After my week in Switzerland, I head towards Brittany, visiting my friends for a few weeks.
The first outing in Brittany this year is a 11km hike in Brocéliande, a region special to Bretons thanks to its enchanted forest, to escape the heat wave.
The sun hits hard but we enter the forest rather quickly. Since it's in season, we are on the lookout for edible mushrooms on the side of the trail. Considering we regularly meet people, it's unlikely we'll find mushrooms waiting for us.
We stop at Trécesson castle mid-way through the "Circuit des Landes de Gurwan - n°23" hike and reach the car walking under the harsh sun.
For the long week-end around the 15th of August (a holiday in France), we do well to rent an apartment in Aber Wrac'h, almost the westernmost part of France, and escape the harsh heat wave (it'll still reach slightly above 30°C).
We stroll next to the English Channel for a couple hours, go get some seafood and head back to the apartment. From the balcony, we can see the sunset over the water, and two lighthouses.
The next day, we wake up early and rent kayaks for the morning when the sun isn't hitting too hard and the wind doesn't blow too much for the outing, yet. We navigate around Isle Enez Terc'h, Isle Lec'h Wenn and Isle Wrac'h where we set foot for a couple minutes. We meet people at the lighthouse telling us an exhibition is planned in the afternoon when the tide is low and one can walk to the island (if it can still be called that).
We head back to the lighthouse sometime in the afternoon, to check out the exhibition, which is very nice. We learn that a group of volunteers are keeping the lights on and sometimes the lighthouse is used as artistic residency.
Next day we hike "Rand'Abers 1" on the Southern riverside of l'Aber-Benoît. It is really hot and we appreciate parts of the trail under tree shades.
On the way back, we see a group of horseriders crossing l'Aber-Benoît ria.
Île Vierge
17 August 2025
For our final full day in Aber Wrac'h, we head towards Île Vierge (Virgin Island) to climb the new lighthouse stairs. One can see two lighthouses, the old one is the small white lighthouse while the big grey one is the obviously the more recent one.
One can go up the stairs in the new lighthouse and admire the view from the small almost-360° balcony. The climb is quite long and also intimidating, there's barely enough room for people to cross one another. The lighthouse is hollow and the stairs are on the "wall", with a big nothing in the middle, making it possible to see both the top of the lighthouse and the ground. I'm usually not bothered by heights, but this was quite unsettling. The tiled wall and the light reflections from the few windows are pretty nice though.
We leave the apartment in the morning and before heading back to my friends', we go on a trail named "balade de l'Enfer" (Hell's stroll) which really isn't based on the difficulty of the stroll!
Stopping next to an old wash house covered with lily pads, we wait long enough for a stoat to make its appearance.
On the way back, we stop on the side of the road, crossing the metal bridge Pont de Paluden to check out the Auberge du Pont.
