BRIAN REID PHOTOGRAPHER
France October 2024 - Day 18 Brest to Rennes
Tuesday, 22 October 2024 21:11
It has been quite a long but enjoyable day with a couple of 1 hour jaunts to start and end the day with little hops, mainly on the north coast of Brittany for photo opportunties and short walks. After a little early mist, below, the sun shone all day with occasional puffy clouds to add interest. My first brief stop was near the top of the Armorique hills from where the headline photo was taken. The view is panoramic and this is just a snapshot of the countryside near Pleyber-Christ. It was a short downhill run to Morlaix with its high viaduct. It was busy and I was lucky to get a parking space as a car left one space as I arrived. There was a group set up offering hearing tests. I did not take them up on their offer. Murals seemed frequent on building ends which I like. After a short walk around the city centre I headed down stream for a few more pictures. By the lock, protecting the inner harbour, there was a retired French lifeboat, looking smart and an interesting contre-jour view back to the city centre. One of the pleasures allowed by touring in a car are the places that are just on the way to somewhere. On the way to Trébeurden I passed along the beach at Saint-Efflam and there was a horse being walked in the surf. It turns out they hold trotting races on this beach. in fact there were a few people enjoying the chilly sunny weather on the beach. Before I could get to Trébeurden another sight attracted me, a church on the beach at Saint-Michel-En-Greve and when I stopped for a photo I noticed an information stone. This was a place where the allies landed in August 1944 a couple of months after D-Day. There was also a couple having a spirited game of boules on the sand. I had stayed in Trébeurden back in the 90’s and remembered a long beach with offshore islands. What I did not remember was a gigatic marina with massive breakwater. Let’s just say you can never go back so just one snap looking at the offshore islands but the run to get there made it all worthwhile. Next was the short run to the Red Granite Coast near Perris-Guirec. Worth the walk with many others out for the day. The other visitors help to give an idea of scale. I was now heading south to my last couple of stops at La Roche-Derrien which may alse be called La Roche-Jaudy and the cliffs at Plouha. The former is a small village perched on the rock above the river with a stand-out chapel. It makes for a nice little walk down and up the village. There were intrepid youngsters on the cliffs at Plouha meaning I could get some scale in a photo. It is a long way down. There is a short slightly rough walk to the edge of the highest part of the cliffs, where the youngsters were but the view from the car park was pretty good too, looking across the bay. A full day and the sunshine was a welcome change.