Our route will run parallel to this imposing work of the nineteenth century that linked the ports of Nantes and Brest crossing from east to west across the entire region. Almost 400 km of green landscape, with lush forests, reservoirs and meanders created by the river course that are upholstered in some corners by hypnotic layers of water lilies and water lilies. Along the way we pass through small charming Breton villages, small lock houses surrounded by flowers in silent moors and large expanses of fields where the most popular cows on the continent live happily. The interior of Brittany is a totally rural landscape. Without reaching the levels of empty Spain, it has a low population density. The most touristic parts are concentrated in some popular coastal areas.
Our tour of Brittany combines three stages along the Brest Canal and two stages along the northern route that goes to the charming coastal town of Roscoff, crossing the Natural Park of l’Armorique
For us, Brittany is one of the great European cycling paradises. An environment that invites us to pedal in peace and quiet while our batteries are charged with all the positive energy collected from the nature that surrounds us. Whether it is the greenery that sometimes seems to cover us from above, or the water lilies and water lilies that attract us from below, with its 360 km and 236 colorful locks, the canal gives no time for monotony. Those who have experience of cycling on the English Channel or the Canal du Midi, should reset before facing this challenge. Here the itinerary could be interpreted as the recurring route, sometimes a bit monotonous, of a towpath parallel to the canal. Mediterranean vegetation has a special strength and character, but here it is a lush, Nordic vegetation watered by all the Atlantic fronts entering the continent.
The trip adds the attraction of immersing oneself for a few days in one of the oldest and most attractive European cultures that still resists the onslaught of a homogenizing modernity. The Bretons are an open community but are conscious and proud of their heritage. Breton, a language of Celtic origins, has come to be spoken throughout the community, but since the middle of the last century it has barely survived in the westernmost part. Celtic music with the heritage of bagpipes, traditional and participatory dances, rich cuisine beyond the famous crêpes… a whole host of stimulating elements to feed for a few days the spirits eager for curiosity.
Duration: 8 days
Transfer to the town of Redon in Brittany, where we will stay before the start of the first stage.
We will start our route in the small town of Redon. This town retains the charm of several houses in which the old half-timbered structures survive. Its medieval center, the river port areas where the canal runs and the old church of Saint Sauveur of Romanesque origin, are its main attractions.
We will drive along the Canal that runs in this area through the lush Oust Valley and cross parallel to the Ilê aux Pies, a large island of rich and protected biodiversity formed in the river environment. At this point we would have the possibility of extending the route about 10 km more from Glenac to visit one of the most charming villages of the Bretagne: La Gacilly. The village is a small haven for artists and galleries that in summer decorates its flowery streets with large and spectacular photographs of the Villages and Nature festival . On the other hand, the village is linked to one of the most mythical names in the universe of cosmetics and glamour: Here began the Yves Rocher empire.
From Glenac we continue to overcome locks and jetties, crossing a canal where cyclotourist groups from all over Europe cross every summer. We will pass through Malestroit, considered the pearl of the Oust. This name belongs both to the valley that we will cross from Redon and to the river that merges into the same canal. Malestroit is another medieval village with an extensive architectural catalog of Gothic and Renaissance houses richly decorated with gargoyles, testimony of a past of exuberant wealth.
About 25 km separate us from Josselin, the end of our stage. We will have to reserve some strength to get lost in the medieval streets of this small town rich in heritage. The Castle of the Lords Rohan, whose high towers will attract us kilometers before reaching the village, keeps a long history of power struggles between the nobility and the dukes of Brittany. The town, walled like many others in Brittany, keeps a medieval framework of great attraction due in large part to its thriving textile production, mainly linen. Strolling through its streets, our gaze will jump from one to another of the richly decorated houses from the XV to XVII. Some of them with rich sculptures on their facades.
Second stage, this time more relaxed in distance. We will continue pedaling through magical environments of lush forests and lush vegetation that cover the canal through which we pass. About 8 km from Josselin, at the level of lock 41, we can detour a few meters to the nearby village of Pomeleuc that keeps the small and charming Chapelle de Saint-Mélec .
