We have trouble with transport in France. Having struggled for literally months to make a booking on the car ferry to Belle-Ile-En-Mer (eventually discovering that the operators would not decide on the 2020 timetable until mid December), it was distressing to receive a weather warning on our phone the day before that services could be impacted by "severe coastal events". Indeed, we could see the wind picking up and the sea looking decidedly rough. But the next day dawned fine and calm, and our ferry departed on time without any ado. Well, only a little ado, anyway. The man who scanned our ticket grumbled "car no good". We had specified the Peugeot that we had ordered from Avis, but the Corolla was longer and belonged in another price bracket. Eventually, he relented, seeing we were hapless tourists, and waved us on board. It's rather traumatic reversing a strange car into a tightly packed hold, especially when someone calls out "starboard" when we didn't even know which end was the front of the boat!
Wave splashing over the rocks of Les Poulains.
Tiny rental car if you don't want to put yours on the ferry.
After about 45 minutes and 14km, the ferry, the Vindilus (the Roman name for Belle-Ile), pulls into a tiny harbour in Le Palais with a long and loud toot, probably to alert company staff and return passengers to our arrival. Le Palais is one of four communes (we'd call them towns with surrounding countryside) on Belle-Ile, and certainly the most active. In this town we found a laundry (a laverie) that we could use, and it had virtually the only cafes open (depending on hours, of course). It had two decent supermarkets on the outskirts, open 5.5 days a week.
Map showing the four communes of Belle-Ile-En-Mer.
Belle-Ile itself used to be heavily forested, but (outside the towns) is now almost all developed for farming. It separated from the mainland only 8000 years ago, but it populated after that with improvements in seafaring. The ancient Gauls used it as a naval base. In the 16th Century, Catholic monks had the island, but by the 17th Century, it was in private ownership. It was ceded to the King in 1718 after who knows what pressure. In 1761 the British took and held Belle-Ile for two years during which the population fled only to be replaced eventually by Arcadians who were being persecuted in North America. In WW2, Germany occupied Belle-Ile, and some of their structures remain.
Roundabout with directions in Le Palais.
Our accommodation was at an isolated farm-style B&B called The Aubergerie in the commune of Sauzon. Belle-Ile is only 17 x 9km, so nothing is too far away. Our four night stay here was a real pleasure. Our room was spacious if not huge, decorated in a generous country style, and well heated. The bathroom was a dream, with a shower which actually didn't leak onto the floor, a real rarity. And a heated towel rail which was oh-so-snug. Anastasio, our host, and his wife, provided a yummy continental breakfast of fresh baguette and pastries, fresh fruit, orange juice and crepes. This shut us up for most of the day, just as well because it was so hard to find anywhere to eat!
Inside our room at The Aubergerie.
Why were we here? Belle-Ile has long been a bucket list destination. A panoramic photograph of its Poulains and lighthouse beautifies our walls at home. We came to see the Poulains. Pointe de Poulains is at the north-western tip of Belle-Ile in Sauzon, maybe 5-10 minutes drive from the Aubergerie. It is a stunning mass of steep rocks rising from the sea right at the coastline, and in heavy weather, the waves crashing on them is a sight to see. We weren't that lucky, after all, the seas were calm for our ferry crossing! But we visited the Poulains four times whilst on Belle-Ile, and the vision is always very impressive. And the 1828 lighthouse itself is a visual masterpiece, especially near sunset. The name comes phonetically from the Breton description of the location, exactly what isn't clear.
Sunset at les Poulains, high tide preventing us getting closer.
The offshore rocks which constitute The Poulains.
At 6pm, the light finally comes on.
No trouble getting to the lighthouse at low tide.
The authorities have done a lot of work to restore or preserve the aesthetics of the site. Specifically, ugly powerlines to the lighthouse have been replaced by solar panels; pedestrian visitors have been confined to marked tracks; and an unnecessary lean-to on the lighthouse has been removed. The actress Sarah Bernhardt loved the Poulains and summered here for many years (to get away from her fans?), but the few buildings she occupied have become delapidated and are now the subject of restoration. They are mostly pretty ugly, although there is one quite beautiful summer-house nearby.
View from around the coast.
Closed up summer house near Les Poulains.
It's possible to walk right to the lighthouse, but only at low tide. Tidal amplitude is about 4m, and at high tide the mound of the lighthouse becomes an island with swirling waves surrounding it in both directions. Don't get caught by the rising tide, or you will have an 8 hour wait!
Wave splashing over the rocks of Les Poulains.
Not far from the Poulains is the township of Sauzon, a truly beautiful little harbour town, and apparently the only port on the island other than Le Palais which is able to receive ferries from the mainland. They don't run in winter. In fact, nothing much was running in Sauzon. Certainly no cafes, and the only place we found open was a tiny supermarket at which we managed to buy a baguette and some cheese for lunch. We noted how spic'n'span the buildings were in Sauzan, as if they've all received a new coat of paint at the end of summer. And we did see quite a few tradesmen doing work on the tourist facilities, so this is obviously the season for that sort of activity.
Sauzon port. Boats from all those moorings are elsewhere for the winter.
Tiny town sqaure in Sauzon.
Another Belle-Ile commune is Bangor and this is home to the Castel Clara a large and upmarket hotel which was not only open but quite busy by the look of it. It also had a "cafe" at which we took an expensive seafood lunch (starts at 12:15, don't be too late) with a fixed menu formula which was a selection of fresh fruits-de-mer as a "starter", a single fish dish for a main course. Sweets and coffee were extra, much to our surprise, but there was no written menu for us to peruse, so we had to battle with verbal explanations which we obviously misinterpreted.
