Mark Lew1s
My real name is Mark Lewis
First of all...some Logistics
The trip starts with the 2.5 hour crossing from Brest to Ouessant, which stops to pick folk up at Le Conquet and on Ile de Molene, leaving at 08:30, so perhaps the most comfortable course of action is to travel to Brest the day before and spend the night in a hotel on the waterfront. We always stay in le Gens de Mer http://www.lesgensdemer.fr/hotel-restaurant-2.php which is perfectly adequate and has an OK restaurant.
There is usually some sort of discount running between this hotel and the ferry company http://www.pennarbed.fr/ giving you a reduction on either your accommodation or your tickets. However, the main attraction with this hotel is that if you ask nicely they will let you leave your car in the secure parking for the week, free of charge.
On arrival, we usually take our pre-arranged taxi (see here: http://www.ot-ouessant.fr/fr/touris...tes-et-visites-commentees/232-taxi-mauve.html ) up to the house where we were staying. In the autumn there is plenty of accommodation available on Ouessant as the island needs to cope with large amounts of tourists during the summer. Most accommodation is self-catered rented house type stuff, but there are also a few hotels (see tripadvisor) and for those who want to mix with the birders, there is cheap and basic accommodation at the CEMO (Used to function as an observatory, now it’s the place where most of the birders stay) It can be useful to at least visit, to pick up maps and get some bird news, and is located among some of the islands best migrant spots. http://www.cemo-ouessant.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&Itemid=65
Accommodation is spread throughout the island, but it pays to be relatively close to Lampaul, the islands main (only?!) town. Lampaul has several advantages: it is central, only being a max of 15 minutes cycle to anywhere else on the island; most of the decent bars and restaurants are there (with the exception of L’arrive, which is located where you jump ship and does excellent and authentic crepes): all of the food shops are there, and there is some pretty good birding there too. Shops are open every day apart from Sundays.
The trip starts with the 2.5 hour crossing from Brest to Ouessant, which stops to pick folk up at Le Conquet and on Ile de Molene, leaving at 08:30, so perhaps the most comfortable course of action is to travel to Brest the day before and spend the night in a hotel on the waterfront. We always stay in le Gens de Mer http://www.lesgensdemer.fr/hotel-restaurant-2.php which is perfectly adequate and has an OK restaurant.
There is usually some sort of discount running between this hotel and the ferry company http://www.pennarbed.fr/ giving you a reduction on either your accommodation or your tickets. However, the main attraction with this hotel is that if you ask nicely they will let you leave your car in the secure parking for the week, free of charge.
On arrival, we usually take our pre-arranged taxi (see here: http://www.ot-ouessant.fr/fr/touris...tes-et-visites-commentees/232-taxi-mauve.html ) up to the house where we were staying. In the autumn there is plenty of accommodation available on Ouessant as the island needs to cope with large amounts of tourists during the summer. Most accommodation is self-catered rented house type stuff, but there are also a few hotels (see tripadvisor) and for those who want to mix with the birders, there is cheap and basic accommodation at the CEMO (Used to function as an observatory, now it’s the place where most of the birders stay) It can be useful to at least visit, to pick up maps and get some bird news, and is located among some of the islands best migrant spots. http://www.cemo-ouessant.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&Itemid=65
Accommodation is spread throughout the island, but it pays to be relatively close to Lampaul, the islands main (only?!) town. Lampaul has several advantages: it is central, only being a max of 15 minutes cycle to anywhere else on the island; most of the decent bars and restaurants are there (with the exception of L’arrive, which is located where you jump ship and does excellent and authentic crepes): all of the food shops are there, and there is some pretty good birding there too. Shops are open every day apart from Sundays.