Six nights above the oyster beds
Your house at 35 Rue de Port Briac sits on the quiet north shoulder of Cancale, a few minutes on foot from Port Mer beach and directly on the GR34 coastal path. Almost everything worth doing this week is either walkable from the door or under an hour away by car, and the one long drive earns itself. The shape of the week: three anchor days, two loose days built around lunch, one arrival evening, one unhurried departure.
Drive times from the house
The three calls I made for you
Mont Saint-Michel goes to Sunday evening, ending late. Your week sits on the falling half of the tide cycle: Sunday carries the last strong evening tide (coefficient 75, high water 23:40), so the sea visibly floods back around the rock at dusk while you watch from the ramparts. By mid-week the coefficients drop into the 30s and the Mont sits in sand no matter when you go. Sunday evening also plays to your jet lag — at 11 p.m. French time your bodies think it is late afternoon in Chicago. The abbey's summer Nocturnes (an illuminated evening route, 19:30 to midnight, running 3 July–31 August) replace the standard daytime visit.
Dinan stays in, on Monday afternoon. I looked for something that would beat it and didn't find one within your radius. Rochefort-en-Terre and Josselin are lovely but sit near Nantes, so the prettiest of them, Rochefort-en-Terre, becomes your Friday lunch stop instead — you get both medieval fixes without a wasted kilometer. Monday suits Dinan because the town's appeal is its stones and the Jerzual descent, which don't observe the French Monday closures the way shops do.
The boat is the bisquine, from your own beach. La Cancalaise, the black-hulled replica of a 1905 oyster-dredging lugger and the most heavily canvassed fishing boat in France, sails from Port Mer — a five-minute walk from your door, boarding by dinghy from the sand. A half-day is €45–78 per person, small group, working sail, Mont Saint-Michel on the horizon. This beats any generic charter on romance per euro, and Thursday's gentle seas (coefficient 37) suit it.
Four bookings gate this plan: the one-way rental car (CDG → NTE), Nocturnes tickets for Sunday 19 July, the bisquine sail for Thursday 23 July, and a table at La Table Breizh Café for Thursday night. All four sell out or fill in late July. The full sequenced list is in 10 · Bookings & decisions.
The seven days
Times are suggestions, not appointments — the only fixed points are Le Coquillage on Tuesday, whatever you book from the checklist, and the tide, which doesn't negotiate. Each day carries its own almanac: real tide heights and coefficients for the bay (Saint-Malo reference; add about five minutes for the Mont), plus sunset. Solid dots on the timeline are drives.
Saturday — land, drive, breathe
Chicago is seven hours behind, so tonight your bodies think it's mid-afternoon at bedtime and 3 a.m. at breakfast. The fix is boring: stay up until about 22:30 tonight, get morning light on a short walk tomorrow, and protect an afternoon rest on Sunday. Evenings will feel easy all week — the plan leans on that.
If it rains: nothing changes. Dinner and bed.
Cut for a slower day: skip the restaurant; buy a picnic at Super U and eat it on Port Mer beach five minutes from the door.
Sunday — the market, then the Mont at night
PhotosThe Nocturnes, abbey by night ↗
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The Mont is stairs and cobbles — roughly 350 steps if you climb to the abbey, all at strolling pace with endless excuses to pause. The Nocturne route is self-paced. Comfortable shoes, a warm layer (the terrace gets cold at night, even in July), and no rush.
If it rains: go anyway — the village in wet lamplight is arguably better, and the Nocturnes are indoors. Swap the market stroll for a slower breakfast.
Cut for a slower day: drop the Nocturnes, keep everything else, leave at 22:30 after the tide. You lose the illuminated abbey, keep the emptied village and the flooding bay.
Monday — slow morning, medieval afternoon
If it rains: Dinan survives drizzle happily (lean into the covered arcades and long lunch). Real rain → play the rainy-day page and push Dinan to nowhere; you've got Rochefort-en-Terre on Friday as your medieval insurance.
Cut for a slower day: the Tour de l'Horloge climb, and dine in Cancale instead of Dinan.
Tuesday — Le Coquillage, and deliberately nothing else
PhotosChâteau Richeux above the bay ↗
This is one of your two protected days. Every good thing you could add to it makes it worse.
If it rains: a three-hour lunch is the best rainy-day plan ever devised. The afternoon becomes reading weather.
