Starting our walk at the Troezel Bian Manoir Hotel
“Bon Jour.” is the polite greeting we get as we pass the occasional dog walker or hiker on the Granite Coast of Brittany. The Bretons have a way of singing it out almost melodically. Whether it’s morning or afternoon we say our “bon jours” back. There is something satisfying about this tiny exchange. It feeds our excitement of walking in a new place and a reminder that we are in France now.
I walk along the sandy path with the chaos of granite boulders at the edge of the Atlantic on one side, and the native grasses on the other. It is spring in Brittany and the yellow gorse and purple heather are in bloom. There are clumps of wildflowers everywhere, many I have not seen before. When we pass Breton houses, many of which are still closed up for winter, I admire the gardens spilling over with a profusion of flowering shrubs. All is quiet and there is no one around to admire this spring blossoming. Most of the two-story bungalows along the coast are solid granite with much stone trim so they look like they could stand for centuries. Some are small but the larger summer homes are poised perfectly to catch the entire view of the expansive Granite coastline. Sometimes the houses and villages we pass through look familiar. They remind me of the Devon and Cornwall coastline which I walked years ago when I visited England. Brittany has strong Celtic roots unlike the rest of France and thus the similarity to parts of southwest England.
The air smells fishy and damp as I breathe in the ocean. Living inland, as we do in Asheville, I must store up the sea air while I am here. Everything is neat and clean except for piles of seaweed on the beaches and small fishing boats lying on their sides seemingly neglected…except they aren’t. The tide is out and the boats will come to life when the tides change. There is no litter on the path and we encounter very few walkers, none whom are English speaking. There are no commercial signs. Most of the coastline is pristine and any disarray is caused by the natural flow of the tides and the winds that blow up from across the Atlantic Ocean.
I follow Art when we are on the narrow coastal path as he carries the Inntravel walking notes and likes to navigate. I go slower to take a longer look around from the pink granite stones at my feet to unusual wild flowers and an occasional sea bird. The walking notes tell us to follow the G.R. (Grande Randonee)-34 which are part of the nation-wide network of hiking trails. The route is sign-posted with red and white flashes that appear on electric poles or sometimes on rocks. You have to look carefully for them. For the next six days we will be looking for the GR-34 flashes as we walk some parts of the coastline. I feel reassured each time I see a marker knowing we are still on course. I think of the map of Brittany that we’ve studied at home for weeks and remind myself that I am walking on the northwest coast of France. As I glance out towards the water it seems I should be able to see England in the distance….but of course, it is just a little too far away to be within eyesight.
Flashers for the GR 34
Walking through the granite boulders
The coastal path is flat with only minor ascents and descents. It is not like walking the Costa Brava as we did several years ago. There, we climbed high above the ocean while waves crashed dramatically against the straight stone cliffs. In Brittany we can step off the path and onto the rocky sandy beaches that extend a long way out before meeting the shoreline.
Our six-day Inntravel Brittany walk has been along only a small portion of a coastline that extends for 1760 miles. There are those who do much more such as the solo French hiker we ran into along the way. He carried a backpack and small tent and was walking a good portion of the GR34. He was helpful in broken English understanding my rusty French when we got turned around at the start of our walk from the Maison du Littoral near le Gouffre. We saw him two days later on the same route we were following.
The 7 to 10 mile per day walks took us towards and sometimes away from the coast. We walked along the edge of endless green artichoke fields and in and around small farms. Occasionally we came across fields of purple artichokes. Farms looked prosperous and the small medieval villages we hiked through quiet and tidy. I loved the Breton farm houses with the blue painted shutters and front doors and windows covered with white handmade lace curtains. Every house has a garden and because of the temperate climate flowers grow all year round. We saw few people along the way. Luckily an elderly man was working in his garden as we passed by at a point where our written directions seemed unclear.
“Nous cherchons le ferme Pen ar Hoat,” I bravely said to him.
He replied, “Continuez tout droit sur cette piste et vous la verrez a droite.”
Artichoke fields
We arrived in “farm country” at our first hotel, the seventeenth century Troezel Bian Manor house. Owned and operated by Armelle along with her 70-year old British partner Tony, we had one of four renovated guest rooms in this old manor house. Armelle lead us up two flights of centuries- old granite steps to our second floor room under the eaves. Views out the picture window were of the lush green expanse of land now mowed and landscaped. It was easy to imagine farm animals, horses, chickens, and farm hands roaming around haphazardly in the courtyard of theTroezel Bian three hundred or more years ago. In the evening we were served three course gourmet meals cooked by “Chef” Tony himself.
