Brittany

Antoine's view

Bréhat and Batz are two utterly contrasting islands off the Granit Rose Coast. Bréhat has sheltered fishermen and pirates for centuries whereas Batz has always remained faithful to its agricultural vocation. And halfway between them both, the uninhabited archipelago of the Sept-Iles is a home for sea birds.

Many rocks along the jagged coastline or tucked away in large estuaries like Abervrac?h deserve to be called islands. But the two most mythical islands of Brittany, rise off the Causeway of Molène as it juts out boldly into the Atlantic: Ouessant, where the sailors lost at sea are commemorated in the church and the graveyard by a small wax cross called a Proëlla, and Molène, where a part of the population still live by solar time, rejecting legal time and even summer time which they consider illogical on this island so far west of France.

I had the pleasure of revisiting on a catamaran these islands where I first experienced solo sailing, a quarter of a century ago. Thanks to the clemency of the elements, I could slip into the tiniest little moorings, and list the treasures of this magnificent chain of islets, a few hours sail from the coast of south Finistère and the Morbihan... And what treasures! First the Ile de Sein, deep in the waves yet rising as proudly as the Ar Men lighthouse that dominates the Sein Causeway. Many ships were wrecked here and the Sénans displayed incredible courage. The Glénan archipelago, a favourite call for seamen, where people come to learn to sail between the sandy islets and clear waters to rival Polynesia. Continuing on our journey east we come to Groix: this island has been dedicated to tuna fishing for so long that the traditional cock on top of the Bourg de l?Ile church steeple has been replaced by a tuna fish...

Then we sail into the huge area much loved by sailors that stretches south of the Morbihan and the Gulf of Quiberon: Belle-île en Mer. The outer rampart of this hallowed region is well named, whether we find the narrow streets of Palais, the harbours of Sauzon, the beaches of Donnant or the deep fjords of Goulphar and Ster Vraz. Nearer the mainland, Houat and Hoëdic, where cars are virtually banned, have been living out of time for centuries: two tiny theocratic republics in the iron fists of the local rectors. Nowadays in sunny weather many yachts drop anchor here in front of the beaches. The beaches of Houat and Hoëdic are breathtakingly beautiful: the people who?ve discovered the secret beauty of Hoëdic hesitate to speak about it as they?d love to keep it for themselves.
We can?t do justice to the islands of South Brittany without venturing into the rough currents that cross the Gulf of Morbihan, almost an inland sea. Here, beside the larger islands, a multitude of tiny islets, some privately owned, make us dream of owning a secret retreat on a tiny island one day, surrounded by a calm and protective sea.