After passing near the huge Abbey of Timadeuc where the Trappist monks are still very active in their agricultural work with products that we can buy in the store, we will arrive at Rohan (origin of the nobles of the Castle of Josselin).
From Rohan about 5km separate us from one of the most suggestive landscapes of the Canal. The Oust joins the Canal and we have to overcome some 60 meters of unevenness in a constant succession of locks that produce a perspective of a Versailles garden. It is an infrastructure that reminds us of the enormous effort that had to be made to build this engineering work of military origin, but that was relegated to a better commercial use. By this way the populations could take out their food production, minerals, iron, coal, etc.
A few dozen locks further on, we will gently descend to the city of Pontivy. After crossing a good part of the most rural and unpopulated Brittany, here we will enjoy a small town with a lively cultural and commercial life. The city has two very distinct urban parts, the modern Napoleonic city of grand avenues and stately palaces and the labyrinthine old town. It is worth walking through the medieval core, strolling through its streets, some with origins in medieval trades, such as the Rue du Fil , which represents the more than eighty trades linked to the production of tapestries. In the Rue du Pont we can see some old houses of advanced facades in saledizo.
Today we begin the longest stage, which also presents some unevenness and a variety of contrasting landscapes. We have to go back to our arrival in the city the day before, when we cross the Blavet river that will accompany us in the next kilometers. We will start a light and rolling climb to the village of Mûr de Bretagne, famous every summer when it sees the colored jerseys of the Tour crossing its streets.
We will leave the town on our right, and we will leave the riverbed before overcoming the painful scar that the construction of the Guerlédan dam meant for the navigation of the canal. This work of modernity of the 1920’s definitively eliminated the possibility of navigating from Nantes to Brest. Once we have passed the dam, we must not get confused and continue along the north side of Lake Gerlédan. We have left the riverbed that allowed us a comfortable orientation and now we have to follow some changes of tracks that we will be finding. In this section where we leave the riverbed of the Blevet we have a 7% uphill section for about 3 km. We will follow the Greenway V6. From Mûr de Bretagne to the small village of Caurel, the elevated views over the lake of Guerlédan are spectacular.
We have left the typical flora of the canal and now we are surrounded by dense oak forests. We descend to the Abbey of Bon-Repos. The Cistercian Abbey, founded in the 12th century, is located in an idyllic place. After a few centuries of prosperity following its foundation, it fell into the deepest neglect. A group of enthusiasts rescued it from oblivion in the 1980s and restored a large part of the complex, the cloister and most of the outbuildings, except for the church, which was left in ruins. Today it is the venue for numerous contemporary art exhibitions and concerts in an incomparable setting.
We will pass through the village of Gouarec and we will cycle again through the pleasant landscapes of the canal. We have recovered the other navigable part that from Brest continued beyond the Guerlédan cut. Between locks, forests and small villages we will reach an environment of small ponds near Glomel that lead the river course to some panoramic openings.
Near this village we find the Grande Tranchée de Glomel.. It is the highest point of the canal with its 185 mt and marked the partition of the waters that formerly flowed towards the two slopes and that had to be overcome through a long work of land extraction and construction of locks. The work at this point was titanic, and the labor force was largely made up of deserters condemned to forced labor.
From this point the descent is a pleasant passage of locks until we cross the greenway V 7. greenway V 7 (from Rosporden to Roscoff). Be especially careful to take this road and not to reach the Port of Carhaix. Go up to the village of Carhaix Plouguer by a different route would complicate our journey.
This small Breton town is located in the department of Finistère (one of the four administrative zones into which the Breton community is divided). The city is internationally known for its famous festival Vieilles Charrues which is held every year in mid-July. It is the largest music festival in France and its growth has reached dizzying figures (240 thousand attendees in the last editions).
From this point we left the Brest Canal road. In about 70 km more this road would have taken us to the mouth of the sea. And the Breton cycle touring network still extends many more kilometers along the peninsula south of the roadstead of Brest. We will take the Greenway 7 which crosses the Armorique Natural Park will take us to Morlaix and Roscoff.