Wednesday — the wild coast, and Saint-Malo for dinner
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If it rains: swap the whole day with Thursday if the forecast splits that way (the fort and cliffs need sky; the sail needs its booked date, so check with the association first). Otherwise run the rainy-day page and keep the Saint-Malo dinner — the ramparts in weather are their own show.
Cut for a slower day: Dinard. Go straight to Saint-Malo and you're at dinner an hour earlier. Second cut: the fort's interior — from the GR34 you've already had the best of it.
Thursday — under sail from your own beach
The bisquine's calendar is published by the association and follows tides and weather; Thursday's slot may run morning or afternoon, or the boat may sail a different day of your week entirely. Book whatever they have and swap this day's structure with Monday afternoon or Wednesday as needed — every other piece of Thursday is movable.
If it rains (or blows): the association cancels for weather and refunds or rebooks; fall back to the rainy-day page, keep the dinner.
Cut for a slower day: the Grouin walk — you'll have seen the headland by now — and take the beach instead.
Friday — leave slowly, via the prettiest village in Brittany
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If it rains: Rochefort-en-Terre shrinks gracefully to a long lunch; or drive direct and give the afternoon to Nantes' Machines, which are indoors-adjacent.
Cut for a slower day: the village. Direct drive is two hours flat, and a nap at the hotel before an early flight is a legitimate luxury.
Dream vs. realistic
The day pages describe the realistic plan, which is already a very good week. The dream version changes four decisions, adds roughly €700–1,400 total, and asks nothing else of you. Where they diverge:
Realistic — the boat
Half-day shared sail on La Cancalaise, €45–78 each, up to 24 aboard. A working heritage boat with a professional crew; the "shared" part reads as camaraderie, not a booze cruise. Romance survives fully intact.
Dream — the boat
Privatize her. The association charters the whole bisquine for events — a boat to yourselves with crew, likely €800–1,500 for a half day (ask them directly). The mid-priced alternative: a private skippered sailing yacht out of Saint-Malo, typically €400–800 a half day through local skipper platforms. Either stays far from your $5K line.
Realistic — the Mont
Sunday evening with Nocturnes tickets (€19 each), dinner at a village auberge, home by 00:30.
Dream — the Mont
Same evening, plus: reserve a bay-view window table when booking dinner, and add the daytime abbey ticket (~€16) at 17:30 for the cloister and refectory in natural light before the illuminated night route. Two abbey visits in one evening sounds absurd and is wonderful.
Realistic — the food
Le Coquillage as the blowout; La Table Breizh Café Thursday as the second reservation; bistros and crêperies otherwise, €40–80 a head at dinner.
Dream — the food
Add a third act: Saint-Malo's own starred rooms, or simply upgrade Wednesday's dinner to the best table you can land intra-muros and let Bordier's butter trolley do its slow damage. Also: a standing daily order of one dozen oysters for Mark at the marché. Call it a research program.
Realistic — Chausey
Skipped. The archipelago is a full-day commitment and your week doesn't need it.
Dream — Chausey
Take the bisquine's full-day sailing (9:00–17:30, €78) to the Chausey archipelago — 365 islets at low tide, 52 at high, Europe's largest tidal range made visible. Trade Thursday's beach afternoon for it and move the farewell dinner to 20:45.
What to skip if the week runs slow
In firing order: first Dinard (Wednesday), then the Fort La Latte interior, then the Rochefort-en-Terre detour (Friday), then the Nocturnes (keep the Mont itself), then Dinan shrinks to a Rance-side dinner run. What never gets cut: the market, the oyster wall, Le Coquillage, the bisquine, one evening at Pointe du Grouin. That list is the trip.
Where to eat, and how
Organized by town. Tags: Book ahead Walk in Already booked. Every entry carries a Rachel note where it matters — the working rules are: no raw shellfish, no raw-milk soft cheeses, no alcohol, cooked everything is fair game, and her OB's word beats this document. Ask any kitchen for things bien cuit and say "je suis enceinte" — French kitchens take those two words seriously and will steer you honestly.
Cancale
Hugo Roellinger's sea-and-spice cooking in his family's villa above the bay. The week's summit. Menus run long; clear the afternoon.
Email or call before Tuesday to flag the pregnancy; the kitchen will rework raw courses without being asked twice. Request the non-alcoholic pairing — with the Roellinger spice cellar behind it, it's a destination in itself.
