Island Life

We finally managed to drag ourselves away from our beachside paradise on the Emerald coast and headed further west in Brittany. Our first stop was Treguier where we stayed in a lovely free Aire alongside a tidal estuary. The tidal range in this part of France is huge and at low tide there is virtually no water near the shore.

Treguier is one of the Petite Cités de Caractère and has a handful of pretty medieval streets and an impressive cathedral. Definitely worth a brief stop-over.

Next up was another small town about a 30 minute drive away called Trevou-Treguignec which has a sizeable beach and a pretty harbour but very little else to do other than enjoy the scenery.

It is quite hilly along the coast so rather than walk we took the opportunity to get on our bikes and cycle to a couple of viewpoints.  I had a good workout as it was even more hilly than expected but it was definitely worth it and we were rewarded with lovely views of the Pink Granite Coast.  Although it seems to me that the pink granite is more grey granite depending on the light.

Yet another 30km down the coast we found ourselves at Ile Grande. Technically an island but connected to the mainland by a very small bridge.

The island is only 7.5km around so I decided to walk the whole way round. There are definitely two sides to the island with the seaward side being fairly wild and the landward side much more sedate.

There are some beautiful beaches but unfortunately the weather wasn’t fantastic while we were there so we didn’t feel like taking advantage and only stayed one night before heading to our next destination, Roscoff.

Roscoff is the furthest west of the ferry ports to the UK and is also the jumping off point to Ile de Batz, a 15 minute ferry ride from the harbour.  

We decided to head across with our bikes and explore the island.  You can hire bikes on the island but it works out about the same in cost and we had to cycle from the Aire to the port anyway.  We left Roscoff in jumpers and rain jackets with black clouds overhead and arrived at the Ile de Batz in clear blue skies, it was as if we had crossed over to a different country.  The island is known for its mild climate but we hadn’t expected the difference to be so stark as we looked across at Roscoff to see the dark sky still looming overhead.

Leaving the island harbour we headed out along the main street past the church, café and houses that overlook a beautiful sandy beach and a much smaller harbour, and headed inland, coming across a big lighthouse before heading onto the seaward coast with its wild beaches.

We ended up at the far end of the island to visit the popular George Delaselle exotic gardens which are right next to another lovely beach and, more importantly for us as we were pretty hot and thirsty by this point, a café with a sun deck outside, perfect for a break and a cheeky beer. 

The garden itself which was first established in 1897 is divided into zones showcasing over 2,500 different plants mostly from countries in the southern hemisphere which are better suited to the warm microclimate on the island.  

After enjoying meandering around the various gardens we headed back to the port for the ferry back to Roscoff. Had we known the weather would have been so good we would have taken our swimsuits and books and enjoyed some downtime on one of the beautiful beaches.  A note to self for another time perhaps.

We had been on the move every day for a week so decided that we would hole up for a couple of nights at our next stop for a break. With this in mind we drove to a lovely little town called La Faou where we knew there was a grassy Aire next to an estuary.  Perfect for a chill couple of nights.

Like other estuaries we have seen in the area, this one also had a huge range, filling to the brim at high tide and then almost completely emptying at low tide, giving us an ever-changing view from the camper. The village itself is very pretty with plenty of eateries to choose from lining the main square and of course another spectacular church which we have become accustomed to travelling through France.