In
due time we reached Dinan, when we joined the train that had come round
from St. Malo.
Nothing in Brittany is more lovely and striking than the situation of
Dinan. It overlooks the Rance, and from the train we looked down into an
immense valley.
Everywhere the eye rested upon a profusion of wild uncultivated verdure.
The granite cliffs were steep and wooded. Far in the depths "the sacred
river ran." A few boats and barges sailing up and down, passed under the
lovely viaduct; Brittany peasant girls were putting off from the shallow
bank with small cargoes of provisions, evidently coming from some
market. Under the rugged cliffs ran a long row of small, unpretending
houses, level with the river; a paradise sheltered, one would think,
from all the winds of heaven: yet even here, no doubt, the east wind
finds a passage for its sharp tooth to warp the waters.
[Illustration: ST. MALO.]
Further on one caught sight of an old church, evidently in the hands of
the Philistines, under process of restoration, and an ancient
monastery. The town crowned the cliffs, but very little could be seen
beyond churches and steeples. We left it to a future time.
The train went through beautiful and undulating country until it reached
Lamballe, picturesquely placed on the slope of a hill watered by a small
stream, and crowned by the ancient and romantic ruins of the Castle
which belonged to the Counts of Penthievre, and was dismantled by
Cardinal Richelieu.
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