Chef Raphaël Fumio Kudaka's Japanese-Breton tasting menu one floor above the crêperie, port and bay in the window. Lobster with soba, duck with negi miso; a sake list Mark should let them drive. Confirm Thursday service when booking.
Fish-forward with some raw preparations — flag the pregnancy at booking and they'll adapt courses. Their juice/tea accompaniments handle the no-alcohol side gracefully.
Producers' stalls at the end of the port, the beds visible at low tide right below. Mark: a dozen n°3 flat on the sea wall, lemon, shells over the shoulder. The famous local flat oyster (belon-style pied de cheval) is the connoisseur upgrade.
All raw — this one is a spectator sport. The pastry bag from Grain de Vanille is the standard consolation, and the view is shared property.
A producing family's own quayside table: plateaux, but also grilled, gratinéed, and steamed shellfish straight off the fire. Paper napkins, sea air, exactly right after the Thursday sail.
The rare oyster spot with a real cooked menu — moules, grilled langoustines, gratinéed oysters (cooked through) all work.
The ground-floor crêperie of the Larcher empire: organic buckwheat, Bordier butter, artisan ciders, glass front on the port. The correct arrival-night dinner and the all-week fallback.
Galettes complètes are fully cooked and safe as houses; ask for pasteurized cheese fillings (their standards make this easy) and skip the raw-milk special toppings.
The port's dependable white-tablecloth-adjacent seafood institution: platters, whole fish, sole meunière. The right answer when you want dinner, not an event.
Cooked fish is the house strength — sole, cotriade, moules. Easy.
Kouign-amann, far breton, vanilla-obsessed pastry, serious hot chocolate. Rachel's standing order all week.
The family spice house — blends composed like perfumes (Poudre des Alizés, Retour des Indes). Tins travel; buy the suitcase-flat gifts here and be done with souvenir shopping forever.
Saint-Malo (Wednesday dinner)
The restaurant of Jean-Yves Bordier, whose hand-paddled butter shows up on three-star tables across France — including, in spirit, yours on Tuesday. The butter service is the opening act; the bistro cooking behind it is genuinely good.
Ask about butter and cheese pasteurization course by course — staff are fluent in the question. The cooked mains are all clear water.
Breton producers cooked with care, a room quieter than the tourist drag two streets over. The grown-up choice inside the walls.
The Saint-Malo branch of Tuesday's crêperie family. When you're tired and the ramparts already fed your soul, a galette and cider (and jus de pomme) is a complete evening.
Dinan & en route
The locals' crêperie answer in the old town; Monday service is its own reason to phone first. Fallbacks: whatever port-side terrace below the viaduct reads well, or drive home and eat in Cancale.
Half a dozen honest options in three hundred meters; walk-ins land fine at 12:00 sharp and badly at 13:00 in July. A galette, a salad, a slow coffee in a flowered courtyard is the assignment.
Markets of the week
| Day | Market | Where & when | Why go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Cancale weekly market | Behind the church · 8:30–13:00 | Your Sunday morning anchor — cheese, fruit, rotisserie, flowers. |
| Daily | Marché aux huîtres | Pointe des Crolles · ~9:00–19:00 | Mark's ritual. See above. |
| Tue & Fri | Saint-Malo intra-muros | Halle au Blé & Place de la Poissonnerie · mornings | Only if a spare morning appears; you're covered otherwise. |
| Thursday | Marché des saveurs, Cancale | Place de l'Église · 17:00–20:00 (summer) | Evening producers' market — a graceful pre-dinner stroll on bisquine day. |
Je suis enceinte — I'm pregnant. · Bien cuit, s'il vous plaît — well cooked, please. · Est-ce que c'est au lait cru ? — is this raw-milk? · Sans alcool — without alcohol. · Un jus de pomme fermier — farm apple juice, Brittany's best non-alcoholic answer and never an apology.
Safe defaults everywhere: galettes, cooked fish and shellfish, hard cheeses (Comté, Emmental, mimolette), anything from a fryer or a fire. The standard cautions: raw shellfish, tartares, raw-milk soft cheeses, charcuterie that hasn't been cooked. Menus at the level you're eating will volunteer this information once you say the two magic words.
