Tag: l’Abbaye de Beauport

France 2022 – l’Abbaye de Beauport and Day 4 on the GR 34

April 30, 2022 – Distance on the GR 34, 7 km from Kerity to Paimpol

I was able to sleep in a little on this Saturday morning as the l’Abbaye de Beauport did not open until 10:30. It felt good to get a little extra rest, and also to have a shorter day of walking ahead of me. The bus from Binic took me to my stop beside the Kerity church and from there it was a short half kilometre walk to the abbey.

This beautiful abbey was founded in the 13th century by the Count of Penthieve who was given the lands by William the Conqueror as a reward for helping him to conquer England. It was the home of a religious order of monks, the Premonstratensians, who came here from Normandy. It became a vast estate and prospered as more land was donated by other nobles. It was an influential abbey and grew to oversee thirteen Breton parishes as well as nine parishes in the English county of Lincolnshire. The abbot was equal in rank to a bishop in the 15th century and had the right to sit in the Breton parliament.

Here is the Chapter House where the monks would meet each morning to discuss abbey business and share ideas. Throughout the rest of the day, the monks were silent and communicated with hand symbols. The meeting always began with the reading of a chapter from The Rule, the Augustinian book of rules, routines, rituals, and values that the monks lived by.

The lands of the estate and the sea provided sustenance and income. Sheep fed on the salt marshes, pigs rooted in the forest, and fish were available in the sea, the river, and the garden fish farming pond. The monks grew apples and produced cider, and today the owners of the abbey, the French Coastal Protection Agency, are preserving the ancient apple varieties that were still growing on the property. There are 60 different varieties in their large orchard, eighty percent of which are specific to Beauport. The names of the varieties though have disappeared from memory.

Here is the Ducal House which served many functions over time. In the 15th century it was a workshop for forging bronze and later it was converted into a guesthouse for visiting nobles and clergy. The abbey was taken over during the French Revolution and the monks were forced to leave. Without repair and upkeep, much of the abbey became a ruin, including the abbey church when its roof caved in. The Ducal house continued to be used after the Revolution to make salt peter, and from 1920 to 1990 the owners at the time (a ship-owning family from Paimpol) operated a cidery in this large building.

I learned many more interesting facts about the history of this abbey, but mostly I just enjoyed the atmosphere and the physical beauty of this place – the symmetry and grace of the architecture, and the way that the plant life fit into nooks and crannies in the most elegant of ways and gave life to the ancient stones.

And, because it will be Mother’s Day when I publish this post, here are some magnificent peonies that were growing at the abbey as a gift to my mom, Lise, and to all the Moms out there (heart emoji). (It’s also for Justus who grows peonies!) The pink ones were as wide across as a large dinner plate, and the yellow ones were as large as a good-sized side plate! Happy Mother’s Day!

After touring the abbey I found a wonderful path that led me around to the salt marsh and back to where I had left the GR 34 the day before.

And here I am! I felt sad to leave this very special place, but happy to continue on with my journey.

The tide was way out again, and the day was bright with a thin haze of cloud. Yesterday I had been walking around the farthest point on the right!

Here is a zoomed in view of the bay.

The path carried on towards Paimpol along a trail at the top of the beach. I could see Paimpol off in the distance to the left, and wondered why the guide book said that the distance was 7 km. I only realized why when I was partway along that long narrow point to the right!

The path led me towards the church at Kerity,

and then continued along on a seafront walkway.

Then it veered off to a wonderful park and outdoor seawater pool and beach for swimming.

It curved around the arc of the beach to a small causeway and then continued along a salt marsh at low tide. All very unexpected!

Then the path swung around back to the bay,

until it led onto this narrow path between fields and the sea. But it was leading me the wrong way, away from Paimpol!

I was thinking of taking out my guide book when I came around a corner and saw a ring-necked pheasant on the path! I continued towards it, hoping for a picture, but it stayed just that bit too far ahead of me, running forward on the path instead of veering left or right. Pheasants in Northumberland had behaved the same way too and so I stopped to finally look at my guidebook, not wanting to stress out the poor bird any more than I already had! I saw from the map that I was heading out to the Pointe de Guilben, a peninsula that separates the Anse de Beauport from the Anse de Paimpol (google translate tells me than an anse is a cove, but looking back and then forward to the Anse de Beauport it is clearly not a mere cove!)

Near the end of the peninsula I arrived to this wonderful narrowing of the land where both bays were visible on either side of the path, and ahead of me was a hill covered with large old pines.

I continued along to the right and couldn’t resist another photo of the pines and the grassy lawn of daisies and buttercups.

The GR trail circled around this last very beautiful part of the point, with views of the sea (at low tide) all around.

Now I was travelling back on the other side of the peninsula, finally heading towards Paimpol, but it was certainly no hardship walking along this lovely trail.

So many bluebells all along the path! Spring is definitely a wonderful time to be here!

As I neared Paimpol there was a beach with another outdoor pool,

and then shortly afterwards I arrived at the port shipyards,

and then the marinas of the port and the town of Paimpol.

What another wonderful day on the GR 34! From here, I walked happily through the centre of the old town to find the train station and take the bus back to Binic. This trail has kept on giving and giving, just like mothers do! Happy Mother’s Day again to Lise, and to all the Moms out there. Love, Christine

France 2022 – A few surprises on Day 3 of the GR 34

April 29, 2022 – Distance: 15 km from Plage Bréhec to Kerity*

My third day of walking on the GR 34 was another exceptional day of walking. There were many similarities with my first two days, but also some differences and a few surprises. I took the bus to Bréhec and all was quiet in the small beach community when I arrived at 8:10 in the morning. This beach is where Saint Brieuc and the first of a wave of emigrants from Britain landed in the 5th century. It was the beginning of Brittany’s Celtic heritage.