Today the landscape will change completely once we enter the Armorique Park. Armorique Park. We will follow the route of an old railway installation.
Although the interior of rural Brittany is not dominated by large forests, the Parc Naturel de l’Armorique is a large protected area, mainly covered with large forests. The Park extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the more mountainous inland area of Finistère. A large part of the protected domain belongs to the coastal areas and adjacent islands. We will basically cross the park at its eastern end crossing the reserves of the Huelgoat forests and the Cragou-Vergam Nature Reserve.
There will be 46 uninterrupted kilometers of intense nature without crossing any town until Morlaix except for the old railway stations that are now being converted into pleasant lodges and catering points for tourism in the area.
Morlaix is a city nestled in a strategic location between the rivers that flow down from the Armorique and the deep estuary that enters from the ocean, but still a few kilometers from the open sea. In fact it is quite a contrast the situation of the narrow harbor of Morlaix welcoming dozens of sailboats in the center of the city. The other striking element when arriving in the city is the imposing viaduct built in the 19th century to save the train of the Paris-Brest line from the two steep hills of the city.
The old town will surprise us. During the trip we have already admired a good collection of old houses, but in the center of Morlaix we will attend the exhibition of a gala parade of houses from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries. We will also have the good fortune to see one of the oldest houses from the inside: The Queen Anne House. The house, a good example of the characteristics maisons à Pondalezis richly decorated with sculptures on its façade and wandering between its floors up the creaky old wooden stairs is quite an experience.
Short but entertaining stage that changes landscapes again. We leave the lonely tracks of the old train to follow the route of tracks and small roads with little traffic and a lot of charm. We must be attentive to the changing route and the numerous detours. Until the town of Pont de la Corde we will go inland and from this point we will be visualizing more and more the sea around us. The succession of small Breton villages among fields of delicious artichokes, the road winding through small forests, the attraction of small chapels, the estuaries at the bottom of the hills … all are stimuli in this stage in which the sea is breathed on all sides.
After the Pont de la Corde the next destination will be visualized little by little before arriving. The elegant raised spire of the bell tower of the Cathedral of Saint Pol de Leon will accompany us until we reach the historic center. A slender spire supported by four pillars and pierced by more than 80 openings represents a challenge to balance. The cathedral’s size contrasts with the small town that houses it, were it not for the ostentatious past that follows its stately homes and small palaces of the population. Built between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, the cathedral stands out for the aforementioned bell tower and the choir stalls with curious oak figurative details.
From Saint Pol to Roscoff is an 8 km walk that will bring us closer to the city through some of its most beautiful beaches.
The town of Roscoff has a long seafaring tradition dating back to Roman times. A former village of fishermen, corsairs and smugglers, Roscoff continues to look to the sea and draws its main wealth from it. On the one hand, shellfish fishing is still booming, on the other hand, its thalassotherapy treatments (first establishment opened in France in the 19th century), and finally tourism, the main source of income for the population.
Roscoff is a seductive town. Even in summer when the town receives more tourists, strolling through its streets, among its stately mansions of solid granite blocks, the beautiful views of the sea offered by all the streets of the center, and especially the hypnotic phenomenon of the tides, are elements to let wander leisurely through the town.
We have planned a relaxing day in the village without any program that would prevent us from breathing the calm that emanates from the place. We will only recommend a visit to the nearby Baz Island, only 20 minutes by boat from Roscoff. The small island invites you to walk patiently around it, enjoying the rural and calm air. Although small in size, it has a singular landscape attraction. The phenomenon of the tides leaves anchored with their keels nailed to the bottom, the fishing boats and sailboats located in its main beach, forming a spectacle that is a tour de force of balances. We will get lost in its streets until we reach the Georges Delaselle Garden, an extraordinary exotic orchard fruit of the illusions of a dreamer.
In the afternoon we can treat ourselves to a Thalassotherapy treatment and enjoy the spectacle of the sunset over the Roscoff Bay stretched out on the solarium.
Transportation of participants, bicycles and luggage.
Lodging and breakfast
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Photo report
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