A long-distance walk in Brittany

Wednesday 30 January 2013

Cornwall - The Saints' Way Walking Festival

Discover the Saints Way in Cornwall!

Walking festival in Cornwall - four day break to walk the Saints Walk with a guide and accommodation package from 15-18 April, or just join in for the two day walk (16/17th). For details, see www.saints.fowey.com

The idea for the Saints Shore Way in Brittany came from the Saints Way in Cornwall, envisaging the arrival of holy men during the Dark Ages after they sailed from places like Fowey across the Channel. The Saints Way is a 41km walk from Padstow on the north coast of Cornwall to Fowey in the south with much of interest related to Cornish religious and economic heritage along the way, as well as beautiful scenery.

Monday 28 January 2013

SSW - good in January!

Great day out on the Saints' Shore Way even in this wet January. After a quick visit to the little parish close at Locquemeau, we went to the beautiful beach at Poul Rodou (hoping to eat at the famous Caplan & Co café/bookshop there, but it'sonly open at weekends in January) and then to Moulin de la Rive, one of Locquirec's nine beaches, where you can see some of the oldest rocks in France - formed two billion years ago!



Sunday 13 January 2013

Themes

Preparation of the Saints' Shore Way text is coming to the final stages. In addition to good walking maps, direcitons and points of interest, the intital section of the book outlines major themes connecting Brittany and Britain. The Age of Saints is the starting point, as on walking this coast we can easily imagine those monks and their followers in their little boats landing on what was (and still is in part) a wild and lonely shore so many centuries ago.
In medieval times, long-standing commercial connections (as least since the neolithic period) came to a peak with the cloth trade, especially in the Breton areas of Léon and Trégor covered by the Saints' Shore Way route. Large and small ports alike were involved in the export of high-quality linen produced in the interior. Morlaix was the major hub, with hundred of merchants in the town involved in buying and selling material.
A less positive link highlights the rivalry of British and Breton corsairs who patrolled the Channel and other shipping routes in the hope of intercepting enemy trading vessels and seizing their cargoes. The subsequent struggle for naval dominance between England and France in the 18th and 19th centuries is well-known. The Bretons, renowned for their maritime skills, have always produced a large proportion of sailors for the French navy.
In WWII a more rewarding partnership led to large numbers of people being transferred both ways across the Channel,  with intelligence agents going into Brittany and civilian and military refugees coming out to safety, often often taken to the ports of Cornwall and Devon. Ernest Sibiril, one of the most famous heroes who risked his life many times to take passengers to England is honoured today in his home town of Carantec on the Saints' Shore Way route. The family boat-building business is still in operation and The Requin (The Shark), the boat he finally escaped in when under threat of arrrest, is in the museum there.
These are just a few of the many fascinating links which have bound Brittany and Britain for good or ill in historical times.