Having a "Duh!" Moment

On Friday morning, July 24, we set out for our next base, Quimper, the prefecture of the most western department in France, Finistere.  The name Finistere derives from the Latin "finis terrae", meaning "end of the earth," a term used by the ancients to describe the most extreme reach of land in relation to a huge body of water such as the Atlantic Ocean. The phrase "the end of the world" is often used in our day to describe desolate or unpopulated areas, but there are too many people in Finistere for that to be true.

The estimated drive from Dinan to Quimper was 2.5 hours. Maybe because of the longer driving route, it started registering with us that there seemed to be more information than usual on the road signs. It was finally the many signs directing us to Quimper and Kemper that sent me to the internet to locate Kemper. It turns out that Kemper IS Quimper if one is using the Breton language. Cue the light bulb-- well, duh, all of that "extra" information on the road signs is because they're in bilingual format. 

Breton is a Celtic language that arrived in Brittany with immigrants from southwest Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. Closely related to Cornish, it is the only surviving Celtic language spoken on the European mainland today. With four main regional dialects, there were probably upwards of a million people who spoke the language in 1950. After a prolonged period of official French suppression of the Breton language in the 19th and 20th centuries, the number of active speakers declined to the low six figures, and most of those are older than 60 years of age. As a result, Breton is officially classified as an "endangered language". The appearance of bilingual signs in Brittany is part of the efforts to revive it.

Not a road sign, but this tourist map of Quimper (Kemper) is bilingual
and shows what the written Breton language looks like.

The 2.5-hour drive time had us looking for a stop at some intermediate spot, hopefully one that had some historical or scenic interest. A visit to Bon-Repos Abbey, a Cistercian abbey originally founded in the 12th century, satisfied the historical piece and its location in a pretty wooded area near the Nantes-Brest canal satisfied the scenic aspect. 

The original founder of the Abbey, Alain III de Rohan, created the abbey as much for political and economic reasons as for religious ones. The early centuries of the Abbey's existence were marked by significant economic growth, the 16th and 17th centuries by a slow decline. In the early 18th century, a new abbot rebuilt and altered much that had fallen into disrepair, but the French Revolution at the end of that century ended monastic life at the abbey. It soon became a property of the state and began to deteriorate. Laborers constructing the Nantes-Brest canal in 1832 were the last people to be housed in the abbey buildings that were still standing at that point. It wasn't until 1986 that an association was formed to reclaim and renovate this piece of Breton history.

A series of images on display at the abbey shows changes through the years. Above, an artist's
drawing of what the abbey was like in the 18th century; Lower left: the abbey in 2024; 
Lower right: vegetation reigns supreme in 1962. 

Various shots of the interior and exterior of the abbey now. At lower right, the wall
that Lon is standing by is about all that is left from the abbey church. Blocks have been
laid out on the grounds to show the former footprint of that particular building. Some of
the fully enclosed rooms are used for cultural exhibitions.

While we were there, preparations were underway for the annual sound and light show. For 35 years, a monumental performance has been held that likely puts the sound and light shows of most towns to shame. This year's performance is projected to last for 2 hours, involve 350 volunteer performers and 25 horsemen, contain pyrotechnic effects, and display monumental projections on the facade of Bon-Repos Abbey. 

The audience chairs were mostly set up by this point. It looked like it was going to be
an amazing production--we were disappointed not to be able to attend.

A relaxing lunch at a casual restaurant with a view of the canal and the abbey set us up for a brief walk along the Nantes-Brest canal and the surrounding woods. The impetus for the construction of the canal was the English blockade of the port of Brest in the early 1800's. When construction was completed in in mid-1800's, it was 385 km long and had 238 locks. Its locks are of a smaller gauge (26.5-27 m long, 4.3-4.7 m wide) than the standard Freycinet gauge locks (38.5-39 m long, 5.2 m wide) we've been used to seeing during our cruising. The canal was closed as a through route in 1920, when the Guerledan dam opened and flooded a section of the canal. Commercial use disappeared, but portions of the canal have been restored, and 3 sections are again open to mostly recreational navigation.

Upper: a section of the canal near Bon Repos.
Lower: a section of the canal a few kilometers east of Bon Repos.

The viaduct of Bon Repos, a former railway bridge, is now integrated into the hiking and 
biking trails in the area. It has been retained as a historic testament to the narrow-gauge railway
 line that existed in Brittany from the late 19th century until 1967, when most of the routes closed.