Places, ranked honestly
Everything within your radius, with distances from the house and a plain verdict — including what I left out of the plan and why.
In the plan
| Place | From house | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Pointe du GrouinHeadland · free-ish parking · GR34 from your door | 10 min drive · 45 min walk | The best view-per-effort on the coast: the whole bay from Granville to the Mont, plus the Île des Landes bird reserve. Go at golden hour, Thursday. |
| GR34, Port Briac → Port Mer → GrouinSentier des Douaniers — the customs officers' path | At the door | Your street sits on it. The 1–2 hour out-and-back is the walk this week was built around; no driving, all coast. |
| Mont Saint-MichelPark La Caserne (reserve) · walk the bridge in, shuttle back | 55 min | Sunday evening, per the tide argument on the day page. The approach on foot is half the visit. |
| Dinan & the JerzualPaid lots at Place du Guesclin / Fosses | 45 min | Brittany's best medieval townscape. Monday afternoon; the descent to the river port is the set piece. |
| Cap FréhelSmall parking fee in summer | 1 h 05 | The wildest scenery of the week — 70 m pink cliffs, heather, seabirds. Pairs with the fort by the GR34 walk. |
| Fort La Latte~€8.50, tickets on site only · free lot 600 m out | 1 h 10 | A castle on a sea stack; the walk in from Cap Fréhel outranks the interior, which is still worth an hour. |
| Saint-Malo intra-murosEvening: quays by Porte Saint-Vincent · Day: Paul Féval P+R + shuttle | 25 min | Deliberately taken as an evening: ramparts at golden hour, dinner inside the walls. A full day here is mostly shops. |
| Port Mer beachSand, cafés, kayak rental, the bisquine's mooring | 5 min walk | Your house beach. Swim window is high-tide-ish; the water is 17–18°C and honest about it. |
| Rochefort-en-TerrePlus Beaux Villages · park below, walk up | Friday, en route | The single prettiest village in range, positioned exactly where you're driving anyway. |
Considered and cut — with reasons
| Place | Why it's out |
|---|---|
| Chausey archipelago | Genuinely magical, but a full-day commitment (boat from Granville, 1 h away, or the bisquine's long sailing). It's the first thing to add back in the dream version; it's the wrong thing to cram into the realistic one. |
| Combourg | Chateaubriand's brooding castle is a literary pilgrimage more than a spectacle. If you were French majors, swap it for Dinan's Tour de l'Horloge climb. |
| Fougères & Vitré | Superb fortresses, wrong direction — an hour-plus inland with nothing else on the line. Dinan + Fort La Latte cover the medieval-military appetite better. |
| Rennes | A real city with a great Saturday market you'll miss by definition. Friday's ring-road pass is the correct amount of Rennes for this trip. |
| Josselin | The castle over the Oust is a stunner, but Rochefort-en-Terre wins the single Friday slot on charm density. If castles beat flowers for you, swap them one-for-one — same detour cost. |
| Dinard as a destination | In the plan only as Wednesday's 45-minute golden-hour pause. The Belle Époque promenade is lovely; a whole day of it is a nap with villas. |
| Granville | Only earns the drive as the Chausey ferry port or for the Christian Dior museum-house. Dream-version territory. |
Viewpoints & photo notes
Pointe du Grouin at 21:30 — light rakes across the Île des Landes; the Mont goes violet on the horizon. Saint-Malo ramparts at low tide — Wednesday's 20:14 low turns the foreshore into a mirror-flat stage. The MSM bridge on foot at 17:30 — the classic approach shot, sun behind you. The Jerzual from the bottom — shoot up the street, not down it. Fort La Latte from the GR34's last rise — the postcard is made about 800 m before the gate; you'll know it when the fort clears the gorse.
Getting you onto the bay
You asked to be on the water without a $5K charter. Good news: the best boat on this coast costs less than dinner for two, and it moors within sight of your kitchen. Options, ranked for your case.
A faithful, working replica of the 1905 oyster-dredging bisquine La Perle: black hull, three masts, 450 m² of lugsail — the most canvas ever carried by a French fishing boat, godfathered by Éric Tabarly himself. Run by a local association with a professional crew; up to 24 passengers who skew boat-lovers rather than bachelor parties. Half-day sails run 9:00–12:00, full days 9:00–17:30 (sometimes reaching Chausey). You board by inflatable dinghy from the sand at Port Mer — five minutes from your front door, which is a coincidence bordering on fate. Reserve at lacancalaise.org; the office (place du Calvaire) answers 14:00–17:00 except Wednesday and Sunday.
A heavy, stable traditional hull on neap-tide water is about the gentlest sailing there is. Flat supportive shoes, a windproof layer, sunscreen; participation in hauling lines is invited, never required.
Two flavors. The association privatizes La Cancalaise herself for groups and events — ask them directly for a couples' rate on a short evening sail; expect something in the high hundreds to low thousands. Or charter a modern skippered sailing yacht from Saint-Malo through local skipper platforms (search "location voilier avec skipper Saint-Malo"), typically €400–800 for a half day, just the two of you and a skipper who knows where the seals haul out. Both are firmly inside your budget line.
The workhorse ferry company inside the walls: a ten-minute Saint-Malo→Dinard sea shuttle (a genuinely great €10 of boat), plus bay cruises past the forts. Zero romance-planning required; useful if the bisquine's calendar refuses to cooperate and you still want salt under you on Wednesday evening.
An hour offshore: 365 granite islets at low tide, 52 at high — the tide swallows the difference twice a day. White-sand anchorages, a hamlet, seabirds. On the bisquine it's the full 9:00–17:30 day at €78; by conventional ferry from Granville it's a cheaper, busier crossing. Wonderful, and honestly more than the realistic week needs, which is why it lives on the dream page.
All sailing on this coast is weather-called the day before or the morning of. Hold the plan loosely: the crew's cancellation is a favor, and the day pages are built so Thursday's structure trades cleanly with Monday or Wednesday.
When Brittany does Brittany
Late July is the driest, warmest stretch of the Breton year, and it still rains roughly one day in three — usually as a passing squall rather than a written-off day. The forecast (Météo-France app) resolves reliably about 36 hours out. Ranked plays:
| Play | Where | The move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · The long lunch | Anywhere | France's native rainy-day technology. Book somewhere from the food file at 12:30 and let it run to 15:00. If the rain lands on Tuesday, your plan literally does not change. |
| 2 · Saint-Malo intra-muros | 25 min | The walled city works wet: covered arcades, the cathedral and its Jacques Cartier tomb, bookshops, the Maison du Beurre Bordier (watch butter being paddled by hand), chocolatiers. Storm waves against the ramparts are a spectator sport — from behind glass, drink in hand. |
| 3 · La Ferme Marine | 5 min, Cancale | A working oyster farm's museum and guided tour — how the parcs below your window actually operate, ending in a tasting for Mark. Check tour times (English tours run in summer). The single best wet-weather fit for this specific household. |
| 4 · Grand Aquarium Saint-Malo | 25 min | A genuinely good aquarium with a shark ring and a submersible ride. Zero shame for two adults on a wet Wednesday. |
| 5 · Mont Saint-Michel anyway | 55 min | The abbey is indoors, the village in rain and lamplight is moodier than in sun, and the crowds halve. If Sunday looks wet, keep it. |
| 6 · Dinan under drizzle | 45 min | Half-timber, overhangs, galleries, crêperies. Drizzle yes, sideways rain no. |
| 7 · Spice & pastry crawl | In town | Épices Roellinger, Grain de Vanille, the covered corners of the port, a hot chocolate. Ninety minutes of weatherproof pleasure without the car. |
What actually gets sacrificed to rain: Cap Fréhel and the fort walk (need sky), the bisquine (crew's call), Pointe du Grouin at sunset (needs a sunset). Everything else in your week bends rather than breaks.
The fine print, kept short
Driving & parking
Brittany's roads are free of tolls (a point of regional pride); you'll pay tolls only on the A11 from Paris on day one, ~€25–30. Speed cameras are ubiquitous and humorless — 80/90 on departmental roads, 110/130 on highways. Roundabouts: priority to whoever is already in the circle. An International Driving Permit (AAA, ~$20, same-day) is on your workbook list already; carry it with the Illinois license.
Cancale center — Sunday market parking is a contact sport after 10:00; arrive before then or park uphill and walk down. La Houle port — quay lots are paid in season; evenings are easier. Port Mer — free lot above the beach. Mont Saint-Michel — reserve P at La Caserne online in advance; keep the plate number handy. Saint-Malo — evenings, use the surface lots by Porte Saint-Vincent; daytime, the Paul Féval P+R with free shuttle. Dinan — Place du Guesclin or the Fosses lots. Fort La Latte — free lot 600 m from the gate.
