The second part of the ‘lighthouse tour’ part of our Breton roadtrip saw us heading inland from Brittany’s west coast through the beautiful town of Locronan before visiting the  pictureque lighthouses at Petit Minou and Pointe Saint-Matthieu. It was a very long day and involved many hours, kilometers and weather conditions.

    

After breakfast that included a homemade far breton, our generous bnb hostess Isabelle  encouraged us to pick some apples from her numerous trees and also gave us a box of marrows and tomatoes for which our bread-and-brie saturated bodies were eternally grateful.

  

I’d put a lot of planning into this trip, our destinations and their distances from one another…but i took Google Maps a little too literally at their word, and aside from grossly under-estimating the time it would take us to drive any and everywhere I also misunderstood the accessibility of the points and lighthouses. In my mind the road always led straight to the lighthouse on the cliff…not the case! Virtually every time it was like a 3km hike to get to the lookout point/lighthouse. Because of this and the fact that we were pressed for time we saw most of the points from a distance. First up was the picturesque Phare du Millier.

  

I can’t remember where I’d read about the Allée couverte de Lesconil but I’m so glad that it found its way onto our itinerary. An ancient stone burial chamber, it was equal parts interesting and eerie and was a special place to visit.

  

  

  

Back on the coast we stopped in at Douarnenez. From the getgo the roads confounded me, and it was a bit challenging finding parking (as we were limiting ourselves to free and unreserved spaces) but walking around was fine enough. It wasn’t my favourite location (again I was reminded of SA’s west coast, this time of Saldanha…) but the hell our GPS and the traffic circles put us through when we tried to leave cemented it in my memory as a trip lowlight. It was a nightmare of one way roads and dead ends and at one point I got  genuinely worried that we’d never leave.  We did though, obviously, but it was touch and go…

  

  

  

Locronan was stunning. One of the smaller villages we visited it featured a large parking area at the entrance and a nominal entrance fee. The narrow streets were busy but devoid of cars (apart from a few belonging to residents) giving the place a very different feel from anywhere we’d been before…almost like an open-air museum. The church also felt much smaller inside than it appeared from the outside.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

We covered a lot of ground from Locronan, driving flat out through Brest (that was stressful – we crossed a huge bridge and at one point were being chased by a tram) and on to the lighthouse of Petit Minou.

Everyone warned us about the notorious Breton weather (read: the rain) and by the time we reached the lighthouse it was grey and blustry. I was quite happy as it meant I could wear my delightful new rain coat, but the wind especially made walking around the point rather unpleasant and we didn’t stay long.

  

Another planning oversight came when we set our next destination to be the Chapelle Saint-Sébastien, a ruin of an old church nearby. I can’t remember where I’d seen it referenced and haven’t been able to find mention of it again, because unfortunately St. Seb has lent his name to a number of chapelles and the one we wound up in in Locmaria-Plouzané was very much not a ruin – in fact it was filled with canvases and old ladies putting the final touches on some kind of art exhibition.

By this time the rain was bucketing down and when my mom and I walked bedraggled and dripping into the church all we could do was greet the old biddies in mild confusion. After a cursory look around we swam back to the car and continued on.

The parking lot at Pointe Saint-Matthieu was surprisingly busy given the rain and the lack of visible people but we found a spot next to a large puddle (cautiously avoided) and braved the weather to check out the lighthouse, or rather lighthouses.

The old ruins were beautiful and the the three different lighthouses were really cool. Again though the weather unfortunately cut our explorations short.

  

  

  

  

  

The day had been long and by the time we realised that the lighthouse at Kermorvan was several kms from the parking area we drove out and headed to search for our overnight accommodation, a well-appointed yurt in Lampaul-Plourazel. Getting there proved to be confusing but we ultimately succeeded and enjoyed Isabelle’s vegetables for supper.

  

– – –

BZH 2017: Intro  |  Pt 1  |  Pt 2  |  Pt 3  |  Pt 4  |  Paimpol 2017 – Festival du Chant de Marin 
Pt 5  |  Pt 6  |  Pt 7  |  Pt 8  |  Pt 9 |  Pt 10  | Pt 11  |  Pt 12  |  Saint-Malo: La Route du Rock Festival
Pt 13  |  Pt 14  |  Pt 15  |  pt 16  |  Pt 17  |  Pt 18

If you travel and you don’t use Booking.com you really should it’s the best! I’m not 100% sure how the referral codes work but try mine if you haven’t used one before for a discount after your first trip: https://www.booking.com/s/35_6/rattsi32