Beautiful Brittany: The Pink Granite Coast

Brittany is well-known for rain. You can’t pass a souvenir shop without seeing an umbrella or poncho for sale. In fact, many souvenirs and postcards jokingly make fun of Brittany’s ability to rain during all seasons and at all times of the year. We were actually fortunate and as you can see from my previous blog posts, up to this point, we had experienced nothing but blue skies and beautiful weather. However, that was about the change for the worse.

Unfortunately, this horrible weather had to come at the same time that I had planned a 2 hour hike/walk along the Pink Granite Coast (or Côte Granit Rose). I had heard that Brittany was full of microclimates, so I was hoping miraculously that, although it was raining all around me, the Pink Granite Coast area would stay dry.

We started at the town of Perros-Guirec, right on the north Brittany coast. It wasn’t raining when we started, and after the 2 hour drive, we were hungry, so we started with cider and a galette at a nice restaurant called La Goélette. (Note: Galettes are what we would call “salty crêpes” and are usually made with buckwheat. Crêpes are usually sweet, and made with the traditional white flour that Americans are more aware of.)

The only problem was, although we left with a full and satisfied stomach, the moment we stepped outside after lunch, it started raining. Lightly, at first. Now, as an aside, before we came to this area, I had difficulty finding any detailed information about what route to take. One webpage recommended starting from the Plage de Trestraou, at Perros-Guirec, and taking a nice 2 hour hike/walk along the Pink Granite Coast. So that’s what we did.

Unfortunately, once we started on the trail, it started raining and pouring! The high winds tore apart our umbrellas and rendered them absolutely useless. After going through 45 minutes to an hour of this misery, we finally happened upon the unique and beautiful pink granite rocks. Another unwelcome surprise that we happened upon was… a parking lot. Yes, we could have skipped the 45 minute to one hour misery walk and driven. At this point, it was so ridiculous that I couldn’t help but burst out in laughter.

Despite the ridiculousness, the beauty of the pink rocks and the beautiful turquoise waters of the sea stood out in gorgeous contrasts. Here are the photos I managed to take while struggling to keep my camera dry…

Despite the weather conditions, I am very happy that I got a taste of Brittany’s Pink Granite Coast. And I got to experience the infamous Brittany weather. If you’re going to explore this area and the weather is dry, I highly recommend starting at the Plage de Trestraou in Perros-Guirec and walking along the beautiful trail. However, if you encounter weather conditions like we did, save yourself the trouble and just drive to the best parts of the Pink Granite Coast.

All in all, we really enjoyed our first foray in Brittany. The food was excellent and the sights (both man-made and natural) were incredible. Five days were definitely not enough to fully explore this region, but it was a nice introduction. We will definitely return!

À savoir: