[FR] Tour de Bretagne (with pics)

[k-c-p]

Bonjour,

this years vacation was a little "Tour de Bretagne". I travelled around the Northwest of France by rail and (mostly) bus. The main purpose of the holiday was to do a lot of hiking mostly along the "Sentier de grande randonnée 34" which is hiking trail that runs along the Brittany coast from Saint Nazaire to Mont Saint Michel. The trail plus various islands offered a lot of great scenery and nature to enjoy and relax. On top, a bit of rail stuff came my way too.

Vannes

My first stop was in Vannes. The islands in the Golfe Du Morbihan are perfect for hiking. Combine this with blue sky and sunshine and let the relaxation begin. Just enjoy the Ile d'Arz

The centre of Vannes has a lot of nice timber framed houses

The remains of the city wall (Remparts de Vannes) and the Jardin des Remparts

As it is customary for most major French cities: Vannes has a cathedral

Quiberon

I hopped on a TER train to Auray and then onto a bus to the Prequ'ile de Quiberon

TERs at dawn

and very colourful on the inside

In the summer the "Tire de Bouchon" (cork screw) train runs between Auray and Quiberon and shuttles tourists back and forth. Auray station at dawn

I was a week too late: train service ended the weekend before, so I had to take the bus. When you look at the tracks it is hard to imagine, that the route is still in service

Kerhostin station

Quiberon station

The newest thing I saw along the tracks

I took the bus to downtown Quiberon and then hiked along the "Cote Sauvage". The scenery was quite different from the Ile d'Arz the day before

I would not mind owning that as a weekend and summer retreat

Reminded me of the children's song: There's a hole in the rock dear Liza

Regional bus service across the four Departments (Counties) of Brittany are run under the label "Breizhgo" ("Breizh" is Brittany in Breton). The website https://www.breizhgo.bzh was helpful when planning my day trips. It offers route network maps, schedules as pdfs and a trip planner.

Reading the schedules requires a bit of training, because there is lot of fine print to take into account: school periods vs. vacation, route diversion due to market etc. Oftentimes, especially in rural areas, bus service on Wednesday is different as there are no or less classes in the afternoon. Schedules in pdf or paper form may not include all stops. Within a town there might be more stops than listed on the schedule. The trip planer knows all stops.

It is advisable to be at the bus stop at least 5 minutes prior to departure, if you to not want to run the risk of just seeing the rear lights of your bus (sometimes this is also stated on the schedule). At starting points buses tended to leave very much on time and sometimes a minute or so early. And: Do not forget to make a sign the driver, otherwise he might just pass by. There can be a thousand reasons why somebody is standing at the curbside at a bus stop wearing a mask .

On most of its bus routes Breizhgo charges a flat fare of 2,50€. Tickets can be bought onboard.

Pontivy

A lot of Breizhgo bus routes mirror old rail lines like the rout from Vannes via Pontivy to Saint Brieuc. I took the bus to Pontivy to visit the "Napoléon Express" heritage railway. The bus stop in Pontivy is still called "Gare SNCF" eventhough passenger service has seized decades ago. The station building was quite nice.

A Breizhgo bus

Unfortunately, I could not ride the train because all runs were sold out, when I arrived . But at least I got to look at the trains (and hear them).

Train on the bridge across the Blavet river

Carnac

A must-see for tourist in the area: "Obelix open air warehouse" in Carnac .

Thanks all for today. More to come, if you like

Adieu
Charly

 

[Puppetfinger]

Thank you Charly, it is a truly stunning area, and I do have a sweet spot for Morbihan.

 

[Kez]

Great report and look forward to more.

We've never returned to Brittany since a nightmare holiday in 2003 (?) when it lashed it down with rain constantly for 2 weeks in July ; even a friend from Rennes said that it was unusual. Unfortunately, the idyllic farmhouse we stayed in was cold and miserable in that weather. Added to that, got a pig of a cold and lost my voice for half the holiday ... as did the rest of the family.

