The walled city of St Malo on the English Channel coast of Brittany had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Allies heavily bombed Saint-Malo. After the war, the city changed into a popular tourist centre, with a ferry terminal serving the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, as well as Southern England.

I arrived late on Monday the 19th after approx 35 travel hours: 3 planes, 2 trains and a taxi at the beautiful Hotel des Arbers for a couple of days before the tour started.

narrow cobbled streets with lots of tourist shops and cafes

The wall around the city is about a 4km walk and very beautiful. I managed to FaceTime my daughter and took her on a tour… communications have changed so much in the last 25 years!

The tides are particularly renowned in the bays of Saint-Malo and Mont-Saint-Michel, where the difference between high and low tide can be over 14 metres (the equivalent of a four-storey building). On a scale of 20 to 120, the tidal coefficients here regularly reach 110.

The guard dogs of Saint Malo

The story goes that sometime in the distant past, the city began using dogs to enforce a curfew within the city walls at night – presumably to discourage potential attackers and looters.

Some sources say the practice started in the 1600s while others suggest it was sometime in the early 1300s during the Crusades. Regardless, the powers-that-be decided it was a novel way to protect the city at night.

Every evening the bell tower of the cathedral would ring at 10 pm as an alarm to warn the residents that 20-some English mastiffs were about to be released from their kennels.

These were not warm and fuzzy animals.

They had been unfed during the day and so were quite vicious as they roamed the streets at night. In the morning, the animals would be called back to the kennel by the sounding of a horn – which likely signalled they were about to be fed.

Hence the motto of the city became “Cave Canem” which translated from Latin to mean “Beware the Dog”.

Incredibly, this practice continued until 1772 when the dogs attacked and killed a young navel officer who had been out late. The story is that he had been visiting his fiancée and lost track of time.

After this incident, the city decided to discontinue the use of guard dogs and each of the dogs was then poisoned … a rather insulting ‘reward’ for years of loyal service.

What hasn’t changed however is the evening practice of ringing the curfew bells at 10 pm – although without the risk of canine terror.

Thank you to Joanne Sisco for this story https://mylifelivedfull.wordpress.com/2019/05/20/dogs-of-saint-malo/.