A late afternoon arrival in Quimper found us in an apartment located about a 10–15-minute walk from the old center of town. As an apartment it was nothing special, but the location was more than decent, and the parking situation was great--right outside the door (not something we ever take for granted when booking our stays in urban areas).

The timing of our stay in Quimper was superlative, because it was the weekend of the annual (since 1923) Festival of Cornwall, an extravaganza of Breton culture and Celtic heritage. We didn't do much that first evening other than taking a brief walk in the old part of town, having dinner, and experiencing some chance encounters with festival events.

"What can you do with a drunken sailor?" (not done in English, of course) was one of the
sea shanties sung by this talented group. Long live striped Breton shirts!
 

Saturday was our day to skip driving and take to our feet to follow the tourist office's guide through Quimper. Aside from some local, targeted destruction of a few buildings by the German forces as they retreated from the area in 1944, Quimper escaped widespread destruction in WWII. Therefore, unlike unfortunate Saint-Malo, the medieval layout and old buildings in Quimper's historic center avoided massive flattening from air raids.

Festival crowds, active shopping, and an attractive downtown.

More downtown and an insight into men's fashion (way) back in the day.

Left: Saint Corentin cathedral, with one of the longest building programs on record. Construction
started in the 13th century and didn't conclude until the 19th.
Right: flowers, water, and old towers make everything look better.

Top: almost 40% of the 13th and 15th C. walls which surrounded the
medieval city are still intact.
Bottom: the century-old Max Jacob Theater.

Quimper is a city of gardens and flowers. At top, the Jardin de la Retraite is able to 
maintain Mediterranean plants in a northern climate because of its southern exposure and
protection by walls. At bottom, numerous flower-laden pedestrian bridges cross the tidal
 Odet river.

Traditional Breton costumes were everywhere. Saturday afternoon had a children's parade. 
We didn't stay to watch the whole thing, but (upper right) did see the young ladies and gentlemen waiting to particiipate. At bottom right, a traditional youth piping band--we had no
idea that bagpipes were part of the culture in any part of France.

Saturday night was "take a break from French cuisine" night for us, as
we enjoyed a tasty Indonesian meal.

It actually rained a bit overnight on Saturday, and the low clouds hung around for the early part of our day on Sunday. A short 30-minute drive got us to the fishing town of Douarnenez. It, too, had a festival taking place during the weekend. The biennial Maritime Festival, with historic ships and a variety of activities and demonstrations, was taking place at the Old Port of Rosmeur. We only had limited time, so we passed on actually going into the festival site, but having seen all the tall ships last year at Sail Amsterdam we thought we could probably concentrate on other things.

The name of Douarnenez's town exploration walk says it all: The Sardine Trail. The history of sardine fishing and processing dates from Gallo-Roman times. Its heyday in Douarnenez was the 19th and early 20th centuries. Although some smaller scale fishing and processing still exist, the big fleets and associated canneries are gone, and the town focus is primarily cultural and maritime tourism.

The old port of Rosmeur; the tide is low--as are the clouds.

Later in the day the beach is covered up and the sun is making an appearance.

Different views of the harbor. At lower right, a "try scuba" water tank was set up.

Left: St Helen chapel, 16th-18th C. This was the chapel of the fishing folk in the Rosmeur district
until 1875. Upper Right: the ceiling of the chapel looks like an overturned boat hull.
Lower Right: a quiet Sunday morning in Douarnenez.

Discovered in the Plomarc'h, a sort of reserve on the outskirts of Douarnenez, was this 
archeological site. It was a Gallo-Roman fish processing site, where the Romans made a 
fish-based condiment known as "garum".

Top: a view across the bay from the Roman site shows a number of
sandy beaches in the area.
Bottom: an old farm in the Plomarc'h.

On our way out of town we could see another of the ports of Douarnenez.

After we left Douarnenez we decided to head for another coastal viewpoint to get some further perspective on "wild Brittany." Pointe du Van is nearly the furthest west you can go in Finistere, which means we nearly were "at the end of the (mainland France) world."

A sunny afternoon would have been better, but it was still pretty
special. It was probably far less crowded than the neighboring, but
better known, Pointe du Raz.

Upper Left: Given the prevalence of hot weather we'd been having, it was strange to need a
windbreaker. However, it was rather windy along the coast, and the clouds kept it cool.
Lower left: Lon approaches the Saint-They Chapel.
Right: a view of the rugged coastline.

Having had enough for one day, we headed back to Quimper and basically "vegged" for the evening. We also had to do a bit of planning for dealing with our reduced time at our next base, Vannes.