GREAT DESTINATIONS ❘ BRITTANY’S COAST


From top: The coastal path at the scenic Baie de Quiberon; Le Faou is desginated a Petite Cité de Caractère; the handsome Château de Suscinio


and rias push their way inland, creating idyllic panoramas when in full flow and leaving a landscape of muddy sludge as the tide ebbs. The next extensive stretch of coast road was at Guidel-Plage, where I passed one surf beach and sand dune after another before returning inland to skirt Lorient. Crossing over the Pont Lorois at Étel for a mooch around its beautiful ria and passing the Alignements de Kerzerho (the size of whose megalithic stones dwarf the nearby and more famous Alignements de Carnac), I picked up the coast again at Plouharnel. Here both road and GR34 align to cross the isthmus to the Presqu’île de Quiberon.


WONDERFUL AND WILD Its west coast, the Côte Sauvage, lives up to its name: wild and savage, it is battered by waves, frothing and foaming against the granite, even in fair weather. No Swimming, the signs said. Little wonder when the unforgiving sea drubs everything in its path.


While the Côte Sauvage braved the Atlantic, on the opposite side of the presqu’île, the Baie de Quiberon appeared like sheet glass. Beyond, the narrow entrance to the Golfe du Morbihan


“THE CÔTE SAUVAGE IS BATTERED BY WAVES, FROTHING AND FOAMING AGAINST THE GRANITE, EVEN IN FAIR WEATHER”


cocoons an archipelago of small islands, the largest of which are the Île-aux-Moines and Île-d’Arz. Neither island is included on the GR34, though each offers a coastal walk. I caught a morning ferry from Port Blanc for the five-minute crossing to Île-aux-Moines; circumnavigating the island on foot took four hours, by which time the numerous cafés and restaurants in the cosy town above the harbour had opened for lunch. The Sentier des Douaniers continues to wiggle around the coastline of Brittany before tripping over into the Pays de la Loire for its final leg, concluding at the Pont de Saint- Nazaire. I, however, finished my journey before the regional boundary with a final walk at the Pointe de Penvins, one of the last headlands along the coast, in the southeast of the Rhuys Peninsula. To the west, the Anse de Suscinio offered a long promenade from the remarkable Château de Suscinio; to the east were the sandbanks of the no less remarkable Penerf ria and Penerf Peninsula. As I stood looking out over the point, the red sails of sinagots – Brittany’s traditional south coast sailing boat – drifted by in the bay. From the flower-strewn rocks and cliffs to the maritime hues of the sea and the boats that sail on it, Brittany’s coast has many colours. FT


38 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Feb/Mar 2023


IMAGES © CAROLINE MILLS, MARC SCHAFFNER / MORBIHAN TOURISME, ALEXANDRE LAMOUREUX


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148