We had a good day finding small moments of charm and history in this special part of France.
Our day began in Locronan, a town once known for its manufacture of sailcloth. Today, it is a very picturesque village with Renaissance-era townhouses once owned by the merchant class of the city. The 15th century church is devoted to St. Ronan, whose tomb graces a chapel.
In the town of Pleyben, we stopped to admire the 16th/17th century church with both a Renaissance and Gothic spire.The vaulting and pulpit are quite lovely.
Then it was onto some natural phenomena in the town of Huelgoat. The town sits on River Argent, and has an amazing course of huge rocks which giants must have tumbled down a granite channel. Rock-climbing made us hungry, so we had a lovely lunch there too.
And then it was on to mountain climbing. We went to the top of Montagne St-Michel, which was quite a hike in a fierce wind. At the summit is a 17th century church, vandalized in the 1930’s and empty ever since. But it was nice to shelter in it for a few minutes. The view is amazing, but what one sees is a landscape that the ancient Celts described as the entrance to hell. Glad we were able to see it on a sunny day! At any rate, it was a sight to behold and not a place I would want to be on a cold and windy winter night.
So a good day, and a good variety of Breton treats. Then home to our gîte, which is the right side of a charming stone building from 1905, part of a lovely farm complex. It has all the creature comforts those ancient Celts would have appreciated.