 

[k-c-p]

Bonjour,

welcome to part two of my "Tour de Bretagne". The next stop was Quimper.

Quimper

My hotel was directly opposite of the station

TGV in the early morning. I like the design of the Atlantic TGV sets

A TER from Brest on the final stretch to its last stop at Quimper. I used such a train a few days later to get to Brest. The catenary towards Brest ends just outside Quimper. Therefore, Bi-mode trains are used that run on Diesel from Quimper to Landerneau and then switch to Electric for the last miles to Brest.

Quimper has a cathedral (of course ) and many little bridges. A lot of the bridges were decorated with flowers

Concarneau

By bus I went to Concarneau. It had a rail connection once. Passenger service ended in 1959, freight continued until the 1990s. Until 2016 the station had a SNCF ticket counter, now its just depressing to look at it

The must-see in Concarneau: "Ville Close". A pretty massive thing.

You can walk on the city wall and enjoy the view.

The clock tower at low and high(er) tide

From a distance this looked like an assembly hall or something. It turned out, that it is a church: Nouvelle église Saint Guénolé. Unfortunately, it was locked. I would have liked to take a peak inside as well.

Douarnenez

Douarnenez is a good staring point for hikes along the North coast of the Sizun peninsula

The bridges across the bay and the harbour. The old ships are part of the harbour museum

In the past the town had a rail connection too. The clock of the station building serves as a memorial. The bus stop was called "Ancienne Gare" (old station).

The impresse role that rail played in the past gets pretty obvious, when you walk through a town and come across a "rue de la gare" (station road) but there are no tracks anywhere.

Brest

Next, I moved to Brest. The last time I was there, the funicular was still under construction. This time, I could ride it.

The interiour is pretty down-to-earth

"Portholes" allow a view below

The funicular offers a way to cross to the other side, when the "Pont de Recouvrance" opens for marine traffic.

As the tram runs across the bridge as well, the tram line is split into two segments during the bridge opening

Brest station from the 1930s in Art déco style

TGV and TER trainsets wait for their next runs.

TGV on the beach

From Brest I walk to Saint Mathieu and Le Conquet. As this hike was about 30km I split it into two. The trail curled up and down the coast

and the secenary was just amazing

The little black dots are surfers. It seemed that they had a lot of fun down there

I would not mind owning this nice house in the middle of nowhere

One of the gazillion light house I saw: The Phare du Petit Minou

In Saint Mathieu: light house, remains of and old monastery and a modern tower that surveils marine traffic

When I saw this in Le Conquet I had to smile: I know laundromat, but a washer and dryer in the curbside of a parking lot was something new for me.

If you take the coastal path from Brest in the opposite direction, I passes across the bridge "Pont Albert Louppe"

which offers a new view and the impressive "Pont de l'Iroise" close by

The crosswind warning was not such a bad thing: There was much of a breeze up on the bridge

I took the bus back to Brest. The schedule had a notice, that strong wind may impact the bus service.

From Brest the tour continued on the Northern coast. But this is a story for another day .

I hope you liked it so far.

Adieu
Charly

 

[k-c-p]

Bonjour,

welcome to the third and last instalment of the "Tour de Bretagne".

Roscoff

From Brest I went to Roscoff on the Northern coast. The Breizgho system maps show a TER line from Morlaix to Roscoff. But rail services ended in 2018 due to track issue and busses run instead. It is unclear if the tracks will be fixed and rail service ever come back. Roscoff station is in bad condition

And nature reclaims the tracks

Roscoff centre is pretty nice. The church just outside if my hotel

The region is famous for rose coloured onions. They can be found in various dishes in local restaurant sand you can by them in souvenir shops. Roscoff has ferry service to the UK and Ireland. A saw a lot of cars with UK license plates.

