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On a recent holiday to Brittany, we visited the town of Auray.  Auray is a town with a pretty, historical centre. We parked up at a free car park near the Athena Cultural Centre near the Place du Four Mollet and the swimming pool.

From there we walked through the town roughly following the town’s heritage circuit which is marketed on the ground by large, metal, ermine (stoat) buttons.  You can pick up a paper copy of the trail leaflet at the tourist information office in Rue du Lait (here there is free wifi available too).  Near here is the church of Saint Gildas on the Place Notre Dame.  which was completed in 1663.  It’s a combination of the Gothic and Renaissance styles and worth a quick visit.

There are lots of attractive buildings to admire around the Place de la République including the town hall which dates from 1782.  There are a number of houses on the square with timber frame constructions dating from the 16th century and others from the 17th and 18th.  We bought our picnic lunch in La Mie Caline in the Place de la République, where they have a range of ‘meal deal’ style options which you can tailor to your taste and your appetite.

We then strolled down the delightful Rue du Château with its charming houses mostly made of limestone.  They’ve mellowed beautifully with age.  This road takes you down to the bridge, the quay or quai and the castle.  The river here is tidal and the bridge has been repaired and rebuilt several times because of the effects of the tidal forces on it.  The current bridge is from the eighteenth century, but most modern traffic uses the newer bridges over the river further out of town.  

Auray suffered as a port from competition from better located towns and after the arrival of the railway, the rot really set in.  By the beginning of the twentieth century the only goods being transported through Auray’s Saint-Goustan port were wooden poles for the Welsh coal mines.  This has meant that the port is very much one of the nineteenth century making it much more picturesque than its modern-day equivalents.

Above the port are the castle ruins and from here you have a great view down over the older parts of the town across the river Auray with their characterful, winding streets.

 

 

 

At BritMumsLive I was given an iPhone 5 case in my goody bag.  Sadly, I don’t have an iPhone 5 to go with it, but I do have an iPhone 4.  Speck enclosed a note with the case saying to get in touch if I wanted to review a different case, so I did.  My old case is about 2 years old and has put up with quite a bit of punishment, but is now showing signs of wear, so it was good timing.

A key thing to protect your phone is to have a good case.  It’s a great way of keeping your precious phone safe from the trials and tribulations of life, especially if you are a bit clumsy like me.  If you have spent a £1000 or more on your iPhone, you really should be looking at iPhone cases to protect your investment.  We all like to stay connected and keeping your phone safe is a good way of doing this.

Speck have a good range of iPhone cases to choose from, but I decided that I needed something that protected my phone from family life and my innate clumsiness. I opted for the CandyShell Grip Speck iPhone 4 Case.  It’s designed for gamers and texters (which doesn’t really apply to me) and for anyone who wants a better grip on their phone (that’s me). The case has soft rubber on the inside to cushion your phone with a strong, outer layer of hard plastic.  The rubbery inner extends out a little proud of the phones surface to create a bezel.  This means that if you drop it face first, the rubber will hit the ground and not your phone.  It also helps the phone grip to a surface if placed face down.

On the reverse are ridged, rubbery fingerpads to help you grip your phone.  I thought these might make it more difficult to slid the phone into my pocket, but I need not of worried as it’s still easy to slip it into my jeans pocket.

For gamers there are four thumb bumps on the bezel to help you keep your thumbs in the right place.  I haven’t found a use for these if you aren’t into games.

My previous case left the buttons free with cut away sections, but the Speck iPhone 4 case covers the button that you press around the sides: the on/off and the up and down volume controls.  There are  cut out bits for the charging slot, speakers, headphone slot, mute button and camera lens.

So far I’m liking my new Speck iPhone 4 case.  I think it looks lovely too and I’ve chosen a rather nice purple colour.  They have quite a selection of colours for most of their designs, so you should be able to find something that suits you.  It’s a bit heavier than the one I had before, but it does feel like it will take quite a bit of abuse.  Since I’ve had the new case, I’ve dropped my phone a lot less and it doesn’t seem to slip from my grasp as easily.