Départements de France: Côtes d'Armor

 

This is the next instalment of a bi-monthly feature going through the 95 Departments of France in numerical order to check out things of interest. I hope you enjoy it

 

Location – In the north of Brittany adjoining the English Channel (or La Manche)

 

 

Flag

 

Prefecture – Saint-Brieuc

 

 

Signature foods – Coquilles Saint Jacques (Scallops), Galettes, Cider,

 

Famous places to visit – Cap Fréhel, Côte de Granite Rose, Perros-Guirec, Dinan Castle, Ploumanac'h

  

Go to this Pinboard to see the Departments of France

The Pink Granite Coast, Brittany, France

On one of our day expeditions from Chateau du Lannuguy in Morlaix we headed  to the Pink Granite Coast. The name matched the tin – there was indeed pink granite all along the coast line.

Ploumanac'h  was a busy resort town – not quite our cup of tea.  Originally we had planned to stay in a fancy hotel here so we were glad we went with Chateau Lannuguy instead.

The Sentier des Douaniers starts in Ploumanac'h  and goes to Perros Guirec  - a distance of 5k (approx. 3 miles). This walkway dates back to the day of smugglers when the customs men patrolled the coast line to try to apprehend them.

We had lunch at Perros Guirec – another resort town – but much smaller.  The beach was attractive but reasonably crowded.

A chap at the next table had a shirt on that seemed to be about a New Zealand yacht race – we were speculating that he was associated with the America's Cup -  which we thought was an amazing coincidence - until we saw other shirts like it for sale in the souvenir shop there.

An unexpected and brilliant workers' lunch experience – Plouguerneau, Brittany

On our jaunts around Brittany we made an unexpected stop in Plouguerneau - a little town in the heart of the Aber pays but not on the coast. We wanted a comfort stop so we decided to look for a restaurant straight away - it was almost 12 and we have learned that the French eat promptly. Nothing appealed around the main square – we wandered a bit further away and in desperation went into a small unprepossessing restaurant bar called Le Tremenac'h - just inside the door was the bar - one local installed and to the left was a little room with 2 tables and that seemed to be it - I asked about a table - and we were shown back through the kitchen to a much larger dining room with quite a few tables already full. We were the only non-locals.

The deal was a help yourself salad buffet - groaning with lots of lovely things.  This is a photo of what I ate – I was too shy to take other photos.  Note the paper tablecloth.

But that wasn't all, then there was a choice of main course - moules mariniere or veal escalope involtini - followed by a choice of desserts - all accompanied by unlimited quantities of wine (a choice of rose or red), lemonade or bottled water and followed by coffee - for the princely sum of 12 euros each (about $13.50 US and $21NZ) - a bargain - particularly given the huge meals. The clientele were mostly working men - most of whom stuck to lemonade or water rather than wine.

A fabulous lunch experience.

Here are the restaurant's contact details:

Le Tremenac'h bar restaurant
2 rue de Tréménac'h
29880 PLOUGUERNEAU

Téléphone : 02.98.04.55.32

Chateau de Kerjean

On our last full day at Chateau du Lannuguy, despite getting progressively more tired as the trip went on, we did wind ourselves up for another expedition - this time to Chateau du Kerjean (half an hour or so away).

This is an example of the sort of thing you can run into on rural roads in Brittany.

We found our way to the Chateau ok although the GPS (now known as Backdoor Annie did its thing and we ended up at a side entrance where it looked like the workers were parked ).  But this was fine because it was actually much closer than the main entrance - which given that it was raining by the time we left the chateau was a good thing.

There were almost no people there - 5.50 E each - no literature at all in English about the chateau - so I had to do some research later.

This is a chateau and fortress.  Set in a park of 20 hectares.  Parts of it are in ruins – it was quite atmospheric.

It is an impressive building - and hasn't been overly  tarted up .

How would you like to sleep in this bed?  It is actually a bit bigger than it looks.

And how about the high ceilings in this kitchen – mainly for fire protection, I suspect.

The remains of the old moat can be seen.

Some details – the chateau is a 16^th century fortified manor house located close to the town of Saint-Vougay in Finistere, Brittany.  Originally built for the Marquis de Kerjean, the chateau was damaged in the French Revolution and pretty much left to fall into wreck and ruin.  The Government took it in 1911 and has done some restoration.  It is regarded as symbolic of Renaissance architecture in Brittany – whatever that means.

Roscoff and Carantec

On one of our day trips from our Chateau du Lannuguy base near Morlaix in Brittany, we went up the estuary towards the coast  to Roscoff  - this was only about an hour's drive. We walked along the sea front  and found it a bit touristy but there were lots of restaurants.  It was just before 12 so we knew it was a good idea to select a restaurant before all the locals piled in. 

We decided to go to a small creperie just off the sea front. It was called Creperie La Chandeleur. E24.50

The meal was definitely value for money – for 24.5 Euros we had a galette each (savoury pancake) and a pichet (like a quarter of a bottle) of house white wine – which wasn't up to much.  I also sampled some Breton Pommeau – which the Bretons claim as a regional specialty.  To me it tasted exactly the same as the ones I've had in Normandy – they also claim it as a specialty.  Pommeau is a blend of apple juice and apple brandy (calvados).  I've never seen it on sale anywhere else other than Normandy and Brittany.

The galettes were good quality – I had La Raclette - with lots of raclette cheese and ham, smoked ham, potatoes, bacon and cream - the galette was thin and crispy on the edges and the filling was perfectly cooked. My better half had La Fleur de La Bretagne - which I think refers to artichokes (which I saw growing in fields in the area) - it had ham, cheese and artichoke - and of course cream.

Roscoff is a pretty little town.  This odd little car? caught my eye.  Roscoff has been a trading port for centuries.

As you can see the spire of the parish church is very distinctive – we saw spires like this in most Breton towns but have never seen that style elsewhere.  I think it is called open work – it looks almost lacy.  (Sorry about the tilt on the photo!)

The next stop was Carantec.  We went looking for the causeway but didn't find it. We did find this expressive dead end sign.

 

I had expected to see jaunty little beach huts on the Breton beaches but we can't have been going to the right places.  The only ones I saw was in the middle of a roundabout and this one standing somewhat forlornly in a car park!