France 2022 – Day two on the exceptional GR 34

April 27, 2022

Day Two on the GR 34

Distance: 12 km from Plage Saint-Marc to Plage Bonaparte, plus 1.5 km to access the trail from Tréveneuc and 2 km to access the bus at Dernier Sou

I headed out early for my second day of walking and on my way to the bus stop I passed the market square where merchants were setting up for Binic’s market day. I briefly considered not walking 15.5 km today to attend the market instead and have an easy afternoon, but the first day of walking had been so exceptional that I carried on with my plan, hoping that today would be the same. I arrived in Tréveneuc with its beautiful church,

and walked down a few quiet streets to access the path that would take me 1.5 km to the beach at Saint-Marc and back on the GR 34. The woodland path was so vibrant with new green growth and Spring flowers. “Where are all the rabbits?” I thought. (I had been wanting to see a rabbit since my walk between Vaisson La Romaine and La Costa). If I was a rabbit I would definitely live here.

At Saint-Marc beach, the trail quickly climbed up onto a headland and again my day was filled with cliff-top walking along headlands to rocky points and descents to long sandy beaches.

As I walked along, it was rewarding to look back at headlands that I’d traversed the day before, and ahead to the beaches and headlands to come.

The clifftop walking was fantastic with the ever-present wind, the views, the trail under foot, and the trailside vegetation of grasses, gorse and brambles, bright yellow and bi-coloured broom, dense patches of sea campion, and more.

Here is the view down to the small beach of Port Goret.

And here is the view over Le Palus, a large beach where a family of five on horseback cantered in a circuit the length of the wide sandy beach multiple times.

The descent down to this beach had been a long gradual one.

And that was the pattern on this day, with several long descents that swung inland to progress down a ravine to a cove or beach. The ravines were densely vegetated with tall trees, ivy, ferns, bluebells (and white bells) and countless other plants in every shade of green. Here the birds were very numerous, busy, and vocal in the tree tops.

Down at the beach of Le Palus, I walked to the water’s edge to watch a search and rescue team practice some manoeuvres in the strong surf.

This is the view looking back towards the distant shore.

I walked back to the buildings on the right side at the top of the beach to regain the trail, only to be confronted by this very steep beginning to the next ascent. It worked best to climb this staircase like a ladder! It was worth it though for the great view back down to the beautiful beach of Le Palus from the top,

as well as continuing great views of the trail itself and the terrain ahead.

Here’s an example, further along the trail, of my arrival at another wide ravine. I will descend heading inland (towards the left) and then rise up on the other side where you can see the trail cutting through the vegetation.

After that rise, there were more great views back,

and then forward to the Pointe le Pommier. It was truly spectacular and I was so happy to be walking here.

Beyond the next point there was this interesting cove at Gwin Zégal where boats were moored to tall posts sunk into the sandy beach. I wondered how long ago those posts had been installed, and who put them there!

Here’s another view back to Gwin Zégal from further along the cliff.

Soon I began to catch glimpses of my end point for the day, Plage Bonaparte. But first, there was another ravine to navigate and the ”up” section on this one was a very narrow footpath going pretty much straight up without a zig or a zag. A new kind of flower provided an excuse to stop for a few moments! (I think it’s time I learned how to take a picture of an ”up” that looks like it’s an ”up”!)

But again the climb was worth it to regain the cliff top,

and for the views of Plage Bonaparte as I drew nearer.

I began the long descent that would be my last on this day’s walk.

Access to the beach was through a tunnel below the parking area and then down the length of a concrete ramp. At the bottom of the ramp I plunked myself down on some rocks to rest my weary feet and knees and have my lunch.

There were a few people scattered here and there on the very big beach and soon an elderly gentleman of 76 years came by while I was having my rest and we chatted for a while. He had been digging for clams and had found oysters, clams and scallops to take home for a feast with his wife and his son and son’s family. He had a strong Breton accent and sometimes I didn’t understand him, and I’m sure that sometimes he didn’t understand what I said either with my Canadian accent and rudimentary French, but we smiled a lot and both enjoyed our conversation.

On the first two days of my walk on the GR 34 I have been alone most of the time which I love. I occasionally passed walkers who were out for a morning hike, some walking their dogs and some with binoculars for bird watching. I’ve also passed several couples with big backpacks obviously doing a multi-day walk on the GR. On my first day I had walked and chatted for a ways with a young woman who was doing a five day walk, and on this second day, as I was stopped half-way up a long incline to catch my breath, a young man with long legs, a big grin, and a backpack fully loaded for camping breezed by me with a cheery ”Bonjour” as if he was going downhill instead of up!

After walking 13.5 km, with a good amount of elevation gain and loss, I was feeling rather weary and I began to get chilled sitting on the rocks in the wind. I gathered my things, hoisted myself up, and decided to walk down to the water’s edge but suddenly it just seemed too far away so I stopped and took this photo instead, looking in the direction of travel and knowing that I would be traversing those next four headlands and beyond in the days to come.

For now though, I had two kilometres of road walking to do but thankfully it was a small and quiet country road with pretty views that helped to take my mind off of my now quite sore feet and knees.

I reached the bus stop at the small community of Dernier Sou, which translates to ”Last Penny”. There must certainly be a story that must be behind that name! I had to wait almost an hour but then the bus came and whisked me back to the comforts of my apartment in Binic. I was so happy that I had carried through with my plans because it had truly been another exceptional day of walking on the GR 34.