En Bretagne, il ne pleut pas. C’est le soleil qui transpire.
(In Brittany, it doesn’t rain. It’s the sun that sweats.”

Finding home away from home. For some of us, we fortuitously find it early in life, for others, it takes seeing and living in oodles of places that just don’t feel quite right for us to know with certainty when we do find it.

Brittany (Bretagne, as the French would say) revealed its beauty to me in the most unlikeliest times of the year – early March – and I saw home. My home away from home.

Now above in the photo, you see brilliant blue sky sweeping over the Atlantic Ocean, but as the common Bretagne idiom states, it is frequently raining, and that, in large part is why I felt welcomed.

I arrived at the Rennes train station on an early Saturday in March, picked up my rental car, and drove just over two hours to the north western edge of the region. The Côte de Granit Rose (Pink Granite Coast) is located along the coastlines of many towns in this northern region and trails connect them all for hikers to wander for as many miles as they would like.

That first afternoon, after unpacking at my cottage rental, I drove to Trégastel, one of the towns in the middle of the coastline, and began exploring the large beach that at that moment was empty of people, but in the summer, is quite a popular place to soak up the warmth of the sun as it is set on an inlet and the ocean is calm, yet vast and beautifully edged by large, ocean-carved boulders as you will see at the end of the video I share with you at the conclusion of this post.

Every day thereafter, following breakfast, I hopped in my car and toodled to a different trail along the coast to walk. Wonderfully, I ended up walking along the Perros-Guirec trail twice – once on a blustery, rainy day (which did not prevent hikers from enjoying the excursion – each just donned theio trusty Armor-Lux raincoat and get about the strolling!) and towards the end of my week-long stay, on a brilliant clear blue sky day (as captured in the top photo)I walked the trail in reverse.

The video shared below begins with my walk on the sunny day in Perros-Guirec where the famous lighthouse made of pink granite is located and folds into the first walk I took that is full of wind and misty rain. I loved them both.

The region of Brittany abounds with trails to explore, which makes me all the more enamored, reminding me of Bend and its plethora of encouragement to be outdoors and enjoy the beauty, all within a close proximity to a good crêperie or restaurant to conclude the outing.

As I drove around this region, Lannion is the largest town in the area where I stayed, many of the houses are framed in stone, pink granite, which is a distinctive design feature to this area for reasons made clear with the natural resource at its fingertips. See below a house in the town of Lannion.

And so Brittany and I met at last. It did feel as though, as a saying in this region goes, j’avais le vent dans le dos (I had the wind at my back), and it auspiciously revealed something I had always been looking for. Reminding me a bit of the English countryside, many liken it to Cornwall but in France, with its lush farmland and natural beauty brought about by all the rain, and the many small towns that dot the area. Pair that with the French language (and the original Breton language with its Celtic roots), and yep, it felt like a melding of all my loves.

I look forward to returning again, exploring even more of this unique region of France, and savoring the rain as ça descend en cordes (comes down in ropes).

“Quand tu arrives en Bretagne il pleut! Quand tu en pars tu pleurs!”
(When you arrive in Brittany, it rains. When you leave, you cry.)

Tears of joy fell during this trip, and leaving didn’t happen in a rush. Savoring aplenty occurred over those seven days and I hope you too see a glimpse of what is so special, and unique about this part of the region.

Let’s go walking on Le Côte de Granit Rose. First, the photos and then, to conclude a seven minute video collage to take you on a walk along this magnificent, unique part of France. The map below shows you the area, red line, where all of the video and photos were captured.

Video of my walks (three different ones) on Le Côte de Granit Rose

Now, let’s take a walk! Won’t you join me?

Explore All of the Posts Shared during TSLL’s 10th Annual French Week