The Pink Granite Coast: Ploumanac'h and the Sept-Îles
Brittany, France
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300
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+100 France
= 400 total
1 day
The Pink Granite Coast: Ploumanac'h and the Sept-Îles
300 + 100 XP
Between Ploumanac'h and Trégastel the customs officers' path, the sentier des douaniers, winds among the boulders of the Côte de Granit Rose, past the Mean Ruz lighthouse — rebuilt in pink granite in 1946 after the German army destroyed its predecessor — and the Oratoire Saint-Guirec on its rock, cut off by every high tide. From Perros-Guirec boats go out to the Sept-Îles, the oldest and largest private bird reserve in France, set up in 1912 after shooting parties had cut the puffins from 20,000 birds to 2,000 in two years. Île Rouzic carries the only gannet colony in France.
Required Activities
1
of 3
Walk the GR34 customs path from Ploumanac'h round to Trégastel through the granite chaos, and from the Mean Ruz point pick out three things offshore: the château of Costaérès on its island, the Île Renote, and the Sept-Îles with the lighthouse on the Île aux Moines 4.6 km out
2
of 3
Walk out to the Oratoire Saint-Guirec at low tide and look at the saint's nose: the legend says a woman who left a pin stuck in it through one high tide would be married inside the year, and the pinning wore the 14th-century wooden statue away so badly that it was replaced in 1904 by Hernot's granite one you see now. Then look up at the 15 m Mean Ruz lighthouse, built in 1946 in pink granite from the La Clarté quarries with mock-medieval crenellations, after the German army blew up its 1860 predecessor on 4 August 1944
3
of 3
Take the boat out from the Trestraou gare maritime at Perros-Guirec and round Île Rouzic, the only place in France where gannets nest — about 14,000 pairs at the last count, still well down on the numbers before avian influenza swept the colony in 2022 — and count how many of the eleven seabird species of the archipelago you can name from the deck
Walk the GR34 customs path from Ploumanac'h round to Trégastel through the granite chaos, and from the Mean Ruz point pick out three things offshore: the château of Costaérès on its island, the Île Renote, and the Sept-Îles with the lighthouse on the Île aux Moines 4.6 km out
Walk out to the Oratoire Saint-Guirec at low tide and look at the saint's nose: the legend says a woman who left a pin stuck in it through one high tide would be married inside the year, and the pinning wore the 14th-century wooden statue away so badly that it was replaced in 1904 by Hernot's granite one you see now. Then look up at the 15 m Mean Ruz lighthouse, built in 1946 in pink granite from the La Clarté quarries with mock-medieval crenellations, after the German army blew up its 1860 predecessor on 4 August 1944
Take the boat out from the Trestraou gare maritime at Perros-Guirec and round Île Rouzic, the only place in France where gannets nest — about 14,000 pairs at the last count, still well down on the numbers before avian influenza swept the colony in 2022 — and count how many of the eleven seabird species of the archipelago you can name from the deck
Before you go
Gannets and puffins nest on the Sept-Îles in spring and summer.
Boats to the Sept-Îles run from April to October from the Trestraou gare maritime at Perros-Guirec; about 24.50 euros for an adult on the two-and-a-half-hour trip, and the 40-minute landing on the Île aux Moines depends on sea conditions, is unsuitable for anyone with limited mobility, and was suspended at the last check for works on the island. A 130-hectare quiet zone north-west of Île Rouzic is closed to all human activity from 1 April to 31 August, so boats stand off the colony. The Oratoire Saint-Guirec is walkable at low tide and surrounded by water at high tide — check the tide before you set out.
Armor Navigation's Sept-Iles boat runs from Trestraou at Perros-Guirec from April to September only, with Ploumanac'h and Tregastel departures in July and August; it does not sail from October to March.
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XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
300 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
400 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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