Crozon Peninsula: Pen-Hir, Camaret's Golden Tower and the Cap de la Chèvre
Brittany, France
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Tas de Pois Watcher
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275
XP
+100 France
= 375 total
2 days
Crozon Peninsula: Pen-Hir, Camaret's Golden Tower and the Cap de la Chèvre
275 + 100 XP
At the western tip of the Crozon peninsula the sandstone and quartzite cliffs of Pen-Hir fall to the sea opposite the six stacks of the Tas de Pois. Behind them are the Lagatjar standing stones and Camaret's orange Tour Vauban, begun in 1693 and still being built when Vauban's troops threw back an Anglo-Dutch landing at Trez-Rouz on 18 June 1694, and to the south the white sandstone cliffs run out to the Cap de la Chèvre.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Walk out to the Pointe de Pen-Hir above 70m of cliff and pick off the six Tas de Pois from the landward one outwards - Grand Dahouet, Petit Dahouet, Penn-Glaz, Chelott, Ar Forc'h and Bern-Id; then find the Croix de Pen-Hir, cut from blue Brennilis granite for the Bretons of the Free French, and read the Breton motto on the back of it, Kentoc'h mervel eget em zaotra, rather death than dishonour
2
of 4
Walk the Lagatjar alignments and trace the upside-down Pi they make on the ground: one main row over 200m running north-east to south-west, with two shorter rows set at right angles to it; the 87 white quartzite stones were counted and re-erected in 1928, quarried from the ridge a hundred metres away
3
of 4
Find the Tour Vauban at Camaret-sur-Mer, the 18m hexagonal Golden Tower built 1693 to 1696 and rendered in crushed brick, cross its tidal moat by the drawbridge, and in the low battery find the shot furnace, one of only nine still standing in France
4
of 4
Walk the coast path out to the tip of the Cap de la Chevre on the pale Armorican sandstone laid down about 460 million years ago, and from the headland look north back along the whole line of points - the Chevre, Dinan, Pen-Hir and the Toulinguet - and south across the bay of Douarnenez
Walk out to the Pointe de Pen-Hir above 70m of cliff and pick off the six Tas de Pois from the landward one outwards - Grand Dahouet, Petit Dahouet, Penn-Glaz, Chelott, Ar Forc'h and Bern-Id; then find the Croix de Pen-Hir, cut from blue Brennilis granite for the Bretons of the Free French, and read the Breton motto on the back of it, Kentoc'h mervel eget em zaotra, rather death than dishonour
Walk the Lagatjar alignments and trace the upside-down Pi they make on the ground: one main row over 200m running north-east to south-west, with two shorter rows set at right angles to it; the 87 white quartzite stones were counted and re-erected in 1928, quarried from the ridge a hundred metres away
Find the Tour Vauban at Camaret-sur-Mer, the 18m hexagonal Golden Tower built 1693 to 1696 and rendered in crushed brick, cross its tidal moat by the drawbridge, and in the low battery find the shot furnace, one of only nine still standing in France
Walk the coast path out to the tip of the Cap de la Chevre on the pale Armorican sandstone laid down about 460 million years ago, and from the headland look north back along the whole line of points - the Chevre, Dinan, Pen-Hir and the Toulinguet - and south across the bay of Douarnenez
Before you go
The Tour Vauban is only staffed and open for its exhibitions from June to September; out of season you can walk round the outside and across the Sillon but not go in.
The Pen-Hir and Cap de la Chevre paths run along unfenced cliff edges with a long drop and are dangerous in strong westerlies; keep well back and keep children in hand.
The Pen-Hir car park is small and fills on summer afternoons; the Sillon at Camaret is narrow and can be awash on a high spring tide.
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About Brittany
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
275 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
375 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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