{"id":6415,"date":"2025-07-26T21:21:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T21:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=6415"},"modified":"2025-12-24T21:50:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T21:50:52","slug":"11-north-brittany-and-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=6415","title":{"rendered":"11. NORTH BRITTANY AND HOME."},"content":{"rendered":"

At Matignon, we are very close to the coast.\u00a0 The Emerald coast, stretching from Cancale to Cape Fr\u00e9hel, it’s so named because of the turquoise-green waters hereabouts.\u00a0 First stop, the Plage de Quatre Vaux.\u00a0 I think that means beach of the four valleys.\u00a0 I’m not sure, however there certainly were several serious ups-and-downs on the approach and departure roads.\u00a0 But never mind the name.\u00a0 The beach came with extensive free parking within two minutes walk of the sand.\u00a0 There was a nice grassy, shaded picnic area (with free loos).\u00a0 And there was a campsite 100 m up the road.\u00a0 I’m guessing this place will be jammed in a couple of weeks when the school holidays start.\u00a0 But for now there were only half a dozen cars present.\u00a0 So the beach wasn’t exactly crowded.\u00a0 Although, to be fair, French people traditionally tend to hit the beach in the late afternoons.<\/p>\n

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Just inland of the next beach we decided to get our non-golf-club-member cards out again.\u00a0 \u00a0We are ready for coffee!\u00a0 Coffee with a view!\u00a0 At Golf de Saint-Cast.\u00a0 I think if we lived near here, I would get a real membership card!\u00a0 Social, of course.\u00a0 I don’t want be looking for balls in the long grass all the time!<\/p>\n

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By the time we had finished our drinks it was lunch time!\u00a0 And people started streaming in.\u00a0 The restaurant was “complet”, but having struck a life-long friendship with the manager-cum-barman by talking to him and a couple of real club members in French for 10 minutes, we got special dispensation to have a table for two above “kitchen capacity”.\u00a0 And very good it was too, although that’s not our spot!<\/p>\n

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… but that is my goats’ cheese starter!<\/p>\n

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There’s no direct access to Pen Guen beach from here.\u00a0 A move to keep non-members at bay, no doubt!<\/p>\n

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At about two kms long, that’s a long paddle.\u00a0 I really wished we had packed the swimming togs today!<\/p>\n

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Resting at half time.<\/p>\n

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It’s all go.\u00a0 This holiday lark can be quite exhausting.\u00a0 Especially when the mercury is showing in excess of 30\u00b0C.<\/p>\n

Drosera<\/em> is the latin name for a carnivorous, insect-eating plant.\u00a0 The Honey-dew.\u00a0 It’s also the name of a restaurant in the middle of nowhere about mid-way between the sleepy villages of Fr\u00e9hel, Pl\u00e9boulle and Petit Tr\u00e9celin.\u00a0 La Drosera.\u00a0 A weird name for a rather up-market, middle-of-the-countryside resto with green credentials.\u00a0 It maintains it’s up-markedness by having two carparks (one for white vans and one for cars) and two dining areas (one for white van-men and one for the elite), but it appears to serve the same food in both.\u00a0 Because we are new to the system, we parked with the van-men, but ate with the better dressed contingent.\u00a0 Weird and wonderful – and very “green”…<\/p>\n

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(The little mossy people did have feet, I just haven’t mastered the art of collaging photos!)<\/p>\n

We are heading to the northeast tip of the Pl\u00e9venon Peninsula.\u00a0 The beaches on the east side are difficult to access and when you do, they are a bit muddy and largely given over to oyster production.\u00a0 But the whole area seems deserted.\u00a0 We need a coffee.\u00a0 How about a latte.\u00a0 We’ve seen a couple of signs saying “Latte, this way!”\u00a0 We arrive at the much vaunted coffee station to find the place overrun with visitors.\u00a0 Hundreds of them.\u00a0 Not sure where they have come from.\u00a0 Certainly not from the rural areas that we have just come through.\u00a0 It transpires we are at the Fort La Latte, Chateau de la Roche Goyon.\u00a0 So much for the coffees!<\/p>\n