Within a few minutes I had found the trail and was beginning the climb up above the beach.

When I reached the top, the trail veered left and I was very surprised to suddenly find myself at a paved road. Two gentlemen were passing as I arrived and we talked briefly, but their energetic collies were eager to get going so off they went ahead of me.

I didn’t see anyone else until a good two hours later! The road continued for about a kilometre or two up on a moor-like plateau that was densely covered in gorse. Here’s a view looking back. The patch of forest in the distance is where I met the road.

The ocean was still in view on my right, but a little further away than I had become accustomed to.

At one point, the route left the road and became a trail again and I was approaching my first descent of the day down to a beach. I could clearly see the ”Z” of the trail rising on the opposite hill. Yikes!

Here is a zoomed-in view. Double yikes!

I made the descent and rose to the other side for this view back to the ”Z” that I had come down.

My knees were still feeling sore from the previous days’ walking but otherwise I was feeling really good as I continued along back on the clifftop. I think it takes several days to really get into the rhythm and flow of a long-distance walk, and I had a strong feeling that this was what I was meant to be doing, and that this was the only place to be at this point in time.

The top of the cliff continued to remind me of a moor and I even began to see small patches of early-blooming heather in amongst the gorse and campion, as well as the purple button-like flowers that I had seen in Provence.

A left turn took me onto a very old cobbled track that soon brought me to another paved road. I certainly didn’t mind this road walking, free and easy up above the sea. As I stopped to look back, I felt amazed that I had come so far in three days and I was very grateful to be here.

A little further on, a trio of signs close to each other at a crossroads confirmed that I was on the right route, and the bench was a welcome place to sit for a few moments. The place names on the road signs are written in both French and Breton.

At the yellow GR signs, I left the road and was back on a clifftop trail,

and soon I arrived at quite the descent!

Stairs down this side, and then stairs up the other side.

And the next few down and ups were similar! Gone were the longer, gradual descents of the last two days. It was like a different trail designer had taken over here, perhaps an impatient one! Or, perhaps someone with long legs and strong knees. Oh well! At the bottom of the hill, a small stream crossed the path and led to a terraced beach of large cobbles.

I considered sitting on this peaceful beach for a while but then decided that it might be harder to go up the staircase after having had a rest. “Onward and upward,” I thought as I started the climb. About half way up, I turned to look back and I saw the first person that I’d seen in two hours. Can you see him half way down the stairs?

Back at the top, I continued along the trail towards the Pointe de Plouézec in the distance, with several more of the steep down and ups along the way.

After the Pointe de Plouézec, there was a longer descent which took me down to Port Lazo and from there the entire character of the trail changed. Before me was a giant bay at low tide and the tidal flats stretched for what seemed like miles. Port Lazo was busy with large tractors heading out onto the sand to load up great heavy wire cases of farmed oysters.

I had left the tallest sea cliffs in Brittany behind me and the trail would now travel a mere 20 metres or so above the sea for most of the rest of this day. But it was still a most wonderful trail!

The sea was always on my right and sometimes there were breaks in the trailside vegetation for full views out to the bay.

The next highlight of the trail was not a surprise for me as I had been eagerly expecting it. A short side trail led me up to the top of the hill and to the Moulin du vent a Craca which was built in 1844 and restored in 1995.

There was a picnic table onsite, and a sea view, so it was the perfect place for a good long rest and a good lunch. Refreshed and happy, I returned to the trail and as I travelled along there continued to be views out to busy tractors on the sand. There were acres and acres of oyster cases!

The trail itself continued to delight with me with its plant life, birds, bees and butterflies.**

In one area, I passed a community of plantains (which usually grow about as high as my knees) that grew as high as my chin!

The trail offered up several more surprises for me as I approached the end point of my walk at l’Abbaye de Beauport. Here was my first exciting view of the abbey from between a break in the trees.

The trail led out of the trees and crossed over a canal on a stone bridge. Here is the view looking inland,

and here is the path leading towards the abbey! It was lined with dark green grasses beside a pond filled with tall dried reeds that waved and rattled lightly in the breeze, and on the other side was a salt marsh where a small flock of wild Brant geese were feeding.

Wow. The wide bay, the quality of the air, the natural beauty and the sense of history at this place quite overwhelmed me! (Sadly, my pictures do very little justice to the specialness I saw and felt here.) As I looked at the beautiful ruins of l’Abbaye de Beauport, I felt very thankful that I would be returning tomorrow to visit the abbey before continuing on with my walk on the GR.

I began to feel very tired as I walked to the bus stop, but I was also feeling excited about returning tomorrow. The GR 34 had surprised me several times today, and I was looking forward to seeing what else the trail would have to offer in the days to come.

* You may have noted that I have a different start point on Day 3 than my end point on Day 2 and that is because of the buses. I had to skip a 4 km section of the trail but I was able to complete that section after the weekend when the bus schedule was in my favour.

**Here are some butterfly details for those who might be interested. I mostly saw some brown and orange butterflies that were very similar to a painted lady. I also saw several tiny lavender-coloured butterflies that were only about 2 cm across, and a very striking pale yellow butterfly with bright orange spots on the tips of its two front wings. Finally, there was one tiny butterfly with a very dark back, almost black, but when it folded up its wings it was grass-green and perfectly camouflaged as a piece of leaf. I was almost able to photograph it, but off it flew!