The Castel Clara hotel at Bangor where we enjoyed a fresh seafood lunch.
Lobster pots awaiting callup at La Palais port.
Bangor had two major attractions for us, very near each other. One, the Aiguilles (needles) de Port Coton, similar to the Poulains and famous for the foam (cotton) created with by the crashing seas. Claude Monet featured this coastline in several of his famous paintings. And, overlooking the Cotons, is Belle-Ile's 1836 52m tall Grand Phare or more correctly, phare de Goulphar, designed by the renowned engineer Augustin Fresnel whose revolutionary design of "stepped" lighthouse lenses extended the visibility of lighthouses, saving countless lives at sea. Indeed, the street running to the Grand Phare is Rue de Fresnel, and at the other end of this street we were delighted to find a bar actually open and serving beer and vodka! We enjoyed the quiet ambience there for a while, especially the neighbourhood kids setting off fireworks outside.
The Grand Phare of Belle-Ile, one of the first examples of Fresnel's lighthouse lenses.
Not so much cotton, but the seas are still pretty rough at Port Coton this evening.
This is a historic WW2 German radar station at Port Coton, arguably undeserving of the obvious disrespect.
Belle-Ile has been a haven for artists, and there is an Aussie connection. A wealthy Australian John Russell settled on Belle-Ile and established an artists' colony. His contemporaries and friends included van Gogh, Matisse and Monet who often worked with Russell on the island and influenced his style, though it has been said that Monet preferred some of Russell's Belle-Ile seascapes to his own. Russell introduced Matisse to impressionism and he would later credit Russell with beaing his teacher. Russell never tried to publicise his own work, it seems.
Plage des Grands Sables, a large pebbly beach, only shows ruins of the fortifications which once lined this part of the coast.
Locmaria town well, but not for drinking any more.
The fourth commune of Belle-Ile is Locmaria which had a pretty church (the oldest on Belle-Ile) but absolutely nothing open. To get there we drove along the island's protected north coast and looked at several beaches, including the Plage de Grands Sables, all popular in summer by the look of it, but virtually deserted for our visit. Also, another lighthouse, but we don't know its name.
Light at eastern tip of Belle-Ile.
Pretty Plage de Port Andro at Locmaria.
Inside the Locmaria church, with clear emphasis on maritime safety.
Le Palais was Belle-Ile's most lively town in this off-season, by a long shot. We found it endlessly entertaining to watch the arrivals and departure of the ferry Vindilus, turning 180 degrees in a ridiculously tight harbour, loading and unloading cars, trucks and passengers off the starboard side onto a steep ramp, no matter the state of the tide, all with practiced ease. Upstream from the harbour is a long narrow waterway which would run dry at low tide except for a single gate-set which keeps it at high tide levels. We were amazing to see a merchant vessel come through these gates near high tide to unload its cargo in the two hours available before the tide went down. There would only be half a meter clearance on either side of this ship as it passed the gates, but it did so with nary a paint scrape.
Aerial view of the tiny harbour at Le Palais.
When you can't find a bite, it's OK to have a drink.
Van loading into the Vindilus at Le Palais.
Foot passengers disembarking from the Vindilus at Le Palais.
Merchant vessel reversing through a tiny gate under the watch of the lock manager.
We had most meals in Le Palais, having learned that you have to be there (at one of the few cafes open) at almost exactly the right time (12:30 for "midi", 19:00 for "soir") or miss out, and the meals actually available were almost never as outlined on menus and boards, instead much more limited. We did find one much more flexible cafe. Our timing was bad, it seems. Many cafes opened for the Christmas - New Year "fetes", but then closed about a week into the New Year, just in time for our arrival. Our choices were very limited. If there was a-la-carte fine dining to be found, we didn't find it.
The "Red Fish" was easily the most reliable eatery on Belle-Ile.
A true delight, a great lunch had at the Hotel Atlantique which unfortunately closed the next day for its annual hollidays.
Interior of the Saint Geran church in Le Palais.
Open and inviting indeed, but no food available at this takeaway in Le Palais.
Not many macchiatos to be had in Brittany, but we were told to try ordering a Cafe Noisette. Means "hazelnut" but that refers to the colour, not the flavour.
Dominating Le Palais, indeed surrounding the town, is the Citadelle, a monstrous fort, now in private hands and housing a museum and hotel (closed), named after the Marquis of Vauban (d1707) who was a particular favourite of King Louis XIV because of his engineering and military skills. Vauban designed and oversaw a ring of citadelles, an "iron belt", around France which proved to be virtually impregnable thanks to their double enclosures and exceptional corner bastions. But this citadelle did eventually fall to the English in 1761 who held it and all of Belle-Ile until the Treaty of Paris two years later.
One of two narrow tunnels though the Citadelle at Le Palais.
Walls within walls in the Citadelle in Le Palais.
A moat well within the outer fortifications of La Citadelle.
In five days enjoying Belle-Ile-En-Mer, we enjoyed good weather - mostly overcast, occasional bursts of blue sky, virtually no rain, always a bit windy, and temps up to 15C. It finally played against us, and our return midday ferry, booked months earlier, was cancelled due to an oncoming storm. The company did not inform us, and we would not have found out beforehand except for our B&B host who had his ear to the island grapevine. He helped us rebook on the only ferry which would go that day, 9:30am, before the storm hit. Weather forecasting is obviously quite precise around here! Thanks Anastasio! The crossing was rocky, not too bad, the roughest part being the actual entry to Quiberon harbour.
Wild conditions as Vindilus enters Quiberon Harbour, really tested the tying down of our car downstairs.
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