Trinité-sur-Mer was on the estuary on the river Crac'h. If the tide was right you could sail up the river quite a long way, and have a picnic on the bank near the top of the navigable part, but more usually we sailed down the estuary and out to sea. Round the corner on your right was a good bathing beach called La Grande Plage, unfrequented of course; nearer the village, on the estuary, was La Petite Plage, which we rather despised because French families with small children used to go there, and the water wasn't real sea, and nobody swam - only paddled.	Source: Portraits of the Fry Family, Volume Two www.frenchaymuseumarchives.co.uk/Archives/FryBooks/Vol-2/FryVol-2.htm The first close friend Bertrand Russel made was Charles Sanger, who, like Russell, was at Trinity on a minor scholarship to read mathematics. Sanger’s rooms were close to Russell’s in Whewell’s Court, and, according to Russell, the two became ‘lifelong friends’ after half an hour’s conversation. They talked about mathematics, metaphysics, theology, politics and history. On most things they agreed, but that was far less important to Russell than the mere fact of their talking, of their mutual pleasure in each other’s conversation. Reference: Bertrand Russell: The Spirit of Solitude, 1872-1921. P43. Author: Ray Monk Bertrand Russel was the (7th) Wrangler in the 1893 Moral Science Tripos. Many mathematicians who later became famous and had sat the Cambridge examinations were not Senior Wranglers - eg. John Maynard Keynes (12th). Reference: www.wikiwand.com/en/Senior_Wrangler_(University_of_Cambridge)



We used to spend about a month in Brittany during those four years. Nowadays that seems a fabulously long time for a holiday abroad. At times, I must admit, I got bored, because my parents were very fond of sticking to a routine: Grande Plage every morning, lunch at the hotel, then a long rest in our bedrooms which was more or less obligatory because my mother needed it - I used this time for reading. Then we would go sailing every afternoon. We had occasional breaks, when we went to look at the prehistoric stones at Carnac (my father loved these) or made some other expedition. Joan and I would have liked to do this sort of thing more often. There was a regatta every August, when "balançoires" were set up on the quayside: a sort of cross between swings and roundabouts. Peasants would arrive on Regatta Day dressed in their beautiful national costumes, and would stroll around enjoying themselves. I wonder if national costume is ever seen nowadays. Probably, if it is worn at all, it is put on for the benefit of the tourists, but in those days it was simply Sunday Best. All in all these were very happy holidays, and it was sad when we had to sell the Gwel Moor after my father' s death, and spend our holidays more cheaply in England.






GO TO TOP