Climbing the ancient granite steps
Troezel Bian Manor House
Manicured view from our window
Breakfast at the Troezel Bian
The Brittany walk took us from the simple flat coastal path and the rural landscape of farms to the medieval larger town of Treguier situated on the River Tanguy estuary. From our hotel room at the more ordinary Aigue Marine, we had a view of the moored sailboats and yachts waiting for the tides to come in. Imagine our surprise as we hiked up a steep hill on a cobblestone streets to the center of Treguier to find many Tudor style buildings as if we had just come upon Stratford on Avon in Shakespeare’s time. Centered by a massive cathedral with one of the finest cloisters in France, Terguier was a complete surprise but a reminder again of the British medieval influence in this part of northern France.
Treguier - like something out of an Elizabethan set
Our other surprise was to find ourselves dining at a Michelin star French restaurant which is part of the Aigue Marine Hotel. Not being real foodies we had not realized we would be eating some of the finest cuisine in France on our Granite Coast holiday in what turned out to be, more than one Michelin star restaurant.
After each meal one of us would say “How will we ever be able to go home to ordinary food after having eaten a meal like this?” Not only was every course a work of art in its presentation but it was to be savored slowly for flavor. Small portions, artistic presentation, and making each meal an occasion are the takeaways I will remember from French dining culture. We Americans who rush through meals to keep going could slow down and learn much from the French.
White asparagus and fish
A work of art appetizer
A three-night stay at Le Manoir du Sphinx hotel in Perros-Guerric perched on a high cliff just outside the town was an entirely different experience. Our second floor corner room literally hung over the ocean and the floor-to-ceiling windows faced the panoramic view of the Atlantic Ocean. From 6 a.m. sunrises to spectacular sunsets after 9:30 p.m. at night we were drawn to the ocean views unlike anywhere else we had been except perhaps our Dubai apartment overlooking the Arabian Sea. We even caught a photo of a rainbow after a short rain storm blew up and then quickly dissipated one evening.
Our walking notes gave us options for varied hikes each day. In Treguier, we were driven by taxi to a point nearly 12 miles away with walking instructions to make our way back to the hotel. This was mostly GR-34 hiking and almost all along the coastline where we found ourselves skirting farm fields as well as private homes and in some places wooded areas shading our coastal path. Walking the Brittany coast you never forget that you are on historic ground. There are monuments along the way in the most seemingly quiet out-of-the- way places honoring French resistance volunteers and soldiers from the area who died in the World Wars. Sometimes we’d come across ancient ruins of an old church or a house dating back centuries to medieval times.
Honoring French resistance fighters in pink granite
One of the most spectacular walks was the site of pink granite formations along the coast which are a geologist’s dream. This area was taken over by the Coastal Conservancy in 1996 for preservation as this is one of the most visited parts of the Brittany coast. We walked along the coastguards’ path – in memory of the coastguards who were watching out for English invaders and smugglers. There are many rocks in strange shapes that have been given names such as the trembling rock, the skull, the foot, the bottle, the mushroom, Napolean’s hat, the pile of pancakes, and many more. The flowers of yellow gorse or broom and the purple heather enliven the landscape. This heath was once farmed for ferns and gorse and heather. The coastal path leads out to the Men Ruz lighthouse (red stone in Breton). It was built after the Germans destroyed the first one and is a working lighthouse protecting ships from the rocky coast.
The Pink Granite Coast
The bottle
Yellow gorse
During our 3-day stay in Perros- Guerric we inquired about the boat trip to Sept-Iles to see the nesting birds. Each day we were told the seas were too rough to go. But on our last morning we heard the boats were going despite the rainy weather. Evidently the seas had calmed. Instead of the recommended Inntravel hike for that day, we walked several miles along the road and downhill to the wide and sandy Trestraou beach where the boats depart from the Marine Center. The boat trip from island to island to see this bird sanctuary, a protected area for more than 100 years, was not to be missed as our “notes” told us. This is France’s largest seabird sanctuary. The boat got close to the island where we saw thousands of nesting Gannets who come here between January and September. We were hoping to see the Atlantic Puffins and caught a glimpse of a few. The boat then pulled up to another island that is home to a colony of about 20 gray seals which we could see with binoculars and caught a few photos of as they lazed on top of big granite boulders. Seals are lazy creatures and wait till the tide rises so they can slip into the water to catch some food before going back to their reclining positions.
Gannets
Lazy gray seals
As we dined at our table surrounded by windows overlooking the sea on our last night at the Manoir Sphinx , Art and I made a toast to celebrate our fifth successful Inntravel walking experience – this one totally different than any of the others. We slowly savored our final three-course dinner as we prepared to leave early the next morning by train. We would be going on to Dinan and eventually to Paris on our own.
Dining at the Hotel Manor Sphinx
The Inntravel slogan is “The Slow Holiday People”…and that is us. What a joy it has been to take a break from the fast-paced world to be right where we’ve just been…ambling along the coast of Brittany at our own tempo.
The coast of Brittany, France
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