This impressive castle was built in the 14th century by the Lord of Matignon, Etienne III Gou\u00ffon.\u00a0 (He probably owned the campsite on the outskirts of Matignon at which we are staying – or at least the land it now occupies!)\u00a0 The castle has had a checkered history, being attacked, defeated and re-built at least twice before being sold into private ownership in 1892.\u00a0 Restoration has taken over 20 years since the end of WW2.\u00a0 Electricity finally arrived there in 2001!<\/p>\n

On the path leading to the castle stands the menhir of La Latte (‘Doigt de Gargantua’ According to legend).<\/p>\n

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And there are more legends and make beliefs in this part of Brittany than there are in my writings!\u00a0 And that’s saying something!\u00a0 You need to know a bit about Korrigans.\u00a0 This is what I’ve discovered.<\/p>\n

In Breton folklore, a Korrigan is a fairy or dwarf-like spirit.\u00a0 The word Korrigan means, in Breton, “small-dwarf”.\u00a0 It is closely related to the Cornish word Korrik which means gnome.\u00a0 I found 16 other names for these little people.\u00a0 Oh, and by the way … the term can include sirens and mermaids!<\/p>\n

At a time when humans and Korrigans lived among each other, they were terrorised by giants.\u00a0 Humans and Korrigans joined forces and the humans lured the giants into a trap where they were destroyed by the Korrigans.\u00a0 Gargantua was one such giant who was struck down on Cape Fr\u00e9hel.\u00a0 The numerous islets that are found in the sea are believed to be pieces of his body and the menhir at Fort La Latte, his raised finger protruding from the ground.\u00a0 No one seems to know which finger!<\/p>\n

A little closer to the castle there’s a story board beside the path which tell the story of La Sir\u00e8ne de la Roche Goyon!<\/p>\n

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All the usual stuff about enchanting local seafarers and luring them to a watery grave.\u00a0 But on this occasion a local fisherman by the name of Morgans rescued a bunch of her captives.<\/p>\n

Hunted by her former hostages for many years, the mermaid\/sir\u00e8ne of La Roche Goyon was captured and condemned to remain attached to a heavy golden ring “equal to her beauty” on an island, watched over by a terrible dragon.\u00a0 You can clearly see the golden ring on her tail in the picture above.\u00a0 (I have since discovered that mermaid tail rings are popular pieces of jewelery – but normally worn on fingers not tails!)<\/p>\n

The notice also talks of licornes.\u00a0 But everyone knows these are fictional creatures.\u00a0 So we won’t follow up on that rumour!<\/p>\n

As we approached the castle, it suddenly became clear that there were going to be hundreds of steps in and around the castle.<\/p>\n

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We decided that the gently sloping path was about as much as Glenda could cope with.\u00a0 So we left the place in the capable hands of the hoards of French tourists.<\/p>\n

We are off to Cap Fr\u00e9hel.\u00a0 The northwestern tip of our peninsula.\u00a0 \u00a0It’s full and proper name is “The Grand Site of France Cap d\u2019Erquy \u2013 Cap Fr\u00e9hel\u201d.<\/p>\n

The cape with one and a half lighthouses (and too many tourists!).<\/p>\n

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(Photo by DepositPhotos.)<\/p>\n

The half lighthouse is actually the remains of the Vauban Tower dating from 1702 (or 1685\u00a0 or 1694 depending on who you believe), it was originally developed as a part of a national defence scheme alongwith 11 other such structures.\u00a0 Later it was repurposed as a lighthouses.\u00a0 In fact it is considered the oldest lighthouse in Brittany.\u00a0 Originally the light was generated by a coal fire on the roof.\u00a0 Later it’s visibility was much improved by adding reflective mirrors.<\/p>\n