Reading the tide table like a local
Two highs and two lows daily, shifting about 50 minutes later each day. The coefficient (20–120) is the size of the swing: above 90 the bay empties and refills theatrically; below 45 the sea barely leaves. Your week starts at C91 and slides to C35 — begin big, end calm, which is exactly the order your plan uses it in. The tides here are Europe's largest, up to 14 meters of range. Times in this dossier are Saint-Malo reference; the Mont runs about five minutes later. Never walk out onto the bay flats without a certified guide — the sand is quick and the flood famously "comes in at the speed of a galloping horse" (really about 6 km/h, which is still faster than you in mud).
Late July, honestly
Expect 17–24°C days, 13–15°C nights, sea at 17–18°C, and weather that changes its mind hourly. Pack in layers: t-shirts to light sweater, one windproof shell each (the cliff walks demand it), one warm layer for the Mont's night terraces, sunscreen (the sea light burns politely), and shoes that grip wet cobbles. Sunset hovers at 22:00 all week — dinners at 20:30 end in daylight, and "evening" here is a three-hour golden event.
Rachel's dining rules, one paragraph
The French system is friendlier to this than its reputation: say je suis enceinte and kitchens adjust without ceremony. Green light: anything cooked through, galettes, hard and pasteurized cheeses, all pastry, mussels and fish and gratinéed oysters hot from the fire. Red light: raw shellfish, tartares and carpaccios, raw-milk soft cheeses (ask: c'est au lait cru ?), unpasteurized juices, and obviously the cider and wine — where jus de pomme fermier and the gastronomic juice pairings stand in with actual dignity. Her OB's guidance outranks every sentence above.
Money & contact habits
Cards work everywhere except some market stalls and the oyster ladies — carry €60–80 in small cash for the week. Tipping: service is included; rounding up or leaving a few euros for great service is generous, not expected. Restaurant bookings in France are phone-first; July tables genuinely fill, and a same-morning call ("une table pour deux ce soir, vers 20 h ?") solves most evenings. WhatsApp is how Mathilde & Nabil, and most small operators, prefer to talk.
Paris before, Nantes after
The Brittany week sits inside a larger machine: Rachel's solo Paris night, the CDG rendezvous, and the Corsica handoff with its Orly-to-CDG transfer on the way home. Here is each joint, tightened.
Friday 17 July — Rachel's Paris night
She lands at CDG from Edinburgh at 09:55 with a free Paris day and an early-ish Saturday call. The play: take the RER B or a taxi into the city, stay somewhere central on the RER B spine so Saturday morning is one train with no transfers — the Marais/République side, or around Châtelet, keeps her near food and evening strolls. Book a hotel now (mid-July Paris fills); the workbook lists this as open. Saturday she rides the RER B back out (about 35–45 minutes from Châtelet or Gare du Nord, trains from ~05:00, ~€12) to meet Mark, who lands at 09:20 — aim to be at his terminal by 10:00, which means a leisurely 08:45 departure, not a dawn one.
A first-trimester-friendly Paris evening: golden hour on the Seine islands, dinner somewhere unfussy near the hotel, gelato as a course of its own, in bed by 22:30 for the week ahead. The Louvre's Friday night hours exist if energy is real; no obligation does.
Friday 24 July — Nantes airport night
Covered in the Friday day page: drop the car at NTE by late afternoon, sleep at the Oceania Nantes Aéroport opposite the terminal (or ibis budget to save ~€80), weigh the Volotea bags the night before, terminal by 05:45 for the 07:35 to Calvi. Volotea lands you in Corsica at 09:05; the friends take it from there, and this dossier respectfully stops planning.
Monday 27 July — the Orly-to-CDG transfer
Air France from Calvi lands at Orly at 12:05; United to Chicago leaves CDG at 17:00. That's a 4 h 55 window for a cross-city airport transfer — comfortable, not lavish, since you'll want to be at CDG check-in by about 14:30 for an international departure.
Recommended: pre-booked car or taxi, ~€80–100, 60–75 minutes door to door. With checked bags, a pregnant traveler, and a hard deadline, this is the correct spend. Book a fixed pickup (G7 or a private transfer) for 12:45 at Orly arrivals; you'll be at CDG before 14:15 with slack to spare.
