2019 Tour of Brittany (France) Part 15 - Huelgoat - Pointe du Brezellec

Saturday 24th August 2019 ⛅⛅⛅⛅🌞🌞🌞🌞
Mileage 79 from Huelgoat to Pointe du Brezellec
Parking Co-ordinates 48.07157, -4.66419

Today we left the Armorique National Park and headed for the Cornouaille region and it was a fairly long drive  compared with what we've been doing lately but the distance included a little detour to collect more LPG (gas) and also stops for lunch, shopping and fuel.  Therefore we didn't arrive at Pointe du Brezellec (which lies on the peninsula Cap Sizun) until 4ish and then we just managed to nip into the last free place on the front row overlooking the south side of Douarnenez Bay!  From our windscreen we had magnificent views over craggy serrated rocks and cliffs with waves crashing up them even though the tide was ebbing, and as there was a picnic bench very conveniently placed outside our door we did no more than make a cuppa and sit and soak up as much of the beauty as possible.

The coast from Pointe Brezellec Side

It'd been good to have a change of scene while we'd taken some time inland but we both agreed craggy coasts remain our favourite, so with that in mind a walk around the point and also down the very steep hill to the little harbour below us was in order.  However, getting back up to the van certainly made us puff because the hill was about 1:4😨!

You can just about see T4rdis2 high above the harbour (3rd from the left)

Sunday 25th August 2019  ⛆☁☁⛆⛅⛅⛅⛅🌞🌞
Mileage 7 from Pointe du Brezellec to Pointe du Van
and about 7 walking miles
Parking Co-ordinates 48.06341, -4.71288

This morning dawned dull and drizzly but in the changed light and because the sea was much calmer we saw a whole new picture when we opened up our blinds.   The light fog caused the distance of our views to be limited but the rocky crags reared up like ghostly apparitions that almost seemed to move with the swirling mists that hovered over them - but my pics were just white outs😡 so I din't bother adding them!

Once we got underway we didn't travel far - just 7 miles down the road to Pointe du Van, but on the way we stopped at Bogoff Plogoff to service the van!  However, it was a good job we got to our destination fairly early because once again we bagged one of the last parking spots, and even though it was no where near as lovely as last night's it put us in a good position for more coastal walking and it was another free one!

Chapelle St They near Pointe du Van rearing out of the mist on the edge of the cliff 

The Star marks Brezellec Point and the purple marker near it
Marks Point du Van.

The whole of this peninsula is a 'Grand Site de France' so our plan was to stay a couple of nights to give ourselves plenty of time to explore it, and to do that today we walked about 7 miles on the coastal path around the Douarnenez Bay (which is the one the above where we are at the purple marker near the star).

And as we walked the mist eventually lifted and we could see some of the places we've already visited.  We could easily make out a huge section of the Crozon Peninsula but particularly Cap de la Chevre which we cycled to a little over a week ago, and also Brezellec Pointe where we'd walked yesterday, and that was quite interesting because now we could see many of the rock formations from the opposite side.

Our view across to Cap de la Chevre on the Crozon Peninsula

Monday 26th August 2019  ⛅⛅⛅⛅☂⛅
About 8 👣👣miles

The main attraction on this peninsula is undoubtedly Pointe du Raz and this was the target of today's walk but to get there we knew we had a fairly long trek along some of the most rugged uppy downey coastal path in this area.  As we went it very much reminded us of many a Cornish path that we've traversed but for nearly all the way we really were treated to one of natures Masterpieces.

Someone admiring the splendid view

Our first resting point was at Plage des Trepasses were myriads of surfers played in the waves and were a large numbers of motorhomers staked their clam to a 'spot'!

This one much reminded us of Newgale Beach in Pembroke

And from there it didn't look much further to Pointe du Raz but that wasn't taking into account the huge twists, turns and deep rocky coves that we needed to circumnavigate and climb in and out of!

However, eventually we arrived and initially found a military radio-communications centre (that said no pics), but in front of that there was plenty of magnificence for us to explore and enjoy.  Pointe du Raz (Beg ar Raz is it's Breton name) in a promontory that extends out into the Atlantic and which is often likened to our Land's End, but having been to both the former is much less touristy and it was easy to find our own little secluded picnic spot amongst the rocks!

Many folks walked right out to the tip but we satisfied ourselves with going a short way

The Phare de la Vieille

The Pointe is named after the Raz de Sein which is a dangerous stretch of powerful currents between it and the tiny island of Sein where the present working lighthouse can be found, but there is also a much older one that stands just off shore on a small rock!

And the final very imposing feature was a man-made one!  Notre Dame des Naufrages - Our Lady of the Shipwrecked stands on a high plinth overlooking the Pointe

Our way home was the a repeat of our way there, but as often happens we had different views to see as we went and one of them was the stairway cut into the rocks that led down to an old landing place!

The stairway is just right of the centre of the pic

Tuesday 27th August 2019  ☁☁☁⛅⛅⛅⛅⛅
Mileage 7 from Pointe du Van back to Pointe du Brezellec
Parking Co-ordinates 48.07157, -4.66419

Well, I didn't have a very good night but I think John slept like a 👶!  Before we went to bed he'd been watching a storm with huge flashes of lightening raging over what he thought might be northern Spain -but all was quite with us!  That was until about 1am when the thunder seemed to clap loudly and the rain bounced on our roof, and when I got up to check our sky light was closed several large drips landed on my head!   However, when I mentioned the commotion this morning he looked blankly at me and said 'what storm'😂😂 (Apparently Madrid was hit by a hail and rain storm that caused flooding.)

Our conversation continued with 'what shall we do today'  but after yesterday's exertions neither of us felt like making to much effort, and added to that the town of Audierne were we want to go next has a fair on it's Aire until tomorrow.  Therefore we quickly decided to treat ourselves to a very easy day and to revisit Pointe du Brezellec to spend another free night, so as I'm typing this I'm being distracted by the perfect picture that keeps interfering with my concentration😀!

Bye for now 😙😙

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