The current lighthouse was built in 1950 following the destruction of the previous one by the Germans in 1944.\u00a0 It is now one of the five most powerful lighthouses in France, with a lantern that (allegedly) can be seen for 110 kilometers in ultra clear conditions.\u00a0 That’s because it has an extremely bright lantern situated over 100 m above sea level.\u00a0 \u00a0(70+ m of clff and 33 m of lighthouse.)\u00a0 With145 steps to the top, it comes in the “too-energetic-for-us” category.\u00a0 We will leave that for more hardy folk!\u00a0 Deserted beaches are more our thing!<\/p>\n

Continuing westward, we found ourselves on the “Plage de gr\u00e8les d’en bas”, the” beach on strike below”.\u00a0 All mermaids have downed tools!\u00a0 But the tide is out.\u00a0 And when the tide’s out in this area, it’s really out!<\/p>\n

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Resting at the far end of our walk, looking at the next two kms of the Bay of Crocs … which we won’t be walking today!\u00a0 One final port of call at Les Sables d’Or Les Pins.\u00a0 The location of my first ever foreign holiday, nearly 70 years ago.\u00a0 Not surprisingly, we didn’t locate the hotel in which my sister and I stayed with our parents and grandparents.\u00a0 But to be fair, we didn’t look too hard.\u00a0 It was time for home.<\/p>\n

The next day was Wednesday 2 July.\u00a0 An auspicious day on the beaches of France.\u00a0 Today (and why choose a midweek day which is not the 1st of a month to do this?), a major change occurs.\u00a0 Well should occur.\u00a0 But current observations suggest that the French will ignore the new rule.\u00a0 As from today, smoking on public beaches is banned – for ever.\u00a0 Good luck with that Mr Macron!\u00a0 Glenda is dying to run a survey.\u00a0 We were off to the beaches of the Peninsula of Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer.\u00a0 But it’s one of the only cool days we’ve had.\u00a0 \u00a0Almost no one on the beaches!<\/p>\n

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So, after a couple of beaches, the survey was called off!\u00a0 We shall have to wait till our next visit because tomorrow is our last day.\u00a0 Half of the caravans on our campsite deserted as we hit the boundary between the off-peak, largely retired, campers and the family holidaymakers.\u00a0 We too left the day before prices rocketed!\u00a0 By pure chance!\u00a0 The trip home was uneventful.\u00a0 No missed ferries, no jammed doors so no reversing off ferries and no traffic chaos in British country lanes.\u00a0 Boring!<\/p>\n

So that’s the end of this saga, but before we go, I attach a letter which was sent to the editor of our newspaper.\u00a0 I hope Mr Wallace of Whitley Bay and the Telegraph don’t mind me reproducing it here!\u00a0 It made us laugh!<\/p>\n

Great British cars<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

SIR \u2013 The rose-tinted recollections of elderly British vehicles (Letters, July 23) reminded me of when a neighbour collected his new British Leyland car.<\/em><\/p>\n

That night, there was rain of biblical proportions.\u00a0 Next morning, he opened his car door and was met with a wave of water.<\/em><\/p>\n

He immediately drove back to the garage, where the cause was swiftly identified: there was no seal on the bottom of the windscreen, so the rain could pour in.\u00a0 The mechanics undertook to resolve the problem while he waited.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ten minutes later they returned the car. Their solution had been to drill several holes in its floor so that, although the rain would still come in, it would then drain out.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ian Wallace<\/em>
\nWhitley Bay, Northumberland<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Matignon, we are very close to the coast.\u00a0 The Emerald coast, stretching from Cancale to Cape Fr\u00e9hel, it’s so named because of the turquoise-green waters hereabouts.\u00a0 First stop, the Plage de Quatre Vaux.\u00a0 I think that means beach of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain-france"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6415"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6446,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6415\/revisions\/6446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}