Rail alternative, ~€27 total, ~90 minutes: Métro Line 14 from Orly direct to Châtelet, then RER B to CDG. Note for the workbook: this replaces the old Orlyval routing listed there — Line 14 now runs straight into the Orly terminals and is the modern rail answer. It works fine if the flight lands early and the bags are kind; it's just not what I'd choose for this particular Monday.
Confirm whether the Calvi–Orly bags can be through-checked (they can't — separate tickets, separate airlines), so plan to collect and re-check at CDG. That's why the taxi wins: it turns a luggage relay into a car ride.
Every flight, two columns
Rachel starts from Edinburgh, Mark from Chicago, and the two of you are on the same flights from Nantes onward. All times are local to each airport, which is why the transatlantic leg looks short on the clock.
EDI Edinburgh · ORD Chicago O’Hare · CDG Paris Charles de Gaulle · NTE Nantes · CLY Calvi · ORY Paris Orly · IAD Washington Dulles
Mark’s UA987 booking reference is not in the workbook yet. The Orly-to-CDG transfer on July 27 is not booked; a pre-arranged car for about 12:45 at Orly arrivals covers the airport change with room to spare.
The to-do, sequenced
Everything actionable in this dossier plus the open items already in your workbook, ordered by urgency. Do the first block this week; July inventory is finite.
Book now — this week
- One-way rental car, CDG → NTE, Jul 18–24Gates everythingConfirm the one-way drop fee in writing; automatic transmission if you want one (they're scarcer); add the second driver.
- Nocturnes tickets — Sunday 19 JulySells out"Colorama," via the official abbey ticketing (~€19 each, non-refundable). Same session: reserve La Caserne parking online for the evening.
- La Cancalaise half-day sail — Thursday 23 JulySmall boat, Julylacancalaise.org → reservations; take whatever slot they publish for your week and flex the day plan around it. €45–78 pp.
- La Table Breizh Café — Thursday 23 July, ~20:301 star, tiny roomConfirm Thursday service; mention the pregnancy so the kitchen plans the menu adaptation in advance.
- Nantes airport hotel — Friday 24 JulyOceania Nantes Aéroport (walk to terminal) or ibis budget. One night, early checkout.
- Rachel's Paris hotel — Friday 17 JulyCentral, on or near the RER B spine (Châtelet / Marais / République side) for the one-seat Saturday ride to CDG.
- Message Mathilde & NabilConfirm the early Friday-24 departure (formal checkout is the 25th), key handback, and — while you have them — ask for their restaurant list.
- ORY → CDG transfer — Monday 27 JulyPre-book a fixed car/taxi for 12:45 at Orly arrivals (~€80–100). Update the workbook: Line 14 has replaced the old Orlyval rail routing as the backup.
Before you fly — week of 13 July
- Call Le CoquillageReconfirm Tuesday 12:30, flag the pregnancy, request the non-alcoholic pairing. Ask about attire if in doubt (collared shirt / no sneakers is safe).
- Dinner bookings: Saturday, Sunday, WednesdaySat: Breizh Café or Le Querrien, Cancale. Sun: Auberge Saint-Pierre or La Vieille Auberge on the Mont, ~19:30. Wed: Bistro Autour du Beurre or Le Cambusier, Saint-Malo, ~20:30.
- International Driving PermitsAAA branch, ~$20 each, bring passport photos. Already on your workbook — this is the nudge.
- Travel insuranceWorkbook open item. Given the pregnancy, check the medical-coverage terms specifically, and that France + Corsica are both covered.
- Volotea baggage checkConfirm what the Calvi tickets include; buy allowance online now if needed (airport rates are punitive).
- Phone plan / eSIMWhatever covers France data works for maps, tide apps (download "marée Saint-Malo" or the SHOM app), and WhatsApp to hosts.
Decisions parked, deliberately
- Dream upgrades — decide by ~10 JulyPrivatized sail inquiry, Chausey full-day swap, day-abbey add-on for Sunday. See 03 · Dream vs. realistic.
- Friday route: Rochefort-en-Terre vs. Josselin vs. directNo booking required; decide over Thursday's dinner based on remaining energy.
- Monday dinner: Dinan or homeSame-day call. Both answers are right.