This bus outside the ferry terminal has see better days

From Roscoff its just a 15 minute ferry ride to the Ile de Batz. The landing stage for the ferry used at low tide

I took the "grand tour" and walked all around the island

I did not mind getting wet just a few minutes earlier, when this rainbow appeared

As the climate is relatively m,ild, both Roscoff and the Ile de Batz have nice botanical gardens

Mornig has broken in Roscoff harbour

St Pol de Leon

I walkd the few miles to St Pol de Leon. The town centre is dmoniated by the cathedral

According to the legend Saint Pol defeated a dragon on the Ile de Batz. A colourful windows depicts this

Along the way to Siant Pol I came across the closed rail line at various points

Saint Pol stattion now houses I little brewery. I managed to get theier beer in a local supermarket

Lannion

The next stop were a few days in Lannion as it is the perfect spot for discovering the "Cote Granite Rose" (ros granite coast). Lannion is the end of a branch line that joins the Paris-Brest line in Plouaret. A TER trainset waiting for its next service

Lannion has a TGV to connection. Outside tourist season their is one round trip per week (from Paris on Fridays, to Paris on Sundays)

One of the ways to looks at the rose granit coast is the "sentier des douaniers" (customs path) from Perros-Guirec to Ploumanac'h. It shows the granite in all its glory and diversity. I planned to go to Perros by bus, but as the first bus did not leave until noon, I walked the 12 km. The path followed the former Lannion-Perros-Guirec rail line of the Chemins de fer des Côtes-du-Nord. And the granite was worth the walk

This wall ensures there is water in the harbour even at low tide

The church of Perros is a little bit asymetrical

The second rout to the granite from Lannion is the coastal path to Trebeurden. Pretty rare sight on the coastal path: Signs that not just show the diretions, but distances as well.

Along the way: Water and Nature

And at the end: Water and stone

Saint Brieuc

On we go to Saint Brieuc. The nice looking station and a TGV that will depart for Paris later in the day

This viaduct carries the trains across the valley of the Gouedic river

In the past, this was station. Nowerdays, it a university canteen

Notice the red light? This bike path used to be a rail line

The bay of Saint Brieuc is a great place of hiking. I did my longest tour here: 27km. After two third I found a nice little restaurant, where I had Moules Frites and wine.

Some beaches were closed due to green algy

In the back a little church and in the front the Guessant river

The last few miles of the walk were along its borders. The tour ended at the Viaduc du Ponts Neufs. In the old days, trains ran across it, niow its part of a hiking path

Nice little distraction along the way: The Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Saint-Brieuc

 

[k-c-p]

Saint Malo

The last stop on the tour was Saint Malo. The old town "Intra Muros" and its thick walls

My favourite sight in the morning: Orange on the wall

At low tide you can walk to some of the islands just outside the old town

A view from Saint Servan: The ferry to England and in the back Intra-Muros (the spire of the cathedral right in the middle)

As bridges might open for marine traffic, the signs can adapt

Or you just have to wait

When walking around Saint Malo you come across tracks here and there. But most do not look like they are still in use

The walking route to Dinard passes across the barrier of the tidal power station "Barrage et usine marémotrice EDF de la Rance". There is only a handful of these type of power stations in the world. This one - constructed in the 1960s - is still among the most powerful.

The cars have to wait for the ships to pass

In Dinard the path crawls along the rocks, just below the houses

Some houses were pretty nice

And finally: This is my TGV back home. It took me to Paris and short metro ride later, I was on my to Germany

This concludes my look back on three weeks in Brittany. I was lucky with the weather: It rained on three days, the rest was mostly dry and sunny (on the second day I got sunburn on my nose ). I am super relaxed back at work. The only odd thing was the first lunch in the canteen: A lunch without apertif and wine just feels wrong .

A hope you liked the report. Looking forward to your feedback.

Adieu
Charly

 

[Puppetfinger]

Cracking pictures and great report, thank you Charly, as someone who would normally make 2 or 3 trips to that area of France a year this has bought a smile to my face and happy memories. Thank you.