Travelled : 35 Miles to I’le de Brehat in Northern Brittany
Visited : L’Arcouest, Ile de Brehat, Quebo and Tregastel Plage. Northern Brittany
Stay : Tourony Camping, Tregastel. €18 with all services
Up early again, we depart Paimpol for L’Arcouest. From there we can catch the ferry to the I’le de Brehat. According the Rough Guide, the most beautiful island in Brittany. Unfortunately the camper car life has it’s housekeeping issues that cannot be avoided. The freshwater is near empty, the grey water is near full and the toilet cassette needs attention all the result of a few days free camping.
Housekeeping completed except for freshwater (couldn’t make myself pay €5 into a machine for a 100 litres of water), we set off again for L’Arcouest. As you can guess we missed the first ferry by a few minutes and have a walk around. We eventually work out L’Arcouest is actually mostly car parks for the tourist visiting I’le de Brehat. Anyway where on the next ferry across the bay. The morning is broken cloud with patches of sun. Here and there across the bay rocky outcrops rise from the ocean. It is a most unusual vista.
The passage from the mainland is only a distance of about 2 kilometres and we are soon ashore on I’le de Brehat. The tiny harbour is surrounded by large impressive houses. Not clustered together, but set a respectful distance apart. We walk up the hill and along the main pathway. There are no cars on the Brehat just push bikes and push carts.
It takes an hour to walk from one end to the other. We pass two churches and the market in the square on our way. Brehat is really two island with a stone bridge about 20 metres long connecting them. It should mention the smaller churches in Brittany are characterised by their bell towers which all have 3 exposed bells, one set above the other two.
We really enjoyed our walk back to the ferry, the weather was a bit threatening but cleared as the morning passed. Back in our camper car it’s time to head west through upper Brittany. We stop on the shore of a bay near Quebo and lunch. The wind has picked and become chilly, but there are people swimming and several windsurfers out there. We drive on for another 40 minutes and decide to call it quits. Pam wants to wash her hair, so it’s a paid campsite tonight at Tregastel.
Michael and Pam
